Wool rugs work well if you wish to give your living space a cozy feel. However, they mainly come in handy when you don't want to go for a carpet for the entire floor. These rugs look beautiful and last for decades. But for that, you need to take good care of them.
It's not just about hiring a professional cleaner that will get the job done. You can do it effectively on your own and save a few bucks.
Let's find out more about cleaning a wool rug with baking soda. It has been a pretty helpful trick to solve this problem.
Can You Put Baking Soda on a Wool Rug?
Cleaning a wool rug is a little time-consuming, but it's not complicated. And yes, you can use baking soda on wool rugs. It is one of the best DIYs you can pull off right in the comfort of your home.
With it, you can keep your wool rug smelling new and looking clean without much effort. You don't need to waste a lot of your money on those expensive wool rug cleaners. Baking soda can eliminate those stains and also remove any fragrance.
Using it on your wool rugs will act as an antioxidant and clean those bacteria causing the stain and any odor. However, if you have noticed that the color is still there, you will need to go for a carpet cleaner.
Be sure to check the instructions given on its label or hire a professional to get the job done for you. But make sure you don't go for an over-the-top service that will break your wallet in half.
How to Clean a Wool Rug with Baking soda? - Step-By-Step Guide
If you are looking to deep clean a wool rug, you might go for a professional cleaner for the best results. It would be an ideal solution if you are looking for excellent results and are dealing with some tough stains.
But if you are cleaning a wool rug with those spills, dust, stain, or surface dirt, you can use baking soda.
Here is a step-by-step guide that you can use to clean a wool rug and make it look and smell new again.
Cleaning supplies
First, you need to gather a few supplies to start working on your wool rug cleaning process. These supplies are as follows:
- Buckets
- Vacuum featuring beater brush
- Baking soda
- A bowl of warm water
- Fan
- Clean sponge
- Clean a paper towel or a piece of cloth
Cleaning out with baking soda
Step 1 - Identity the carpet's nap
Before you use baking soda on the carpet, you need to identify the direction of your rug. You can determine this by brushing your carpet in a straight line and finding out which side feels rough upon touch and which side stays smooth. The softer side is the nap side of the rug.
Step 2 - Use baking-soda
If you have wool rug shampoo, this is the time to use it. However, if you don't have a rug cleaner, use baking soda instead and make sure you sprinkle baking soda in the areas of the carpet that you want to clean.
Leave it on the carpet for about half an hour. Now vacuum that particular area where you have sprinkled the baking soda. Please make sure you never scrub it. It is imperative because you will dip the stain rather than pulling it out of the carpet.
Step 3 - Rising it with clean water.
The next step is to rinse the wool rug with clean water. You don't need to scrub; rinse thoroughly. Make sure that you don't over-wet the carpet to get rid of that baking soda. If you overly wet the carpet, any dirt will adhere to the mat.
Step 4 - Time to dry
This process is probably going to take most of the time. That is because wool rugs need an extended period to dry entirely because of their extra thick fibers. There are different ways to make your rug dry.
You can always wipe your wool rug dry using a white paper towel and repeat the process multiple times till the rug is completely dry.
A white paper towel will ensure the carpet doesn't get any paper towel color on it. Then, based on the size of your rug, you can put it out in the open to dry under the sun. If the sun is not out, you can use a fan or a space heater for this purpose.
You will notice that the material of your rug feels a bit too stiff after it has dried. Now you need to vacuum the fibers one more time or brush them to bring out the softness.
Cleaning out animal fur
It would help if you began by brushing out those pet hair as well as surface dirt. These pet hair can become embedded into the carpet and can become very tough to remove. You won't be able to get rid of stains even with a vacuum. Therefore, you need to go for a stiff brush here. Make sure to go in the direction of the nap of your rug.
Cleaning out with an agitator
You can go for a beater bar which is a contoured agitator bar made of metal. It is attached to a rotating brush roll that has bristles. With the vibration, dirt is lifted in front of the depth within those natural fibers.
And if the filth is so tiny that you can easily carry it, you can ring it outdoors and start shaking and beating it. With a few moments of vigorous motion, it will lose the dirt from the wool fibers.
Cleaning out with a vacuum
It would help if you vacuumed your rug pretty frequently to get rid of most of the dirt. But, if you do it regularly, you can keep your carpet clean for a long time. But keep in mind that you only need to vacuum those wool rugs twice a month.
Vacuuming too much will pull out those fibers from the rug. You will have to turn the beater bar off if you are doing a regular vacuum. To vacuum the area, you might have to be a bit thorough to ensure no dust goes back on the carpet.
How to Clean a Wool Carpet Stain?
If you are looking to get rid of a wool carpet stain, you can use baking soda for this purpose. But these stains are stiff, so that you will need a bit of extra cleaning power as well. It is where some vinegar comes into play.
You will have to take a picture of baking soda and vinegar and apply it to your stained area. Keep in mind not to scrub and always try to blot. In the end, rinse it away with water and air dry.
Most people think that baking soda with vinegar will damage the colors and fibers to bleach the carpet. But this will not happen if you don't leave it for an extended period. Vinegar is acidic yet mild, and using it quickly will not damage your carpet. Don't use cold or hot water for this purpose.
How Do You Get Old Stains Out of Wool Carpets?
If you want to get rid of any old stains on our old carpets, you will need to go for baking soda and vinegar. In addition to that, you will also need a rug shampoo or a rug cleaning detergent.
If you have a rug cleaning detergent, then using it directly on the stain is all you have to do. However, if the colors don't disappear, you can use the rug cleaner again and notice the stain fading away.
You can also use baking soda, sprinkle it on the stains, and let it sit for about half an hour. After that, you can rinse it with warm water. The next step is to use laundry detergent instead of rug shampoo.
Make a mixture of white vinegar and detergent in warm water. Now rinse this warm water.
You can repeat this process till there is no stain visible. Then, baking soda will loosen the stain and any dirt. Later vinegar and detergent mixture will work on the stain to make your target look new again.
Getting rid of old oil stains
If you want to get rid of old greasy stains, you need to make sure that you sprinkle baking soda on the stained area. After that, you can mix a cup of vinegar into a cup of water and add a few drops of dish soap.
Add this mixture to a spray bottle. Vinegar will immediately develop foam as it gets in touch with the baking roads, and it will straight remove the stain. Just leave this mixture for about a couple of hours.
After that, rinse this mixture with warm water. You will see those greasy stains fade away. You can repeat the process once again and allow your carpet to air dry out in the sun or use a space heater to dry it. You can do the same for pet stains.
Wrap-Up
How to clean a wool rug with baking soda is a pretty simple process. But getting rid of stains from your wool rug can be challenging. However, you can use baking soda pretty effectively to get the job done but do it repeatedly for best results.
You can use baking soda to deep clean a wool rug and spot clean a wool rug. Just make sure that you clean a wool rug and allow it to fully dry, as wool carpets can take a while to dry completely.