Resources on Area Rugs & Flooring

Flooring Basics - Tips and Resources
A wonderful collection of helpful and informative articles on a wide range of flooring, carpeting, and rug styles and their proper uses. Start with tips on how to choose the proper carpet for the right room, complete with a wonderfully helpful section entitled Before You Buy. Continue with an informative page of tips, illustrations, and sources for a variety of flooring types—from tile to carpet and hardwood. Don't stop there. The next article covers tips on carpet fibers, installation guidelines, and technical info. Click the "Residential" button under Selecting Carpet and Rugs for the best tips. There are articles on carpet scams and how to avoide being overcharged. There are articles on carpet stains and how to deal with everything from mildew, to fading, to color change, to smoke damage, and much more. There are a lot of addition articles, covering virtually every aspect of carpet, area rug and floor care, purchase and installation.

Carpet and Rug Advice
The factors that give carpet stain such a bad reputation amongst homeowners include spills and carpet stain related to alcohol, blood, soda, milk and cream, urine new and old, butter, candle wax, coffee, chewing gum, inks and marking compounds, eggs, lipstick, cooking oils, paints, motor oils, grease, rust, tea, nail varnish, vomit, and mystery unknown carpet stain sources. Includes links to the follow types of rugs: braided rugs, marine rugs, oriental rugs, flooring advice, antique rugs, area rugs, contemporary rugs, designer rugs, tropical rugs, rug pads, wool rugs and area rugs.

Taking Care of Your Persian Rug
A real hand-knotted Oriental rug will last long if you take a few precautions to protect it from premature wear and the most common kinds of damage. Common problems include water damage, moth damage, dog chews and cat scratching, pet stains, vacuum cleaner damage, chemical damage, sun damage, and uneven wear. This page answers the most frequently-asked questions about caring for Oriental rugs. Another suggestion is to look at photographs of rugs, specialize in what types of rugs appeal to you. Once you know a little about the rugs a little, you can purchase your first one.

Care and Cleaning of Area Rugs
Modern carpet fibers are designed to hide dirt and grime as much as possible. This can be a blessing for a homeowner, but it can also end up shortening the lifespan of the carpet since the area rug or carpet may not get cleaned as often as it should be. Soil can damage the fibres of a carpet if allowed to stay in the carpet too long. Regular cleaning, even if the carpet does not appear soiled, can extend the life of the carpet or area rug considerably and improve the appearance immeasurably. The first step is to vacuum high traffic areas often and regularly. Removing lose soil from the surface of your carpet or area rug prevents the razor-sharp particles of soil from working their way into the carpet or area rug's fibers and doing permanent damage. Remember that briaded rugs, like Capel braided rugs, may require a slower vacuuming motion to get out ground-in dirt. The careful and regular cleaning of carpets is the best thing you can do to extend not only their life but their original beauty as well.