The Best Way to Clean Your Shag Rug

Spilling something on a new rug can send terror into the heart of any home owner. It’s taken you a long time and a lot of effort to find your perfect rug and it’s only natural that as soon as you have put it in the perfect spot, something gets spilled on it. This terror is amplified if it happens to be a shag rug. It’s okay. Breathe. I can help.

First, gather your materials. You’re going to need:

• Patience
• White vinegar
• Water
• Baking soda
• Laundry pre-treater
• Laundry soap
• Scrub brush
• Paper towel
• Hair dryer

If you’re able to get a wet/dry vac and a carpet steamer, we can start right away. If not, follow step one, bookmark or print this page, and then go get those two vitals tools. Word to the wise though – since this will happen again – shag rugs and carpets are like magnets for spills – a wet/dry vac and a carpet steamer would be a smart investment.

Step One: Damage Control

As unpleasant as it is, manually cleaning the spill with your own two hands needs to be done first and it needs to be done right away. If it’s a particularly gross spill (or if it’s animal related) you may want to wear dish gloves. If there are chunks of anything or anything crusted on, take care of this first. Second, worry about the spill itself. Using the paper towel, soak up as much as you can than make sure you remember to clean under the rug for any liquid that seeped through. If you have a wet/dry vac already, you can use it now.

Step Two: Tackling the Meat of the Spill

As much as step one was unpleasant, step two isn’t much better. We’re actually going to get down to the nitty-gritty now, so get out our baking soda. This is where the patience comes in as well.

Find the center of the spill and sprinkle baking soda in the entire area. Extending out from the center in a circle, continue sprinkling until you have covered the entire area of the spill plus one to two inches further. Leave this over night.

After leaving your baking soda fresh rug over night, add two tablespoons of laundry soap to a bucket of water and mix it around until it’s nice and sudsy. Add several drops of your white vinegar. Dip your scrubbing brush in and get ready for the real work.

In a circular motion, start scrubbing your rug with your scrub brush. If you want the best possibly results, you really have to scrub and scrub hard. Your rug can handle it. When you’re done, sop up the soapy water with the wet/dry vac you either already had or picked up before we started step two. If you didn’t listen and didn’t get a wet/dry vac, you can use paper towel, it’s just going to take you a little longer.

When you’ve soaked up as much of the water as you can; check under the rug and clean up any water that seeped through. Dry the rug with your hair dryer. If the stain is still there, use your carpet steamer.

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