The key to maintaining your area rug is to vacuum it frequently. This keeps most of the dirt and allergens out. Once per week is idea, but no less often than every other week. The proper way to vacuum is to remove all the furniture off of them, then vacuum. Flip the rug over and vacuum the back side. Then, flip it back over and vacuum the top side again. Don’t vacuum over the fringe, or it could get stuck on your beater bar. To clean the fringe, use the curtain cleaning tool on your vacuum cleaner and adjust the vacuum to a low setting.
Tending to spills right away will help keep your rug spot-free. For new spills, place a clean white towel or cloth underneath the rug. Then, using white paper towels or a white cotton towel, blot the spill until you’ve gotten as much of the liquid up as possible, working from the outer edges inward to keep from spreading the stain. Replace the cloth underneath your rug with a clean, dry one. Dip a white cloth or towel into a little club soda or cold water and wring it out so it’s just damp and not sopping wet. Again the spot, working from the outer edges inward, to keep from spreading the stain. Then, dry the rug by blotting with a dry towel until as much moisture as possible is absorbed.
In addition to vacuuming and tending to stains right away, area rugs periodically need to be professionally cleaned. For most area rugs, the necessary frequency is every one to two years, depending on how much foot traffic the rugs gets and whether or not there are smokers, elderly people, people with respiratory illnesses, children or pets in the home or place of business. For example, an area rug that receives a lot of foot traffic and ones located in buildings where there are children and pets will need to be cleaned more frequently than one located in a seldom used office or guest room.