Another Use for a Power Washer

For those who haven't tuned in before, I have allergies.  So if what you are about to read seems a bit over the top, please consider that when I get around to cleaning, I am thorough because it is unfortunately necessary.  The area rugs in the house have been in need of a serious cleaning for a while.  They are getting a bit worn, but most of the new rugs for sale in local stores are just ugly.  The only one with colors even remotely acceptable had lots of circles.  My first thought on seeing it was that it would make an interesting range target for a shotgun.  A purchase was NOT made.

I refuse to put avocado and gold back into the house when the old stuff from the 70's was finally evicted only a mere 10 years ago.  The carpeting from the upstairs had a particularily dramatic exit as we had cut it into managable sizes, rolled it, and tied it with twine.  Hubby went outside to insure that no one would enter the drop zone on the sidewalk below.  Then the avocado carpet bombing began.  The roll flew out the window and through the air with the greatest of ease and landed with a thump and a giant poof of dust.  No matter how many times carpeting gets vacuumed, it just gets dirtier as the years progress, because the dirt sinks to the bottom when the carpet is agitated.

So with that in mind the area rug cleaning began with sweeping the blacktop driveway to clear a large work zone of stones and other detritus.  The rugs were then laid out on the driveway fuzzy side up and vacuumed with an upright vacuum cleaner.  Then they were flipped over and the back of each rug was agitated with the brushes of the vacuum.  The rugs were pulled back and the dust swept away.  Then the topside of each rug was vacuumed again.  This process was repeated until the dust produced from agitating the rugs while upside down became negligible.

Then the rugs were doused with warm soapy water, and any trouble spots or stains were hand scrubbed with a brush.  The rugs were allowed to sit and soak for a bit while I retrieved the power washer from the basement and made all the necessary connections.  Then the rinse cycle began on medium pressure.  It took a while to rinse out the rugs, but the pressure washer does not use an exorbitant amount of water.  The same principle from chemistry class applies; several small rinses are better than one big one for removing residue.  The process of hanging the wet rugs to dry involves heavy lifting; there is just no avoiding it.  A 2x4 stretched between sawhorses is sufficient to hold the weight of a medium sized area rug.  A 2x2 is strong enough for a smaller rug like the 3'x5' rug shown in front.

It usually takes two days of hanging before the rugs are fully dry.  If expecting rain, re-hang them inside the garage after they have dripped mostly dry.