Area Rug FAQ

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Area Rug and Home Decor FAQ Page
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FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently perplexing but Normal Rug Stuff

Appearance: All rugs will change in appearance over time. This is primarily due to foot traffic. Rugs in heavy traffic areas will exhibit the most change. The tips of the tufts in cut-pile rugs, over time and use, will lose some twist, causing it to bloom. This is normal and should be expected.

Curling: Does your new rug tend to curl at the edges or corners? This can be a trip hazard. Curling is a problem you will most often find with inferior quality rugs, but it can happen to most rugs if you do not vacuum them properly. Never Allow the Beater Bar on Your Vacuum Cleaner to Cause Curling or Premature Wear of Area Rug Edges. If your vacuum cleaner has a beater bar (most good vacuums do) always vacuum the edges of your area rug along the length and not across the edges. It is best to vacuum the center of the rug with a vacuum cleaner that has a beater bar, but be careful not to catch the edges or fringe(s). If you can, vacuum the edges and fringes using the suction hose and Not a beater bar. Your area rug will thank you by lasting much longer and this will also eliminate Curling on fine quality rugs. (Inferior quality rugs (or flat-weaves) will almost always have problems with edge curling)

Crushing: is the compaction of the pile thickness due to foot traffic or furniture. Regular use of a vacuum with a beater bar in high traffic areas may help reduce changes in appearance. Also insure the beater bar on your vacuum just hits the top of the fibers. Many people set their beater bar to low which does not allow the brushes and bars to loosen dirt so it may be vacuumed away. If you set your bar too low it will just beat up your rug instead of clean it.

Fading or Color loss: Rugs may slowly lose color over time. This can be caused from direct sunlight, ozone, emissions from heating fuels, pesticides, cleaning agents, benzol peroxide, and other household items. Care should be taken when using these items. Window treatments will reduce exposure to direct sunlight.

Footprints and vacuum marks: Cut-pile (Saxony or Plush) rugs (and carpets) will show footprints and vacuum cleaner marks (tracks). Solid colors usually show more than multi-colors. You can recognize a cut-pile by the sheen appearance (almost a frosted look across the top of the fibers). Since all the fibers are cut to the same length, this style of rug (or carpet) refracts light in such a way as to make vacuum and foot marks more apparant. Most people love the rich look of a good saxony or cut-pile plush, but some people can't stand it. The selection of a rug with a lower pile height and denser construction will help to minimize this effect. If you absolutely hate vacuum marks and footprints you need to choose a different style of rug. The other options are; Cut-Pile Berber (friezy), Shag, Sculptured (also referred to as cut-loop or cut & loop) or Looped (as in looped Berber). Some Textured style rugs will not show as much because each fiber bundle has a kink in it to refract light in a different manner.

Indentations: Indentations will occur from furniture or heavy objects (often with small legs and feet). Prevention is the best cure for indentations. Furniture coasters will assist in spreading the weight of the object to a larger area. If you have a Berber carpet or rug, it would help to periodically move your furnishings (even a few inches left or right every couple of weeks), so that deep indents don't get a chance to form.

With many carpets, Brushing the affected area with your fingertips will usually restore the crushed tufts to their original position.

Berber carpets and rugs can be more stubborn. Most indentation problems will occur from furniture with small legs and feet. The pressure from these furnishings will distort the latex that binds the tufted carpet to the backing, so it is best to allow these indents to spring back on their own (this could take quite some time). If you simply cannot wait for the carpet or rug to repair itself, you should have a professional carpet cleaner have a look. Using hot water extraction or steam, they will be able to lessen the time that it takes for the reshape to occur.

Matting: The entanglement of fibers and tufts of the yarn tips may be caused by a cushion failure, or most often, improper maintenance. Residue from a spill that was not cleaned up thoroughly or cleaning residue that has not been rinsed completely will lead to matting.

Shading: Shading is a change in pile direction that results in an apparent change in color due to the light reflecting in different ways. Solid color cut-pile rugs will exhibit this more often than textured or patterned rugs. This is normal. Severe cases of shading are also known as pooling or watermarking. This results in a permanent pile reversal that occurs after installation. It has no known cause and is usually confined to only certain areas of an installation. Pooling or watermarking is not considered a manufacturing defect.

Shedding: Fuzzing or Shedding is a normal characteristic of cut-pile rugs. It is more apparent in staple products versus continuous filament products. The only remedy for rugs that shed is time, foot traffic and vacuuming (some rugs of certain fibers may take a few months to fully shed all loose material). Regular vacuuming utilizing a vacuum cleaner with a beater bar/brush will remove most of the loose fibers during the first year. Remeber to set your beater bar to just graze the top of the fibers, if set too low you will just beat up your rug without removing all the debris.

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Soiling: Dust, dirt, pollen, cooking vapors, and other airborne pollutants may appear as dark lines along walls, vents, and doorways and is usually due to an imbalanced ventilation system that is incapable of removing the volume of air entering the room. The excess air escapes through gaps between floors, walls, and doorways. Professional cleaning may clean the affected areas, but the condition will usually return unless the ventilation problems are corrected. Rugs of any quality will perform the same if subjected to filtration inefficiencies.

Wrinkling: (Wrinkles and Dents) Wrinkling may occur. If it is a good quality rug then wrinkles will simply exist as a result of shipping. (Some Fine Quality Rugs have a stiff backing or a secondary backing that can make them dent or wrinkle during shipment. If the shipper rolled the rug properly it will be an easy fix). These wrinkles will go away with a little heat and traffic. My favorite way to remove wrinkles is to lay the rug out on a clean concrete or wood surface in the direct sunlight. Wrinkles will go away in a short time using this technique. (It occurs to me that some of you may live in a climate where there is no direct sunlight. If this is the case, Use the following method: Turn your rug over, face to the floor, and get your hair-dryer; (some of you may be tempted to use a heat gun; DO NOT USE A HEAT GUN UNLESS YOU ARE A PROFESSIONAL AND HAVE HAD PLENTY OF EXPERIENCE). Apply heat to the back of the rug where the wrinkles or dents are. Be careful not to leave the hair-dryer in one spot too long, you could melt the backing of the rug (or catch it on fire). After you have applied just the amount of heat needed to remove the wrinkle, you can turn the rug back over and use it normally). If the wrinkles or dents will not go away or if they return soon after normal household use - or your rug tends to curl up at the edges (especially the corners)--- This tells you that you bought a cheap (inferior) chain-store rug that is not designed to last for more than a few months to a year. You can attempt to lay the rug out in the direct sun on a patio or driveway, but this will only be a temporary fix. Your best bet is to buy a quality rug. It does not have to be a fortune, many wool rugs can be found for less than $100.00 to $200.00 depending on the size you need. Take that CHEAP rug back and get your money back from the store. (Some Good Quality Rugs have an extra thick backing or a secondary backing- these may take a little extra time in the sun, or extra heating, but the wrinkles are temporary and will disappear in a short time) If you are very careful you may also use a steamer to remove wrinkles and dents. (Steam Irons are not the same and are not practical. Most people will ruin thier rug or thier iron). These are merely suggestions based on my personal experience, If you cause damage to your area rug or iron, please do not try to blame it on me. If you use common sense and caution nothing and nobody needs to get hurt.

Reminder: Always work from the back side of the rug (turn your rug upside down or fold it so that you will NEVER apply heat or steam directly on the face fibers of your area rug.

Yellowing on Rugs (or carpet): Yellowing can have many causes, yarn lubricants, over-application of stain resistant treatments, changes in alkalinity, cleaning solutions, general soiling, and fume fading. White vinegar applied to a clean white towel and held on the rug will indicate if the yellowing can be removed. If this works, a 10% solution of citric acid applied by a professional cleaner will usually remove the yellowing.

Yellow stains on vinyl, linoleum or wood floors: If you place an area rug with a solid latex or rubber backing on these types of floors, you will likely have problems due to chemical reactions or moisture. If an area rug backing cannot "breathe" they will often evaporate any moisture under the vinyl and this will be evident by the yellow to dark gray stain that is actually under the wearlayer of the vinyl floor, trapped in the backing. This type of stain cannot be cleaned out, as it is under the actual wear-layer. See Q & A section in Rug Care & Forum page for further info.

Never use a solid latex, rubber or vinyl on any type of flooring; Heres' Why: A chemical reaction can take place causing yellow "stains" (see yellowing and yellow stains in this FAQ) on your lovely flooring or; You may begin to notice water droplets under a clear plastic mat. This is only a sign of the damage to come. Even though it is not evident, most concrete slabs can have moisture or alkali (sometimes referred to as cleachie or cleechy) in the soil beneath that wicks up into the concrete over time. Most of the time we never know this is the case because air and gases can pass through carpets, pads and rugs. Therefore any moisture that creeps up through the slab is able to dry quickly and does not experience any appreciable damage until you put something on the floor that does not allow the air to pass through and dry out quickly. That something would be a plastic or rubber mat or runner. Or an area rug with a solid latex or rubber backing. The plastic, latex or rubber does not breathe, and in fact it causes condensation (by a type of solarization or evaporization) (the plastic, latex or rubber actually draws moisture or alkali (cleechy) up through the slab more quickly). Sometimes you don't even notice a problem until the damage has already been done. This type of damage can happen under the rug, mat or runner and you will not even notice anything until it is time to remove or replace it. There have been many occasions in my career, where during the removal of a plastic mat, (or latex backed rug) the carpet just falls to pieces and the smell of mildew wafts through the air as you try to lift it off the floor. Or a client will call me to consult about a hump under their rug or carpet that was not there when it was installed. Upon investigation it is almost always a mound of alkali that has eaten its way through the concrete slab, coming to rest as a mound of fine white powder under the rug. This alkali not only damages the rug but can also wreak havoc in your concrete slab, leaving craters or sunken ridges in the actual concrete after the alkali has been vacuumed away.

What is Man Made Silk?: Man Made silk is a micro-fiber product. Mico-fiber has gained much infulence in the textile market and many consumers now have micro-fiber furnishings and wear micro-fiber clothing. It has also gained a marketplace in Area Rugs, mostly blended with olefin or nylon.

The first commercial production of micro fiber in the U.S. was in 1989 by E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, Inc. Today micro fibers are produced in a variety of synthetic fibers (i.e. polyester, nylon, acrylic, etc.)

The true definition of a micro fiber is a fiber that has less than one denier per filament. Micro Fiber is the thinnest, finest of all man-made fibers. It is finer than the most delicate silk.

To relate it to something more familiar--A human hair is more than 100 times the size of some micro fibers.

How do I clean Man Made Silk? Just follow the intructions for cleaning most any common Carpet or Rug fiber such as: Nylon, Olefin, Polyester or Polymer fibers. (Most micro-fibers stains can simply be rinsed well with a clean white cloth and clear water. For Tougher Stains: (See cleaning Instructions elsewhere on this website - Area Rug Care)

About that New Area Rug Smell: Most New Area Rugs that are shipped in an enclosed plastic sleeve (or bag) will begin to out-gas when you open them up and roll them out in your home. This is Normal and typically less smelly than rugs were ten years ago. (newer industry standards for Volitile Gasses); It is recommended that you keep your house vented (open some windows a little) for three to six days, depending on the strength of the smell. Some people like the New Rug Smell, so it is not a problem for them. Many people do not tolerate the odors as well, so I would recommend that you remove the wrapping from your new rug and let it out-gas in your garage or covered patio for a few days, untill the odor becomes tolerable for you. It is best if you can roll it out, but if you do not have enough room in your garage or patio you can re-roll the rug loosely to allow it to out-gas before you bring it into the house. This will also allow the rug time to rid itself from dents and wrinkles that occur as a result of being rolled so tightly during shipping.

***Portions of this info thanks to Mohawk Industries

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Water Damage:
If your home has recently been subjected to water damage due to flooding, one of the first things that you take into consideration is carpet restoration. Water normally results in some level of damage when it meets with the carpeting in your home. While many are likely to completely replace this aspect of the flooring, there are many others who would rather repair the carpet that they have. This is generally quite possible, and can be easy to do.

If you are considering repairing the carpet once it has been subjected to flooding, it is first important to consider whether or not it is possible to do so. This will basically be determined by carefully evaluating the base cause of the flood that initially damaged the flooring. If the water source was from environmental conditions, such as rain or lake flooding, it is often safe to attempt restoration. If flooding resulted from pipes in the home, it is safe to restore just so long as those pipes are not related to sewer and/or toilet plumbing.

Once you have located the source of the flooding, it is important to repair any and all areas that require it. You should do this prior to restoring the carpet, and test out the maintenance to ensure that the problem is completely eliminated. Once you have confirmed this step, you may begin the carpet restoration process. This will begin by getting a vacuum cleaner that can safely be used to vacuum up water. You should go over the carpet at least a couple of times to ensure that all the excess water has been completely lifted from the carpet.

Next, you should purchase a good cleaner that has disinfectant properties. You will want to mix it thoroughly with a small amount of bleach. Please make sure that the chemicals are safe to mix together. You should then scrub each area of the floor with the solution. The next step is to take the padding from underneath the carpet out and replace it with new padding. This is where most water will be retained. Prior to placing the new padding down, you should be certain to run a heavy fan on the area to ensure that it is dry.

Once you have laid the new padding down, you can then replace the carpet. You may want to take stock in machinery that can assist in the carpet restoration process to assist in this task. Edic wet/dry vacuums, carpet restoration chemicals, flood pumpers, and similar products. These can ensure success when you want to restore your carpets from flood damage.

Visit us for more information on carpet cleaning tips, chemical carpet cleaning and portable carpet cleaners.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Christopher_W_Smith

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