At about 2:20pm, June 2nd 2011, a lady came into Luv-A-Rug carrying her rolled up shag rug. I greeted her and told her that she had a great coloured shag. It was a charcoal grey and cream polypropylene shag rug that she bought from Scan Design in Millstream Village.
She said that her rug was new and it had a small yellow spot from where her friend had dropped a hotdog with ketchup and mustard on it. She wanted to know if we could just spot clean the area.
With it being a quiet day I said that I would try just using our own spotter and see what would come off if she had the time. She said yes she did, so I sat down and started spot cleaning the area.
As I was doing it I explained to her that whenever she had to clean up a spot on her shag to always wipe from the bottom of the fibers to the top as to not cause the pile to distort.
We sat there on her shag and had a good discussion about her shag, Scan Design and coffee tables, as she had ordered one from Scan design to go with her rug. I had also found 30 cents and 3 bobby pins in her shag and I explained the best way to care for her shag.
I said that Shags needed to be vacuumed and cleaned more often that regular pile rugs and once a month she should turn her rug upside and vacuum the back. Here is a video I did showing the best way to vacuum a shag rug.
I spent about 10-15 minutes sitting there chatting and cleaning the mustard off each individual fiber. With a shag that is how you remove spots and spills is to WIPE EACH FIBER FROM BOTTOM TO TOP. When you wipe against the fibers you are spreading the spill further and it makes the fibers fray open and not lay right.
I succeeded in removing at least 90% of all the yellow mustard from her rug and made it almost invisible when you looked at the rug. I had good success because the rug was a synthetic fiber, she did not try to remove the spot herself and she got the rug to us the next day after it happened.
The client was thrilled that I could get the spot out and explained how to take care of her shag. She was also happy that I wasn't charging her for me doing it. It was such a little thing to do and took no time to do it that I didn't feel right asking her to pay. She also said that when she did need her rug cleaned that she would be bringing back to Luv-A-Rug. That is the best compliment ever!
She asked the best spot cleaner to use and my answer was water and a white cotton towel. Vinegar is good for urine, salt is good for red wine same with dry oats for wet spills, baking soda is BAD! as a spot cleaner for rugs. Adding anything else just makes a layered sandwich and can make a spot into a permanent stain.
Next time you get a food spill on your rug don't rub deeper into the rug. Wipe in the direction of the fibers in straight lines, blot, and if possible keep the area damp until you can get the rug in for cleaning.
Here's to spot free area rugs, RugloverMary
