Maybe I’m alone in this but…I’m addicted to those social media videos of professionals deep cleaning disgustingly dirty rugs. Here is a link in case you are blissfully unaware and want a new addiction! 😉 I don’t know what it is about those videos (or my personality), but I find myself just mesmorized! I also find myself saying, “I can definitely do this with my rugs…even without the fancy equipment”. So I gave it a try…and it was both a great and horrible idea simultaneously.
I started by dragging this 5’x7′ rug into our driveway on a truly beautiful day. I didn’t want to chance any random rain cloud ruining any hard work. Our driveway has a slight incline so I thought this would help with the drainage. I chose to trial this process on this specific rug because it’s small enough to easily manipulate and it was absolutely gross. This rug is in a high traffic area of our home, under our “breakfast nook” where we eat most of our meals, the kids do their homework, and close to where the dogs eat their meals as well…so basically it gets a LOT of love!
First things first, I used our regular garden hose to soak the rug as much as possible. This alone was helpful in getting some of the loose dirt off the rug.
As an avid follower of “Go Clean Co” on Instagram, I’m a firm believer in the power of powdered Tide. So I sprinkled a ton on the soaking wet rug. First lesson learned, this was way too much Tide! I could have been good with half of this sprinkled amount!
I then started scrubbing the Tide into the rug with a hand-held brush. While this was insanely satisfying, I quickly moved to a larger broom-like brush instead. I made sure that all of the powdered Tide was scrubbed into the rug and any obvious stains or dirtier areas got extra elbow grease!
It was at this step that I was feeling really good about myself because the rug was completely scrubbed down, smelling amazing, and evidence of dirt being removed was obvious.
So I got the garden hose back out and worked on the first (of many) rinses. Next was my favorite part…the pressure washer! This wasn’t as satisfying as I had hoped, maybe because my rug didn’t have built-on crusty dirt, but it was still enjoyable! The challenge was that there was SO much Tide and bubbles in the rug, so even after the pressure washing, I had to continually rinse it until the bubbles stopped flowing off. I used the garden hose to rinse the top and I placed it under the rug to help rinse that side as well. I also rolled it up and tried to squeeze out as much as possible by standing on it! The second challenge was that my driveway didn’t have the incline necessary to ensure it wasn’t just sitting in soapy/dirty water.
Once most of the run off was clear, I now had to figure out how to dry this thing. Thankfully, it was a very sunny day with more sunny days in the forecast! So, we got out a fairly tall ladder and attempted to let it hang dry. The challenge was that this rug was HEAVY. I wish I had a video of us trying to get this rug lifted onto that ladder…comical, I am sure! Once it was hanging like this, I gave it another rinse with the garden hose just to make sure any of the dirty water it was sitting in was rinsed off.
My next worry was that I didn’t want it to dry in this shape and then not be able to lay flat. So, we waited about an hour to allow as much to drip off as possible, to hopefully make it a touch easier to move. Then, we got four of our outdoor chairs out, laid them as evenly as possible, and moved the rug over. It still wasn’t super flat but it was in a much better place than before.
And then we waited…and waited…and waited. After two nights and roughly three days of allowing the rug to sun soak, I felt it was dry enough to move back inside. Due to the heavy amount of Tide used, it smelled AMAZING. Even our puppy, one of the reasons for the deep cleaning, had to agree it was much cozier now! 😉 And my fears about it not laying flat were not realized! Whew!
Once we got everything back in place, I felt much better about this little journey! The before and after pictures show a small difference but I couldn’t really appreciate how much it needed to be cleaned until I compared it to a larger version of the same rug in the next room. Not only does it visibly look and smell cleaner, but the colors are just brighter!
I am FOR SURE glad I did this but I’m scratching my head wondering how on earth to do a larger rug…physically. We struggled manipulating this smaller one BUT now that I know what’s possible, I think the larger rugs need it even more now! So my thinking cap is on because we can’t have just one clean rug!
This process has also possibly given me the confidence to purchase a preloved rug from an estate sale. I had always passed them up because I was worried how my animals would react to new smells…but now that I know I can deep clean it without too much issue, I’m open!