Gently clean wool carpet - this is how it works

• Costs and specialist "> Instructions - Gently clean wool carpet
  • 1. Shake
  • 2. Wash the carpet
  • 3. Rinse
  • 4. Washing or care products
  • 5. Dry
• Tips for quick readers

A wool rug is an acquisition for many decades. Good wool carpets are very durable, at least if they are well cared for and gently cleaned. In the strong wool fibers, however, dirt can also settle properly. So that the carpet does not become gray and musty at some point, it has to be cleaned very gently once in a while.

Originally, the wool carpet was a good investment, which was purchased as a harmonious complement to your institution. But the wool rug is also a feel-good factor, if you enjoy the comforting feeling of walking with bare feet in summer and winter. However, the carpet will naturally always suffer from daily use. With vacuuming alone, a wool rug is not thoroughly cleaned, so the good wool rug should be gently and gently cleaned from time to time. How to clean the rug from wool itself carefully and value-preserving, we show here in the tips.

You need this:

• Washing machine (small carpets)
• Bath / tub
• vacuum cleaner
• stable drying rod
• carpet beater
• clothes horse
• bucket
• Wollwaschmittel
• carpet detergent
• water

Costs and specialist company?

There are specialists who are dedicated to cleaning carpets. If you have a professional carpet cleaner in the area, you will have to pay at least 16.00 Euro per square meter for cleaning a wool rug. Some companies also charge a minimum price for smaller carpets smaller than two square meters. But the cleaning company must pay for any damage to the carpet. If possible, do not sign clauses that exempt the company from liability. There will be a reason if a company has such disclaimers in its terms.

The cost of your own cleaning is very manageable, because you only need a special wool detergent for carpets, which is as far as possible also moisturizing and a lot of water. So you should get along with costs between 5.00 and 10.00 euros easily. If you do not find carpet cleaning products for wool carpets, just use a good wool detergent for clothes.

Tip: Do not believe in any home remedy that promises you to get the carpet back to clinical cleanliness. Many things may work well with synthetic fibers or cotton as a rug, but with a real wool rug, care should be taken to keep the rug from tearing or warping.

These products should be avoided when cleaning:

• bleaching
• vinegar
• Detergent with surfactants
• Home remedy sauerkraut

Carpet foam or carpet powder from various manufacturers is already available for wool carpets. At least on the packaging it is often stated that the products can be used for it. You should not try this with a wool rug that is dear to you, but rather not. In most cases, the products contain brightener, a type of bleach that is harmful to the carpet.

Instructions - Gently clean wool carpet

If it is essential to actually wash the carpet properly, you should first prepare a good place for the dry season on which the carpet will not warp. Ideal for this are several clothes hangers that you can place next to each other. The clothesline is not suitable for this. For one, the weight of the carpet is often too large, on the other hand, the carpet sags and warps.

If you want to clean a small wool mat or a small carpet rug in the washing machine, this is quite possible. Most machines today have a good gentle wool program. The only problem is often the load weight of the machine, because the wool is very difficult due to the water. If the carpet is just below the permissible load weight when it is placed in the machine, it will clearly be too heavy after the water has run in. The bearings of the machine can be damaged by excessive weight. It is therefore better to wash even small wool carpets by hand.

1. Shake

Many wool rugs are very tight, so the structure should be loosened slightly before washing. You can achieve this by strong shaking. For a heavy big rug, you should get a second person for help. At the same time the loose dirt and sand falls out of the carpet.

Tip: Depending on the length of the pile, you can also hang the carpet over a pole and easily work it with the good old carpet beater. But even here you should not hit as hard as with other "normal" carpets.

2. Wash the carpet

In many cases, a mistake is made even at the temperature of the water. The term lukewarm is different for everyone and therefore misleading. You should always wash wool in cold water to be on the safe side. The modern wool detergents work just as well with cold water as with lukewarm water.

Tip: Cold water has the further advantage that it does not wash out the natural fats of the fiber so much and the wool fiber retains its dirt-repellent effect rather than in warm water. In addition, a refatting detergent should be used or a special wool rinse may be used.

The more the carpet can spread during the wash, the better. So if you have a large bathtub or a kiddy pool, you should use this. In a small tub, you can only wash very small carpets.

Gently push the carpet back and forth in the detergent solution. Do not pull on a corner or lift the rug out of the water at the edge. Always work as flat as possible and, if possible, grasp the entire carpet by sliding your hands and forearms underneath.

Tip: The best cleaning you can give a wool rug costs nothing. However, this cost-effective variant is only possible in winter, because you need snow for it . If you can wait that long, you should try cleaning once. Lay the carpet in the snow and throw clean snow on the carpet. The snow can then be incorporated into the carpet with your hands. Then you have to shake out the carpet only again, the snow then falls out together with the dirt.

3. Rinse

In order not to distort the carpet, you should just pull the plug out of the tub or push down the children's pool on the edge to get rid of the washing water. In the garden you can then rinse the carpet in the pool with the garden hose, in the bathtub simply take the shower head and rinse the carpet so.

Tip: Turn the carpet over and over, but do not pull it. Try to fold the whole carpet in the tub. If the weight of the carpet is too high due to the high amount of water, you should also do this work with a helper.

4. Washing or care products

Some carpets need to be washed several times. In the first cleaning the dirt is usually only soaked and not completely washed out. Therefore, just leave the carpet in the tub after rinsing and let it soak in new water. Give back enough detergent here again. If your wool detergent is difficult to dissolve, you can stir it in a bucket next to the tub and then add it.

Tip: If you would like to incorporate a care product into the wool rug, you should also mix it in a bucket and distribute it as evenly as possible over the entire rug. Also, the care product must be rinsed thoroughly again in most cases.

5. Dry

If you have only one drying rod, you should always hang the carpet after a few hours, so it does not warp. If you have the option, you should prefer to spread a wool rug over several clothes racks. Orient the carpet so that the corners form a right angle .

Tip: Some households have older slatted frames that are no longer needed. You can also lay out the rug well on that. So the wool carpet dries quite evenly and lies flat. You can also lay out some poles over the bath to dry the carpet on. But you must remember that the carpet takes a long time to dry. In that time you could not use the tub properly.

During the dry season it is important to keep the carpet straight from time to time so that it does not warp. After a few days, you can shake the wool carpet properly, so that the pile loosens and the carpet is nice and easy.

Tips for quick readers

• Shake out the carpet and lightly pat
• Wash wash water with carpet detergent for wool
• Water rather too cold than too warm
• Use moisturizing detergent
• Carefully push in the tub
• Turn over the carpet over a large area
• do not pull on corners or edges
• rinse with cold water / rinse off soap
• Do not wrestle carpet
• lay out as precisely as possible on several clothes racks
• no additional heat during drying
• Carpet now and then in shape
• gentle free cleaning with snow
• Thoroughly dry the carpet after cleaning