Easy Guide to Vacuuming Your Tufted Area Rug – Sedona AZ

It’s no secret that different types of rugs require different care to help them last as long as possible.  One of the major things you can do as a rug owner to help prolong your rug’s life is frequent vacuuming.  This helps to keep dry soil from building up deep in the fibers where it does the most damage.

Ruthie here with Arizona Oriental & Specialty Rug Care and today I wanted to address how to vacuum your tufted area rug.  What’s a tufted rug?  It’s a kind of rug created with a mesh foundation for the base, where wool tufts are then looped or punched through in the desired pattern.  To hold everything together, a layer of latex glue is applied over the back of the rug followed by a piece of monkscloth or canvas to give the rug a nice finished look.

Due to their construction, tufted rugs naturally have a loose pile density.  This means that an upright vacuum with a powerful suction is probably going to do more harm than good.  Powerful suction is going to pull at those loops of wool, possibly causing damage to your beloved rug.

So what kind of vacuum should you use on a tufted rug?  I recommend using either an electric sweeper or a canister vacuum that allows you to turn the rotary head feature off.  Upright vacuums can be okay if you are able to turn the beater bar off (and the suction isn’t too powerful).  Vacuuming with an upholstery tool can give you more control as well, though it is a bit more time consuming.

Vacuum across the width of the rug, from side to side.  If you use an upright vacuum or an upholstery tool, make sure to vacuum WITH the pile and not against it.  If your rug has fringe, you should be careful to avoid the fringe while you vacuum to prevent damage there.

Since tufted rugs do not have a very dense pile, dry soil easily works its way down to the base of your fibers.  Dry soil is a lot like sandpaper and it grinds away at delicate wool fibers, causing damage and unnecessary wear to your rug.  Frequent vacuuming will help to prevent dry soil from building up and doing damage.

Till next time, enjoy your beautiful art for your floor and remember a clean rug will certainly perform and last longer than a neglected soiled rug.

Arizona Oriental and Specialty Rug Care serves Sedona, Prescott, Prescott Valley, and much of the Northern Arizona areas. We meet the highest standards in professional cleaning of area rugs with our rug wash specialists’ team having earned the highest training which includes certification as WOOLSAFE FIBRE CARE SPECIALISTS through the WOOLSAFE ORGANISATION. Such extraordinary certification ensures the area rugs of our client’s receive the utmost in care.

Call us if you have any questions about vacuuming your tufted rug or for other information and quotes for either cleaning or repair at 928-445-1718, visit our website at www.ArizonaOriental.com, or stop by Monday through Friday 10:00 am to 5:00 pm at our rug washing facility at 565 EZ Street, Prescott, AZ 86301 (pick-up and delivery also available). (05-25-17)