Floored
So we have gorgeous hardwood floors, and rugs. But when you have what I refer to as a "low-rent petting zoo," the animals are going to have some accidents on said rugs. We recently purchased a Ruggable for one room, but I don't know that they are practical for everywhere, or that we can afford it — plus some of our rugs have sentimental value. So we consulted Bob Vila's tips for rug cleaning.
Basically, you vacuum the rug well, then scrub it with a mix of water, dish soap, and vinegar until it gets lathering. Rinse really well with the hose, flip over, and do it again. Of course, that means a 6x9 rug like our hall rug gets REALLY heavy.
The water coming out was disgusting, and now our pretty patio is a little damp and scungy too....
We then let it drain overnight, and hauled it into the garage so Patrick could run the steam cleaner to extract the water . We'll see. When we finished today it had kind of that "wet teddy bear" look. We also tried a smaller, 3x5 rug, so maybe that one will be better. I suppose that's the reason people pay big bucks for rug launderers, but that's just not in the budget right now. I've also heard about people soaping up rigs in the back of a trick and then going through a car wash....
In other floor news, we ripped out some of the "vintage" green sculptured carpeting at my dad's this weekend. I always forget to take before pictures, but here's a part-way through:
(doesn't everyone store the lawn mower in the living room?)
Here's after, though there are still some clean-up patches we have to take care of:
The carpet preserved the hardwood perfectly.
Basically, you vacuum the rug well, then scrub it with a mix of water, dish soap, and vinegar until it gets lathering. Rinse really well with the hose, flip over, and do it again. Of course, that means a 6x9 rug like our hall rug gets REALLY heavy.
The water coming out was disgusting, and now our pretty patio is a little damp and scungy too....
We then let it drain overnight, and hauled it into the garage so Patrick could run the steam cleaner to extract the water . We'll see. When we finished today it had kind of that "wet teddy bear" look. We also tried a smaller, 3x5 rug, so maybe that one will be better. I suppose that's the reason people pay big bucks for rug launderers, but that's just not in the budget right now. I've also heard about people soaping up rigs in the back of a trick and then going through a car wash....
In other floor news, we ripped out some of the "vintage" green sculptured carpeting at my dad's this weekend. I always forget to take before pictures, but here's a part-way through:
(doesn't everyone store the lawn mower in the living room?)
Here's after, though there are still some clean-up patches we have to take care of:
The carpet preserved the hardwood perfectly.
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