How to Wash a Rug at Home, and Can It Go in the Washing Machine?

Some rugs can be washed at home and some should never be. A small cotton or synthetic rug with a care label that allows it can go in the washing machine on a cold, gentle cycle and be dried flat. A larger synthetic rug can be washed outside by hand, if you rinse it thoroughly and get it dry within about a day. Wool, viscose, silk, jute, sisal, hand-knotted and latex-backed rugs should not be washed at home at all, because water damages them in ways you only see once the rug has dried.

This guide shows you how to tell which kind of rug you have, how to wash the ones you can, how to dry them so they come back flat and fresh, and when it is time to send a rug out instead.

Step 1: Find out what your rug is

Turn the rug over and look for a label. Most machine-made rugs carry one that gives the fibre and the care instructions. If there is no label, look at the back: a smooth fabric or mesh backing glued on usually means a hand-tufted rug with a latex layer underneath; a back that shows the same pattern as the front usually means a woven or hand-knotted rug. Our guides to identifying your rug type and telling hand-knotted from machine-made help if you are unsure.

Then sort it into one of three groups.

Rugs you can machine wash

• Bath mats and small cotton rugs with a care label that allows machine washing
• Rugs sold as washable rugs, which are designed for it
• Small polyester or nylon rugs whose label allows it, that fit loosely in your machine

Rugs you can wash by hand outside, with care

• Synthetic rugs (polypropylene, polyester, nylon) too big for the machine
• Outdoor rugs, which are made to get wet; our outdoor rug guide covers them

Rugs you should not wash at home

• Wool. It holds a lot of water, is damaged by alkaline detergents, and dries slowly enough for the foundation to brown or the dyes to move.
• Viscose, art silk and bamboo silk. The fibre loses much of its strength when wet and browns as it dries. It should not be wet cleaned at all; see why a viscose rug must never be wet cleaned.
• Jute, sisal and seagrass. Plant fibres that shrink and stain with water.
• Hand-tufted rugs with a latex backing. The latex can crack, crumble and separate when it is soaked and spun, and the rug starts to shed and smell.
• Hand-knotted, Persian, antique and silk rugs. The dyes, the foundation and the fringe all need controlled washing and drying.
• Any rug whose dyes run in the test in Step 2.

Step 2: Test the dyes

Whichever way you are washing, do this first. Dampen a white cloth with the detergent solution you plan to use, press it firmly onto each colour in the rug for 30 seconds, and look at the cloth. If any colour comes off, do not wash the rug. Dyes that move onto a cloth will move into the neighbouring colours in a wash, and dye bleed is very hard to undo. Our article on dye bleed and colourfastness testing explains what is happening.

How to wash a rug in the washing machine

1. Shake it out and vacuum both sides. Get the grit out first, or it turns to mud in the drum.
2. Check the fit. The rug should fill no more than about half the drum. A wet rug is far heavier than a dry one, and an overloaded drum is hard on the machine and cannot rinse properly.
3. Choose the cycle. Cold or 30°C, gentle or delicate, with a low spin. Hot water and a hard spin are what shrink and distort rugs.
4. Use a little mild liquid detergent. Less than for a load of clothes. Powder can lodge in the pile, and fabric softener leaves a coating that attracts dirt, so leave it out.
5. Add an extra rinse if your machine has one, so no detergent stays behind.
6. Dry it flat. Never tumble dry a rug with a rubber or latex backing, because the heat cracks it. Lay the rug flat on a rack or a clean surface, out of strong direct sun.

How to wash a synthetic rug by hand outside

Choose a dry, breezy day, and a clean, slightly sloped surface such as a paved driveway or a stoep, so the water runs off rather than pooling under the rug.

1. Vacuum both sides, then shake or beat it. Hang it over a railing and beat the back with a broom handle. The amount of fine sand that comes out of a rug on the Highveld usually surprises people. That grit is what wears a rug out from underneath.
2. Wet it lightly. Mist the pile with a hose on a gentle setting, enough to dampen it, not to soak it.
3. Apply a mild, low-foam solution. A carpet or rug shampoo diluted as the label says, or a small amount of wool-wash-type detergent. Avoid washing-up liquid, which foams heavily and is very hard to rinse out.
4. Work it in gently. Use a soft brush or sponge in the direction of the pile, not against it, and not in circles, which can fray the tips.
5. Rinse, then rinse again. Keep rinsing until the water running off the rug is clear and has no foam. This is the step that decides whether the rug stays clean. Detergent left in the pile stays sticky and pulls in new dirt.
6. Get the water out. Push a squeegee firmly across the pile in the direction of the nap, again and again, until very little water comes out. Then roll the rug in old towels and press.

Drying: the part that matters most

Most rugs that are damaged by a home wash are damaged in the drying, not the washing. A rug folded over a wall or lying on the lawn dries from the outside in, so the surface feels dry long before the backing and the foundation are. The water left inside slowly travels outwards and carries whatever it dissolved with it, which is how a rug ends up with brown tide marks, a musty smell, or colours that have bled into the light areas.

• Dry it flat if you can, raised off the ground on chairs or a rack so air reaches the back.
• Dry it in the shade with good airflow. Strong Highveld sun fades colours and dries the surface too fast while the inside stays wet.
• Turn it so both sides get air, and use a fan if it is indoors.
• Check the back, not the front. Press a dry paper towel into the backing. If it picks up any moisture, the rug is not dry.
• Aim for dry within about 24 hours. A rug that stays damp for longer than a day or two is at real risk of browning, mould and smell.

Do not put a rug back on the floor until it is dry right through, and never onto a wooden floor while the backing is still damp. Our guide to drying a rug after cleaning has more detail, and why rugs cockle, curl and buckle explains what uneven drying does to a rug’s shape.

What can go wrong, and what it looks like

• Brown marks appearing as it dries. Browning, from a cotton or jute foundation that stayed wet too long.
• Colours running into the cream areas. Dye bleed, from unstable dyes or slow drying.
• A musty or sour smell. The rug was not dry right through, or urine in the rug was reactivated by the water.
• Ripples or waves that will not lie flat. Uneven drying or shrinkage.
• A rug that sheds crumbs from the back. A latex backing that has started to break down.
• A rug that gets dirty again in weeks. Detergent left in the pile.

If you see any of these, stop washing it. More water rarely helps, and some of these problems are only correctable with the right treatment.

When to send a rug out instead

Send it out if it is bigger than you can rinse and dry properly, if it is made of any of the fibres in the “do not wash at home” list, if it smells of pet urine, if the dyes moved in your test, or if it matters to you. At our facility, every rug is dusted to get the grit out, dye tested, and washed by the method its fibre calls for: synthetic rugs in our rug-washing machine, wool, cotton and hand-knotted rugs by hand, and viscose, jute and sisal dry cleaned. It is then dried flat until it is dry right through. Most rugs are back in 1 to 3 working days. Thick wool rugs may take a little longer to dry. Collection and delivery are free, the price is set by the rug’s size, and the details are on our rug cleaning page and our pricing page.

Common questions