Many of us have purchased wool carpets and never realized that these wonderfully soft carpets would need special attention and care. Unfortunately, the sales person who sold us the carpet forgot to mention that we could not use resolve, Woolite, or Oxyclean on these carpets. In fact the sales person probably only told us of the benefits of wool carpet and not the possible difficulties that we may find in maintaining these carpets. If your just considering the purchase of wool carpets you may want to read our article "Are Wool Carpets For Me." I hope to set you on a safe course of maintaining your wool carpets and keep you from doing permanent damage to these fibers. This guide is written to help you maintain your wall to wall wool carpet. It is not meant for wool Oriental rugs. These rugs may have loose dye that will bleed or crock. I recommend that you have these rugs taken to a rug plant that specializes in wool rugs. Oriental rugs should never be cleaned at your home since the dies may bleed.

If you have recently purchased a wool carpet please go to your pantry which holds all your carpet cleaning spotters and throw them away. Never use soap or carpet cleaning chemical on wool carpet unless it has a PH between 4.5 and 8.5. To be completely safe you could stay below a PH of 7 (neutral and will not cause the dyes to bleed) or look for your carpet cleaning product at www.fernmark.com. This nonaffiliated website will list several cleaning products that are safe for wool carpets. Be especially careful of using bleach products near your wool carpet. Bleach will actually dissolve wool carpet and leave you with a giant hole. Bleach is a great way to test your carpet for wool content if your not sure that your carpet has wool in it. Now that we have discussed what not to do, we can establish how to better maintain your wool carpet.

Vacuum as often as you can. This is akin to washing your hair. How many days a week do you skip washing your hair? Only use low PH cleaners. Using over the counter products on wool carpets is like using Tide on your hair! High PH cleaners will break down the cuticle or hard scaly surface that holds the fiber together. Breaking down the cuticle would leave us with a fuzzy mess. When using a wool safe product - blot. Scrubbing will also cause the fiber to fuzz out. I also recommend that you blot up the wool safe spotter with an acidic rinse (1 part white vinegar 3 part water). This will remove any residue and leave the wool fiber slightly acidic which will help maintain the wools softness. You also want to speed dry your wool carpet. If the carpet takes too long to dry it can turn yellow or brown. Using too high a PH cleaner on your wool carpet can also turn the fibers brown or yellow. We call this PH browning.

In conclusion, vacuum as often as you can. Spot clean with wool safe products. Blot rinse with an acidic rinse and never use bleach (causes wool to dissolve) or products with a high PH. Have your carpets cleaned by a professional at least once a year by a professional carpet cleaner that uses wool safe products.

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