Care & maintenance of viscose rugs

Many new cut-pile rugs have a natural tendency to lose fibres, this is called shedding or fluffing. This is no reason for alarm, it does not affect appearance nor performance, and will stop eventually.

Dust  and dirt does get into our homes. This dust and dirt will get trapped between the fibres and will accelerate the wear of the rug. We are able to avoid this to some extent by laying entrance mats.

Regular and thorough vacuuming will help to overcome these problems. It is important to vacuum rugs in a perpendicular direction to the pile. If you vacuum in the direction of the pile, the fibres will mat down and cover the dust and dirt that you are trying to remove. If you vacuum against the direction of the pile, you’ll cause unnecessary wear and tear on your rug. A final passage in the direction of the pile will help to restore the rug's pristine look.

TIP In order to find out the direction of the pile, look at the direction in which the rug fibres naturally lay. If you can’t tell the pile direction just by looking at the rug, run your hand across the rug. If you are brushing against the rug pile, you will feel some resistance. 

Best results are obtained when the rug surface is dry. Most people are passing the vacuum over the rug too fast. No matter how strong the suction is, you need to pass it slowly over the rug to vacuum all the dust and dirt. 

As with all rugs, we recommend removing the beater bar on your vacuum before vacuuming your woven rug. If it cannot be removed, set the beater bar on the highest possible setting. Most certainly when vacuuming the edges of you rug.

Be careful with the fringe of a woven rug when vacuuming. Mishandling a woven rug’s fringe can cause unnecessary damage to your rug and vacuum.

We can only give advice in good faith, seeking the counsel of a professional is recommended, however, should you wish to try it yourself at your own responsibility we can offer the following advice.

Stain removal can be more successful if a fibre protection is applied when purchasing the rug. This lays a protective film over the fibres so that they will absorb less moisture. Nowadays, these are invisible, odourless and environmentally friendly, free of hazardous substances (such as fluorocarbones). Here, too, it is advisable to seek professional help and receive thorough recommendation on the correct product to be applied.

Time is of the essence, when you have a spill or spot a problem act fast! This will prevent the dirt from being absorbed and fixed within the fibre.

Scoop up any solids using a spoon or a blunt knife. Blot up liquids by gently dabbing from the edge of the stain inwards to prevent the stain from spreading. For this, use a white absorbent paper or kitchen towel. Keep dabbing gently, change or turn the paper often until the stain returns dry.

If necessary, you can also treat the stain with additional lukewarm water. But be careful with this, not to use too much water and make sure that all the moisture is properly dabbed off.

IMPORTANT Never rub or scrub which can ‘burst’ the pile surface causing permanent damage. Do not over wet the carpet. Excess moisture can cause streaks or mildew.

Here too, it is important to respect the direction of the pile. Always dab in the direction of the pile. When the rug is damp, the pile must be laid in the correct direction so that it remains in that direction after drying. How to determine the correct direction of the pile can be found in the tip above.

If the stain remains the safest choice is to call in a professional.

Shedding or fluffing

Especially natural fibres with a cut pile initially have the tendency to lose fibres. This is, as mentioned before, no reason to worry and has no effect on the wear and tear of your rug. This will eventually cease, just vacuum more often, a little more gently and don't forget to empty your dust bag  more frequently.

Shading 

Cut pile rugs often display a characteristic called shading. This is when there appears to be patches of different coloured rug after vacuuming or in areas that have been walked on, or even with an uneven floor. These variations are caused by little changes in the way that the pile is sitting in relation to other fibres. This phenomenon is simply the result of a trick of light. 

This can generally be solved by gently vacuuming in the direction of the pile.

Of course, long-term use can train the piles to lie in a certain direction. This is called pile reversal and is mostly caused by a general pattern of walking. Unfortunately, this cannot be solved and is inherent in the wear and tear of your rug. What can help to delay this effect as much as possible is again regular vacuuming of your rug and if possible regular rotation of your rug to spread this wear and tear as much as possible.

Fading or changing colour

Rugs can change colour for various reasons, either because the fibres are gradually soiled or because the fibres become slightly flattened (see also shading) or because the dye in the fibres fades when exposed to direct sunlight (or more detailed U.V. light). Once the fading has set in, there is not much you can do about it. So better be safe than sorry and avoid direct sunlight as much as possible, also don’t forget sunlight from a skylight! In this case too, rotating the rug can spread the wear and tear.

Curling rug corners

Rug corner curling can happen to any rug, at just about any time. 

Curling of the rug corners can have several causes:

• Most of the rugs are delivered rolled to avoid folds in the rug, which means that the corners are fixed in a rolled-up for a longer period of time. If we then want to install the rug flat on our floor, it may be difficult to get the corners or the edges of the rug to lie flat.
• This may also be due to too much tension in the foundation strings. Strangely enough, this is usually the case with thick-pile, tightly woven high quality rugs made from natural fibres. But this can also happen to all rugs.
• Finally, the humidity in the room can also determine whether the corners curl up or not. The more humid the room, the greater the chance of curling.

Fortunately, there are also various methods of dealing with this:

• The use of double-sided tape can help, you just stick the corners to the ground. Of course, this only works with a tile floor or hardwood. You have to be careful that this double-sided tape does not damage your floor, which is why masking tape - the kind that’s often used by painters - that you roll in a small flat ball sometimes is recommended.
• Weight can also help. Lay a few hardcover books on smoothed corners for a certain period of time and it is possible that the corners will remain flat after that. Not all corners always curl up, if possible you can also put the curled up part under a piece of furniture to keep them flat too.
• Steam also might be a solution. If you have a steam cleaner, you can use it to gently moisten the corners. This will relieve tension and relax the surface making it lay flat. You can then use a light weight to fix the corner while it dries. To avoid damage, do not use a heavy weight to dry the rug, as this could leave a mark, and do not over-wet the rug!
• Take a wet towel and moisten the areas where the carpet is curling. Next, take an iron and set it to a medium heat. With the towel still covering the carpeted area, hold down the iron and press.
• If you don’t already own a steam cleaner and you don’t have the time to wait a few weeks to use weight to flatten your rug, your method of choice will be to use an iron. This process will be just like using an iron to take wrinkles out of a shirt. First, gently dampen any area you’ll be pressing the iron to. Fold a towel around these dampened areas before placing the iron down. This way the iron won't accidentally damage the bindings in the rug. Be especially careful to use a towel. Press down, keeping the towel in place, and repeat the process for any other corner still curling.