If you own a sheepskin rug, you might be asking how to safely clean it in the comfort of your own home. Fortunately, there are a number of simple approaches you can take. There are a plethora of options, such as vacuuming, shaking, and spot washing the rug. Additionally, there are a number of methods for cleaning up pet urine, liquids, and spills, as well as removing stains from food, fat, and grease from sheepskin carpets. This article will reveal the professional method for washing a sheepskin rug in the comfort of your own home without ruining it.
What Are Sheepskin Rugs and How Do You Clean Them at Home?
A sheepskin rug is crafted using the animal’s full-body hide and wool. The wool fiber, often known as fleece, is on top. The skin is on the underside. Tanning transforms raw hide into finished leather by permanently attaching wool fibers to the skin.
Rather from being a brilliant white, sheepskin rugs are inherently a more subdued shade of ivory or off-white. For the simple reason that it is wool’s inherent hue. Nevertheless, there is a wide range of colors that can be achieved when dyeing sheepskin carpets.
The pile of a faux sheepskin rug is actually a combination of acrylic and polyester fibers. Typically, they are crafted from long fibers that are meant to mimic the appearance and texture of a genuine sheepskin rug.
Why Have A Sheepskin Rug?
Having a sheepskin rug on your floor is a great choice for many reasons. The following are a few of these causes.
An Elegant and Cozy Accent for Any Room: Sheepskin Rugs
A sheepskin rug is an instant way to upgrade the look of any room in your house. You can see why they are such a hit as decorative accents for homes when you consider how warm, velvety, and incredibly soft they are to the touch.
Although they can be dyed a number of hues, real sheepskin carpets are off white by nature. What this implies is that no matter what style of space you’re trying to decorate, there’s bound to be a rug in some hue or shade that will work.
Furthermore, sheepskin rugs are multipurpose and not limited to area rugs. Sheepskin rugs are staples in many homes, often seen draped over sofas and used as foot rugs. Draping the rugs over patio chairs is another common application for them. You can always count on the rug to keep you warm and insulated, no matter what you do with it.
The Hypo allergenicity of Sheepskin Rugs
Rugs made of sheepskin often do not have many allergens. This is because fleece’s inherent oils make it exceptionally impervious to these environmental aggressors. So, sheepskin rugs aren’t going to trigger any allergic reactions. Because of this, they are ideal for households whose members suffer from asthma or allergies.
How To Clean A Sheepskin Rug At Home Without Damaging It – A Comprehensive Step by Step Guide
Real sheepskin rugs are extremely durable and stain-resistant. But you’ll have to wash and clean them periodically. In terms of positive qualities, one of the best is how easy they are to clean. Sheepskin rugs are easy to clean and brighten if you follow the correct procedures.
Always Read The Care Label On The Rug
The first thing you should do if you want to wash your sheepskin rug at home is read the care label that came with it. The best methods for cleaning the rug are detailed on the label. Some examples of this information are if the rug is machine washable, whether spot cleaning is better, and whether the rug can be machine dried.
Although it may appear to be stating the obvious, you would be shocked at the number of individuals who fail to read the care label. This leads many to wash their sheepskin rug in ways that aren’t ideal.
Rug Detangle
Matted and worn wool fibers provide an ideal environment for the growth of dirt and germs. So, it’s important to untangle your rug frequently. Not only does detangling make cleaning and washing the rug a breeze, but it also reduces the likelihood of dirt and grime building up.
Keep in mind that detangling your rug is a must to vacuuming or brushing it. Before you wash your rug by hand or in a machine, make sure you untangle it.
You can untangle the knots in your rug by using various types of brushes. But the most effective type of brush would be a metal toothed or metal hard wire brush. These brushes can also be described as a dog grooming brush or a wool carding brush.
Shake The Rug
Give your rug a good shake! Take your sheepskin rug outside and shake it repeatedly. By giving the rug some good firm shakes this should dislodge any small solid pieces of debris that were lodged deeper in the rug.
If you have a particularly large rug then it might be difficult to shake it properly by hand. In this case, you can hang it over a fence or railing and hit it with a rug beater or a broom stick. Don’t forget to work over both sides of the rug using the rug beater.
Vacuum Clean The Rug
Sheepskin rugs love to be vacuumed. Make the vacuum cleaning of your rug a regular part of your general household cleaning.
It’s perfectly safe and effective to vacuum sheepskin rugs in the same way that other rugs can be vacuumed. However, do keep the following points in mind when vacuuming your rug
If your vacuum cleaner has a very powerful suction, then reduce the suction power to the region of mid to low.
If you have spinning brushes on your vacuum, ensure they’re not spinning when cleaning the rug. Alternatively remove the brushes completely when vacuuming, if your vacuum allows for this.
It may be helpful to use the hose or upholstery attachment to vacuum the rug. This can help to get a more deeper penetrating level of cleaning.
Be sure to follow the tips above. Otherwise, you may damage and break the wool when vacuuming.
Hand Wash The Rug
Handwashing is an effective way to clean a stained sheepskin rug, or if you just feel your rug needs a full wash. However, it’s recommended that you limit how often you fully submerge your sheepskin rug in water. This is because frequent water submersion can cause the leather underside to grow more and more stiff over time.
Before hand washing a sheepskin rug, ensure you’ve detangled the rug, then shaken it, then vacuumed it. You need to do this before wet washing the rug, otherwise you’ll get poor results from hand washing.
How To Hand Wash A Sheepskin Rug
- Put lukewarm water into a big plastic tub or bathtub. It is important that the water temperature not exceed 38°C (100°F).
- Dissolve some sheepskin detergent in the water.
A non-ionic detergent free of enzymes is a must-have. The best detergent to use on sheepskin carpets, as opposed to ordinary wool, is one that contains lanolin. Doing so will guarantee the rug’s safety for both the wool fibers and the leather backing.
- Gently swirl the rug around in the liquid after fully submerging it.
- To lightly scrub particularly unclean or discolored portions of the carpeting, use a clean sponge or towel.
- Lightly clean the rug while swishing it around for another five minutes.
- Rinsing the rug is the next step after cleaning it. After you remove the filthy water from the tub, fill it up with clean, lukewarm water. Remember to keep the water temperature below 38°C (100°F).
- Gently but thoroughly rinse the rug by swishing it around in the clean water.
- Remove all excess water from the tub after rinsing the rug.
- After cleaning, there are a few different approaches of drying a sheepskin rug. Read on to discover these.
Get Your Rug Steam Cleaned
Steam cleaning is a great alternative to wet mopping for rugs that require a more thorough cleaning than a vacuum can provide. You may safely and effectively deep clean your sheepskin rug by using steam.
You won’t have to worry about the rug’s leather underside drying stiff because steam cleaning doesn’t involve submerging it in water.
It is important to untangle, shake out, and vacuum a sheepskin rug before steam cleaning it. Do this before you steam clean the rug to remove any solid particles or loose debris. Steam cleaning won’t work as well if you skip this step.
How To Steam Clean A Sheepskin Rug
- Get the steam cleaner to the temperature you want it to work at before you use it.
- Rugs made of wool should be steam cleaned with the grain of the wool. You should always steam clean wool in the same direction it grows.
- No steam cleaner should be left on for longer than 10 minutes. However, if your sheepskin rug is exceptionally huge, you may need a bit more time.
- The rug should not be steam cleaned in a way that gets it overly wet.
Spot Wash The Rug
If you own a sheepskin rug and want to clean it yourself, spot cleaning or washing is another great option. This is the way to go if your rug has multiple unsightly stains or patches, but a thorough wash would be excessive.
Materials You Need
Exclusive rug cleaner for sheepskins. Instead of using any old wool detergent on sheepskin rugs, choose one that is lanolin infused and designed for this type of rug. You can use this detergent to get rid of stains.
Use a clean sponge or cloth. If you want to know if everything has been extracted, it should be white.
Instrument for removing dried particles and solid waste. A spoon or the serrated edge of a butter knife would do. You could use your bare hands to pick up the trash, but it would depend on how big it is.
How To Spot Clean A Stained Sheepskin Rug
- To begin, pick up any large pieces of dirt or debris from the rug using your fingers or a scraper.
- Put some sheepskin rug detergent into a small bottle with some lukewarm water. Get a soapy mixture by stirring it.
- To use a clean cloth, soak it in the shampoo liquid and squeeze out excess moisture until it is damp, not drenched.
- Carefully and frequently wipe the rug’s stained area with the damp towel. Always wipe against the direction that the wool grows.
- Keep wiping the stain until it disappears. Even if the stain won’t come out entirely, you should be able to make it look much less noticeable.
Rinse The Shampoo Off
- Take a clean cloth or sponge and run it under clean water to dampen it.
- Use the sponge to wipe off the left behind shampoo residue from your sheepskin rug.
Get Rid Of Rug Odors With Baking Soda
It may be the case that your sheepskin area rug has an unpleasant smell you need to get rid of. In that case, baking soda will do the trick.
It’s perfectly safe to use baking soda on your rug, just follow the below simple instructions.
- Sprinkle your rug with dry baking soda.
- Using your hands, work the soda into the fibers of the rug. If you prefer, you can use a comb or a brush.
- For best results, leave the baking soda on the rug overnight. If that’s not possible, then be sure to leave it on the rug for at least two hours.
- Take the rug outside and shake it to remove the baking soda. You can also vacuum the rug to remove the baking soda.
- Finally, comb the rug to lift the fibers.
Dry Clean A Dyed Sheepskin Rug
If you have a genuine sheepskin rug that’s been dyed, then it’s not recommended to wet wash the rug. This means you shouldn’t hand wash the rug nor put it in a washing machine if you can avoid it. This is because you could ruin the color if you wet wash the rug.
Instead, take the rug to be dry cleaned. Most dry cleaning companies are very familiar with dry cleaning dyed sheepskin rugs.
How To Clean A Sheepskin Rug In A Washing Machine
Machine washing is an excellent way to clean sheepskin rugs, and it works wonders for smaller rugs. You should, however, restrict the frequency with which you do this. Before you wash your rug in the machine, give it a hand wash if it really needs it. You get the same, if not better, results without using a washing machine.
Step By Step Instructions On How To Wash A Sheepskin Rug In A Washing Machine
1. Before you throw the rug in the washing machine, make sure it is completely detangled.
We have previously touched on this, but it bears repeating. The wool fibers in a sheepskin will get matted and turn into felt if the knots aren’t brushed out before washing. Detangle the rug first; don’t skip this step.
2. Before loading the washer, remove any solid particles and debris as possible.
You should shake the rug outside after detangling it. The goal here is to eliminate any dust or other particles. You need to vacuum it after that. This will get rid of the smaller solid particles that the shaking of the rug didn’t loosen.
Do this before you put the rug in the washing machine to avoid damaging the rug.
3. Use a Detergent Formulated for Sheepskin Rugs.
Wool rugs should not be washed with regular detergent. You shouldn’t use them on sheepskin rugs because they include enzymes and alkalis.
Rather, use a detergent designed specifically for sheepskin rugs, rather than using detergent on standard wool clothes. A non-ionic sheepskin detergent enriched with lanolin will be developed specifically for this purpose. This will guarantee that the rug’s wool fibers and leather backing are both protected.
4. Put Your Washing Machine on Its Mildest Cycle.
If you’re washing an extremely delicate pure wool clothing, use the same cycle. This is more commonly done as a cold wash with a gentle spin.
Do not use more detergent than is absolutely required; doing so will prevent the rug from being adequately rinsed during the rinse cycle.
Do not use hot water, since this could cause problems. Your rug will be smaller and the leather backing will become more rigid and fragile as a result.
5. Drying The Rug After Washing It
It’s important you dry your rug after machine washing it. Drying a sheepskin rug can be done in the same way that you might dry clothes. The only exception is don’t dry the rug directly on a radiator.
Final Thoughts On How To Clean A Sheepskin Rug At Home Without Damaging It
This article should have given you the information you need to clean a sheepskin rug at home safely. Maintaining a sheepskin rug can be done in a variety of ways. The process for doing so has been detailed in this article. Cleaning sheepskin rugs is a breeze, and you can do it all from the convenience of your own home.
Rugs made of sheepskin are beautiful accents that can make any space feel cozier. With consistent care, your sheepskin rug will look great for years to come.