A rug should be cleaned every 6-12 months, in general. However, your lifestyle, your home environment and the type of rugs you have may mean you’ll want to clean them more frequently than this. 

We’re going to explore rug cleaning below and how often you should clean yours. We’ll discuss the elements that your rug is exposed to, whether your home has pets and a great deal more. So, if you want to care for your rugs correctly, this is the ideal article for you. 

How often should you vacuum rugs?

We’d recommend vacuuming your rugs twice a week. Most of us will vacuum our rugs at the same time we decide to clean our carpets and this is an excellent way of ensuring the rugs are kept clean. While vacuuming won’t remove everything, it will keep dust, pollutants, bacteria and unwanted smells at bay for the most part. 

If you notice any lingering smells coming from your rug or your rug looks a bit dirtier than normal, it might be time to shampoo them rather than vacuum them. However, in general, vacuuming your rugs twice a week will keep them looking and smelling good for a long time. 

Remember when vacuuming your rug, remove the beater bar if it has one otherwise you risk damaging the fibres.

How often should you shampoo your rugs?

Rugs should ideally be shampooed twice a year at least.  If you have kids, pets or smoke in the home, then you should consider shampooing your rugs four times a year. Shampooing your rug is an excellent way of bringing it back to life. It can restore the colours in the rug and get rid of any lingering smells. 

A good tip is to take a photo of your rug on your phone just after you have shampooed it. Then, take a look at the photo periodically and compare the rug to it. If the rug begins to look duller than it appears in the photo, it is time to shampoo it. 

Factors affecting how often you should clean rugs

There are a lot of factors that determine how often you should clean your rugs. Some play a vital role in how your home looks, feels and smells, and others can even play a role in how healthy the family is. Let’s explore these factors and see how often you should clean and shampoo your rugs if any of these factors play a role in your home. 

Pets

If your pets use the rug to sleep on, their hair will get onto the rug and can be difficult to remove just by vacuuming. The rug can also begin to smell, especially if the pet has an accident on the rug or loves to lay on it after a walk in the rain. 

Even if you try and keep your pets off the rug as much as possible, their smells and hair can get onto the rug. So, if you have pets, vacuuming your rugs at least twice a week is a must, and shampooing them every three months will keep them fresh and clean. If your pet has an accident on the rug, shampooing straight away will ensure the rug doesn’t stain and the smells do not linger. 

Family

Kids, as wonderful as they are, can cause a real headache when it comes to keeping rugs clean. They love to explore and don’t mind leaving crumbs, crayons and painted creations in their wake. Vacuuming your rugs twice a week will keep the crumbs at bay, but if you notice any stains caused by any family members, you should spring into action and shampoo your rugs as quickly as possible. 

Shampooing your rugs every three months is also a good idea if you have kids. They may be pushing dirt deep into the rug pile that vacuuming alone won’t get to. 

Smoking

Smoking in the home can be very harmful to rugs. If you have a very precious rug, you’ll want to try and avoid smoking in the same room as it whenever possible. Smoking can cause discolouration of your rugs quicker than most factors; it can also cause lingering smells. 

Sadly, vacuuming your rugs isn’t really going to help with the damage that smoking around them can cause. So the only way to care for your rugs is to give them a through cleaning and shampooing at least every three months, but more frequently if you have the time. 

Allergies

Rugs can be a great place for bacteria and pollen. The deeper pile of rugs allows bacteria, viruses and pollen to cling on and this may cause all kinds of health issues in your home, especially if your family is susceptible to hay fever or colds. 

Shampooing your rugs can help to destroy all pollen and bacteria in the pile. Ideally, this should happen every three months, but more frequently during the times of the year when the family is most affected. So, if your family has hay fever, for example, more frequent shampooing in the spring and summer can help keep it at bay. 

Rug location

If your rugs are in high-traffic areas, then they will get dirtier faster. If your rug is in the entryway or main hallway, or if it is in your living room in a position that means everyone will walk over it, additional cleaning will be required. 

High traffic zones can cause more dirt to be buried in the pile of the rug, and discolouration to occur much faster. You may wish to move your rug to a different location to keep it looking better for longer. 

Concluding remarks

In general, a deep clean of a rug can occur every 12-18 months with regular vacuuming. However, if any of the factors mentioned above play a role in your home, more frequent cleaning will be required. The more you care for your rugs, the better they will look and the longer they will be in your home. Regular maintenance of rugs will keep them looking good for a while, but eventually, you’ll need to shampoo them to bring them back to life whether you have the factors above in your home or not.