How to get smoke out of washable rugs?

Smoke in rugs; how to deal with it?

One of the worst things you can experience as a person is cigarette smoke residuals, whether in your mouth or your surroundings. Everything gets worse when there's a stingy feeling of stale cigarette smoke settling into the room and filling up the room with that odor. If a malfunctioning fireplace or a barbeque goes wrong, the smoke smell settles in and leaves only after you deal with it. Smoke-laden clothing gives a hard time when dealing with washing, and the intricacy of rugs only makes it worse. Rugs are complex fabric furniture; they are very efficient absorbers of cigarette smoke and can sometimes retain the stink for a long time. The following are a few things you can do to deal with smoke odors. 

Air it out

Keeping it in the same room and complaining about it wouldn't change many things; in some cases, it might even worsen it. You can leave it on a balcony with ample sun exposure so that the rug gets exposed to fresh air. It might seem like a rudimentary measure, but it works because fabrics allow more air to flow in when they're in the sun. The same principle makes sun-dried clothes feel better than clothes dried in the shade. 

Baking soda and white vinegar to the rescue

Rugs are dense materials; while they are not as heavy as they look, they are a silent vacuum of the surrounding air, and secondhand smoke wouldn't have been a good thing to put them through. Fret not; there is one thing we can do after airing it out if the smell of smoke persists. Baking soda absorbs the odor molecules and the smoke smell to a certain extent, and given the situation, the only thing we can do is try. 

Here is the procedure you need to follow to remove bad odors. 

1. Sprinkle baking soda over the rug.
2. Wait for about 15 minutes.
3. Run your vacuum cleaner to max intensity.
4. Mix one-third cup of white vinegar with a two-thirds bottle of warm water in a glass spray bottle.
5. Mist the rug slightly without soaking it.
6. As a rule of thumb, vacuum the rug again with a vacuum cleaner or connect with a professional cleaner. 

Absorb the smoke from the surroundings

Placing small bowls of vinegar around the rug might sound strange and spooky. But when you look at how the room is built, your furniture eventually centers around the rug. So, by reducing the odor around it, you also reduce the amount of odor from it. Activated charcoal is not a fad when it comes to cleaning upholstered furniture, as they are one of if not the most effective air cleaners. Setting up air cleaners and a steady flow of air through the area through fans, open windows, air purifiers, or conditioners can reduce the time to get your cloth furniture back to its prime again. A few air purifiers come with HEPA air filters(high-efficiency particulate arrestance); they are the industry standard in air travel and help massively reduce the smoke particles in the surrounding air, either settled or otherwise. 

Toss it in the washing machine

Prolonged exposure to cigar smoke odors mean the above measures can only mask what's underneath, and decaying, water-resistant rugs are here for the rescue. This method discusses what to follow when it's a machine washable rug and how to avoid stinginess. Read the care instructions properly before starting this process because every rug has different requirements. 

1. Let it bask in the sunlight for 3-4 hours.
2. Vacuum it thoroughly after sprinkling some baking soda.
3. Mix a cup of baking soda into a three-fourth bucket of warm water.
4. Stir until the baking soda dissolves.
5. Soak your carpet for 2-3 hours.
6. Follow the washing instructions and use a fabric softener to go with it.

Smoke from fire damage

Smoke comes from burning various kinds of fires; some can be plastic, some can be wood or even electric short circuits. Not all smokes have the same properties; each one needs different treatments and patterns of handling because, in the end, you want a fresh rug. They are categorized as: 

1. Wet smoke- Low heat burning of rubber or plastic, leading to intense odor molecules with smeary residue.
2. Dry smoke- Burning of paper or wood at a high temperature, while being easy to catch fire, the paper also burns with flying ashes that fall as residue far away from the burn site. Tobacco smoke comes under this category as nicotine stains are a villain of their own accord.
3. Protein smoke- Typically due to the burning of animal fat, practically invisible when it's happening but can discolor many things around it, often accompanied by a horrendous smell. 

These kinds of smoke cause damages that are pretty intense and cannot be fixed directly with an at-home remedy. While devices like ozone generators help, they do not solve the problem at the core and provide a surface-level answer to a deeper problem. But beating around the problem instead of solving it head-on it's not a manageable solution. It's suggested that here is where professional help and experience come in. Professional carpet, rug, and upholstery cleaners use industry-grade tools that involve activated charcoal powder to treat these issues. The right equipment and solution will get you where you need to be faster. 

Understanding the issue and moving forward

Getting the smoke out is a hassle, but nothing is impossible with the right amount of care and effort. Minimizing exposure to smoke will result faster, but the process can get a little tedious when that doesn't happen. Knowing your rug is essential to understanding how you can tackle the problem; just because they are washable doesn't leave a way for harsh chemicals. The key is in the details- mild detergents and lukewarm water work wonders for most washable rugs. And beyond that, the cup of vinegar, baking soda method, and charcoal techniques can contribute to odor removal. 

For finding the best care and detailed explanation of how washable the rugs are, shop at Kudenrugs; Kuden Rugs have all the varieties of rugs that you can imagine. With several patterns, colors, and textures, the place to shop for rugs is just a click away. Not only the properties of the rug, but Kuden provides a choice for you to choose which room you're buying for, let it be the kitchen, living room, or bedroom.