7 Tips For Extending The Life Of Your Oriental Rugs

Oriental rugs are beautiful but they are not cheap and if you own one of these expensive beauties, it is advisable to put a few measures in place that will help extend the life of your rug.

We’ve put together a few precautions and guidelines that will help you preserve the beauty and value of your quality rug investment. 

10 Year Old Rug
The Older The Rug, The More Valuable It Is As Long As The Rug Is In Good Condition.

1. Rotate Your Rug Frequently

This is the most effective and also the easiest thing you can do to keep your rug looking good longer. When you rotate the rug frequently, it prevents extended exposure to the same harmful elements.

Helps with protection from sunlight

For example, if you have sunlight coming into the room at certain angles, only the few sections of the rug that get exposed to the sunlight will get faded, resulting in a rug that looks inconsistent with some faded patches and some bright patches. When you rotate the rug, it gets evenly exposed so that the fading is gradual and unnoticeable.

Protection from heavy furniture

Also, if you have furniture sitting atop your rug for a long time, the wool in those portions of the rug that bear the weight of the furniture is likely to get permanently damaged, ruining the overall look of the rug. Rotating the rug regularly will prevent this from happening.

Rug Roation Effects
Rotating Your Rug Could Also Prevent Damage To The Rug Edges.

2. Protection From Direct Sunlight

Rotating your rug will prevent extensive fading in any one section of the rug, but it will still eventually get slightly faded with the strong sunlight.

The best way to prevent this from happening is to use heavy curtains or window shades or shutters to keep the sunlight out.

3. Don’t Wait For A Moth Attack

Moths may look small and not capable of doing much damage but they are in fact the single largest enemy of oriental rugs and are capable of doing widespread damage. It is not the adult moth but actually the moth larva that do all the damage.

Not only does the larva eat up the pile but they also chew at the knots at the back of the rug. Moths tend to lay their eggs in dark, undisturbed areas such as the rug corners or portions that lie under the furniture.

Regular exposure to air and light and frequent rotation will keep moths at bay and prevent damage by their larva.  Spraying the rug once or twice a year with a moth spray will double the protection against these rug pests.

4. Use Good Quality Padding

Good quality padding can double the life of an oriental rug.  This is because the padding prevents moving and wrinkling when anyone walks over the rug, thus offering it some amount of buffering against heavy traffic. Padding made of fiber or hair with a rubberized surface is the most effective for this purpose.

Synthetic pads are cheaper but synthesize into an abrasive kind of powder after some time, doing more harm than good.

Padding For Wood Floor
Padding For Wood Floor
Thick Under Pads
Use Thick padding For Uneven Tile Surfaces

5. Do All Repairs In A Timely Manner

If your rug is placed on the floor, wear and tear is inevitable but there are steps you can take to curtail the damage and prevent it from getting worse to the point where it cannot be repaired.

Holes in a rug will only expand and keep getting progressively worse if you do not do anything about them. Repairs are best done when the cuts and tears are small and can be contained. If you notice a hole on your rug, no matter how small it is, get it repaired as soon as possible.

Selvages are the one part of a rug that are most susceptible to damage and fraying as they are not as compressed as the rest of the rug pile. The good news is, these things can be easily fixed if you take your rug to rug repair expert.

These experienced professionals are highly skilled at darning worn edges, replacing fringes and re knotting damaged or worn areas in the middle of the rug. They can even restore large holes. 

Kashan Rug Repair Before And After
Example Of A Repaired Kashan Rug – Before And After Fringe Repair

6. Regular Cleaning Helps Prevent Scratches, Fading And A Host Of Other Issues

Regular cleaning by sweeping, beating and vacuuming will help keep your oriental rug looking clean and bright.

Dust and debris tend to collect on the pile of the rug. As you walk over the rug, this dust and debris sinks further down into the pile and abrades the fibers of the pile as well as the foundation, resulting in a tacky looking  floor cover.

To keep your rug clean sweet with a soft bristled room at least once a week to dislodge the debris from the bottom. After sweeping, run the vacuum over the rug to remove the loosened debris. You can read more about the right way to sweep and vacuum rugs here

Beating the rug is also a very effective method of cleaning a rug. This is easy to do single handedly for smaller rugs but you will need help to lift and beat a larger sized rug. Read about the exact technique for beating a rug here. 

Cleaning Persian Rug
Have Your Persian Rug Professionally Cleaned Before Storing.

7. Storing Your Rug

If you want to store your rug for whatever reason, make sure you do it the right way.  to prevent damage by moths or rotting due to dampness.

Getting to enjoy the beauty of your rug for so much longer is reward enough and is worth all the time and trouble that goes into looking after it. 

Upcoming Posts About Rug Maintenance

We are posting more information about Oriental rug maintenance in the coming weeks. If there is anything else you would like us to add about rug maintenance, feel free to mention it in the comments.

Also if you have any tips you would like to share with everyone, please go on ahead and share it below.

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