Rug/carpet care and maintenance

When a rug/carpet is new you will notice a number of things;

•Small balls of fluff appearing; perfectly normal with a new carpet. Just vacuum them off.

•Sprouting ‘tufts’. Again quite normal with a new carpet. Trim them with sharp scissors. Don’t pull, you may damage the pile.

Using carpets require oodles of care and maintenance. If they are not properly cleaned and protected, their natural sheen gradually degrades and attraction marred. Moreover, their durability cannot be prolonged unless certain required steps are followed towards their maintenance.

Vanghent's  carpets and rugs are made in a wide variety of materials. Carpet Care is the same for all of them but when cleaning fresh spills you better know what your rug is made off.

Natural vegetal fibres like nettle, hemp and linen or silk, silkose, viscose,banana and bamboo silk need to be approached with more caution and in general the industry advises to get dry clean by getting the help of a professional cleaner; this is a fact but meanwhile one should react fast when a stain is made and often you can solve the problem yourself.

Vanghent advises to use the products Tapiclear and Tapigold of Jeikner (www.jeikner.de)with which you will be able to clean out most of the stains without changing the natural colour. Cut pile in linen, hemp, nettle, cactus: Never use too much water when trying to clean a fresh spill as it may get a yellowish shine or leave a yellow stain.

Loop Pile and sumakh pile floor coverings in these materials are relatively easy to maintain because dirt does not cling to the hard fibres, but rest loosely in the weave. Natural fibres that are not cut do not show dirt readily.

Silk and manmade silk yarns like viscose, silkose, bamboo and banana silk may open and lose their twist so again do not use too much water.

Protect your carpet--step by-step

Though with an exceptional quality, but your carpet may look "ugly" long before it "wears" out. Make sure it doesn't, which can be ensured with a comprehensive care program comprising of four stages :

1.Carpet Care: Preventative Maintenance

2.Carpet Care: Vacuuming

3.Carpet Care: Spot and Spill Removal

4.Carpet Care: Overall Cleaning

1.Rug and Carpet Care: Preventative Maintenance - Protect your investment before problems occur.

New flooring represents a substantial investment. These proper steps assure that your carpet shall stay attractive for years to come.

Place walk-off mats at all entrances: Walk-off mats should be used at the exterior of all entrances to absorb the soil and moisture. They can help trap the excessive dirt, sand, grit, and other substances such as oil, asphalt, or driveway sealer that would otherwise be tracked into the home. Mats should also be cleaned on a regular basis so that they don't become sources of soil themselves.

Clean your area rugs: If you use area rugs on your carpet, be sure to clean them regularly. Clean and restore the pile of the carpet underneath as well. Also, be sure to check area rugs for colourfastness before placing them on carpet because the colour in some rugs may bleed through. After cleaning your carpet, allow it to dry completely before replacing rugs.

Reduce long period exposure to direct sunlight: Protect your carpet from prolonged exposure to direct sunlight with the help of blinds, shades, or awnings.

2. Carpet Care: Vacuuming - The most important step in caring your carpet.

Vacuum your carpet thoroughly and frequently. Realize that walking on soiled carpet allows the soil particles to work their way below the surface of the pile where they are far more difficult to remove and can damage the carpet fibers. Frequent vacuuming remove these particles from the surface itself before they get trapped underneath.

For rooms with light traffic, vacuum the carpet traffic lanes twice weekly and the entire area once weekly. In areas with heavy traffic, vacuum the carpet traffic lanes daily and the entire area twice weekly. Up to three passes of the machine will suffice for light soiling, but five to seven passes are necessary for heavily soiled areas. Change the vacuuming direction occasionally to help stand the pile upright and reduce matting.

The essentials to be observed while vacuuming the carpet are :

Check the quality of your vacuum: A good vacuum cleaner is vital for prolonged beauty and life of your carpet. An inexpensive machine can remove surface dirt but will not effectively remove the hidden dirt and particles embedded in the pile.

Select the best vacuum for your type of carpet: We recommend using vacuums with a rotating brush or combination beater/brush bar that agitates the carpet pile and mechanically loosens soil for removal. Carpet with thick loop pile construction, particularly wool and wool-blend styles, may be sensitive to brushing or rubbing of the pile surface and may become fuzzy. For these products, we recommend a suction-only vacuum or a vacuum with an adjustable brush lifted away from the carpet so that it does not agitate the pile. A vacuum with a beater/brush bar can be tested for excessive fuzzing in an inconspicuous location before regular use.

Pay attention to vacuum bags: Replaceable paper vacuum bags do a better job of trapping small particles than cloth bags. With cloth bags, the particles pass back into the room. High efficiency vacuum bags, also called micro filtration bags, trap even smaller microscopic particles (such as mould and mildew spores and dust mite by-products) which are often found to be source of allergies. All vacuum bags should be checked often and replaced when half full.

Check the belt and the setting: Make sure the belt is in good condition and that the brush or beater bar rotates when in contact with the carpet. To adjust the vacuum to the correct height setting for the carpet, raise the beater/brush bar to the highest setting and then lower it until it is in enough contact with the pile to slightly vibrate the carpet several inches away from the machine. Do not lower it enough to cause significant slowing of the motor.

Change vacuuming directions: Change the vacuuming direction occasionally to help stand the pile upright and help reduce matting.

3.Carpet Care: Spot and Spill Removal - let's face it, they just can't be avoided.

No carpet is stain proof, but since they are stain resistant you have time to act.

Time and patience are very important; a lot of stains only disappear after repeating a treatment several times, so do not be in hurry, your rug is a valuable item. as you can see in the tutorial videos below, we also repeated the treatment several times. We would even suggest that you better put the product on the cleaning cloth then directly on the pile in order to avoid changing the look of the pile.

If you do not have Tapiclear or Tapigold in house, please look below to see if the specific spill you're trying to remove is listed. If so, you'll see instructions to help. If not, use the following general guidelines.

Watch out for vegetal pile rugs made with sisal, hemp, linen, nettle or other vegetal fibres and for silk, silkose, viscose, banana and bamboosilk as the list below has been made for woollen and synthetic rugs and carpets. 

Stain; Cleaning Method

Acids                                        Detergent/white vinegar

Alcoholic beverages              Detergent/White vinegar or cleaning fluid

Ammonia or Alkali                 Detergent/White vinegar

Ball-point pen ink                  Methylated spirits or turpentine

Beer                                         Detergent/White vinegar

Bleach                                      Detergent/White vinegar

Blood                                       Detergent/White vinegar or Starch Paste

Burning cigarette                   Brush off with a hard edge

Butter                                       Cleaning fluid

Candy                                       Detergent/White vinegar or scrape and vacuum

Cellulose paint                        Acetone

Chewing gum                          Tissue and Iron, then Detergent/White vinegar or cleaning fluid

Chocolate                                Detergent/White vinegar or cleaning fluid

Coffee                                      Glycerine

Cosmetics                                Detergent/White vinegar or cleaning fluid

Crayon                                      Detergent/White vinegar or cleaning fluid or scrape and vacuum

Egg                                            Detergent/White vinegar

Fat and Oil                               Tissue and iron, then cleaning fluid (Do not use iron after solvent)

Fruit and juices                       Detergent/White vinegar

Furniture polish                      Detergent/White vinegar or cleaning fluid*

Glue                                          Alcohol

Grass                                        Methylated spirits

Gravy                                        Detergent/White vinegar or cleaning fluid

Grease                                      Cleaning fluid or scrape & vacuum

Household cement                Detergent/White vinegar or cleaning fluid*

Ice cream                                 Detergent/White vinegar or cleaning fluid*

Ink                                             Water only

Jam                                            Lukewarm water

Lipstick                                     Detergent/White vinegar or cleaning fluid*

Medicine                                  Call a reputable cleaner

Metal polish                             Detergent/White vinegar or cleaning fluid*

Mildew                                      Call a reputable cleaner

Milk                                           Detergent/White vinegar or cleaning fluid*

Mud                                           Detergent/White vinegar

Mustard                                    Detergent/White vinegar

Nail polish                                Polish Remover*

Oils                                            Cleaning fluid

Paint                                          Detergent/White vinegar or cleaning fluid*

Perfume                                    Detergent/White vinegar or cleaning fluid*

Permanent ink                         Call a reputable cleaner

Rust                                           Call a reputable cleaner

Salad dressing                         Detergent/White vinegar or cleaning fluid*

Sauces                                       Detergent/White vinegar or cleaning fluid*

Shoe polish                              Detergent/White vinegar or cleaning fluid or scrape and vacuum

Soot                                           Vacuum, then cleaning fluid

Tar                                             Cleaning fluid

Tea                                            Detergent/White vinegar

Urine                                         Water

Vomit                                        Detergent/White vinegar or cleaning fluid

Wax                                           Cleaning fluid or scrape & vacuum

Wine                                          Detergent/White vinegar or cleaning fluid

•Remove as much of food spills as possible by scraping the carpet gently with a spoon or a dull knife.

•Absorb wet spills as quickly as possible by blotting repeatedly with white paper or white cloth towels. Always blot; never rub or scrub abrasively, as a fuzzy area may result. When blotting, work from the outer edge in toward the centre of the spot to avoid spreading the spill.

•Remove the stain using one of the cleaning items - Detergent Solution, Vinegar Solution, Ammonia Solution, Non-oily Nail Polish Remover, Chewing Gum Remover, Spot Remover.

•Rinse the cleaned carpet area with water to remove detergent residue that may become sticky and cause rapid re-soiling, except for rugs of vegetal fibres; again, use preferably the products tapiclear and tapigold from Jeikner.

•Absorb any remaining moisture by placing several layers of white towels over the spot and weighing them down with a heavy object. This step is necessary even when the carpet doesn't seem particularly damp.

Notes:

•When attempting to remove any stains always ensure that the carpet is dry before proceeding to the next step in the order of treatment.

•The solvents normally used in dry cleaning are perchlorethylene, white spirit or fluorocarbons.

•Whilst this advice is offered in good faith, no responsibility is accepted for claims arising from the treatments proposed. If stains fail to respond to treatments listed, call a professional carpet cleaner immediately.

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