Cleaning Wool Carpet and Rug: Good News? Or Baaaad?
DID YOU KNOW that choosing a wool carpet or rug for your home can be both good news… and at times bad news?

The good news when you choose wool carpets, is that it has excellent soil hiding capabilities and a high quality fiber that will last longer, look and feel more luxurious and retain its value better. Learn more about the benefits of wool carpets. However, the price of wool is much higher than the price for synthetic carpets.

The bad news when you choose wool is that it has excellent soil hiding capabilities. You will not see dirt on it as clearly as you would on synthetic carpets. So, you may not vacuum or have it professionally cleaned as frequently.  This could cause your lovely and expensive  wool carpets and rugs to wear out prematurely.

Why is that?

Most consumers base their cleaning frequencies on appearance. That can be dangerous for any carpet, rug, or other surface. With wool, the physical makeup of the fiber has the characteristic of hiding dirt, especially those tiny, gritty particles that cut into and wear the fibers out. You might compare this to putting sand on a piece of Plexiglas and walking on it. The sand will act as an abrasive, damaging the surface.

While wool fibers won’t damage as quickly as other fibers, such as nylon, polyester or olefin, any type of dirt or soil on them isn’t good news at all.

What you should schedule professional cleaning based on frequency, not appearance. Following these guidelines will help your wool carpets look great and last as long as possible:

• Vacuuming your wool carpets once per week for every person or pet that lives in your home.
• Have your carpets professionally cleaned at least once per year.  But remember that every household is different.

Yes, wool is good… or baaaad… depending on how you treat it.