How to Take the Smell Out of Wool Rugs

Decorative wool rugs add color and texture to a room.

Wool rugs are created from sheep's wool. These rugs are soft and natural but require special cleaning due to their delicate nature. Wool is damaged by high heat; excessive stimulation such as rubbing wool rugs to clean them damages wool fibers. Wool absorbs liquids and expands; drying wool rugs may shrink away from walls. Cleaning wool rugs to remove bad odors without soaking your rug or damaging it involves using products and methods that do not damage wool.

Things You'll Need

• Baking soda
• Vacuum
• Tissues
• pH balanced, non-bleach, non-color brightening detergent
• Towel

Instructions

1. Dust your wool carpet with baking soda and let sit for 10 minutes. Vacuum the baking soda up to remove scents from wool carpets. Baking soda also removes scents from the air when vacuumed up.

2. Wipe oil based stains out of wool carpeting with a damp cloth or tissues to remove their scent from wool carpet.

3. Rub a neutral pH balanced, non-bleach, non-color brightening detergent into non-grease stains gently to remove their scent. Do not scrub hard -- this damages wool fibers. Clean the detergent from the floor by lifting it out with a wet towel pressed to it.

4. Clean your carpet using a professional carpet cleaner to remove deep stains and odors. Use only pH balanced, bleach free, color brightening free cleaner. To make sure the cleaning product is safe for wool, test it in a discreet area. Do not use high heat settings to prevent damage to the wool fibers.

Tips & Warnings

• Avoid using high heat when cleaning your wool carpet.

References

• Aspen Carpet Designs; Carpet Cleaning and Care Wool Rug; Aspen Carpet Designs, Inc.; 2011
• Wool Area Rugs Guide: Cleaning Wool Area Rugs
• The Carpet Buyers Handbook; Cleaning Wool Carpet; Michael Hilton; 2011
• The New Homemaker; 27 Ways to Clean with Baking Soda; Noël-Marie Taylor