Stop Making Waves…

Rugs are meant to be on a HARD surface.

But, for some reason, Americans love to put their rugs over SOFT surfaces. I’m not sure why. Probably the same reason they jump on their beds – because it’s BOUNCY! 🙂

There are ramifications to the rugs though, when weight is placed on a pliable rug. A lot of foot traffic, or heavy furniture, will bend and stretch the foundation fibers of a woven rug, especially if it is not tightly woven.

If you can picture a stretched out sweater, and trying to get it back into its original shape, you can have a sense of the situation I’m talking about. It loses its shape.

When the rug is tufted (with a latex backing) the problem can be magnified if the rug does not have a solid foundation floor underneath it. Just take a look at this rug due to heavy furniture over years:

Tufted rug + heavy furniture + carpeting underneath = RUG MESS!

This problem here is not reversible. You may be able to get it to find its flat shape again with a wash AND putting it onto a hard floor to get trampled back to a flatter version of itself. It might get better, but it won’t be new again.

For a tufted rug to lose its shape, well, I won’t lose sleep over that. Tufted rugs are quick made “real” rug knock-offs. They are commodities.

But a handwoven oriental or occidental rug, something that took months, or a year to weave, that is a real loss. It’s a piece of someone’s life on the floor, and if placed over a very soft floor with any furniture on it, you are causing damage to the rug. It might be slight, or it might be severe. Either way you should do something about it.

One answer is of course move it to a hard floor. Another answer would be to get a sturdy pad for under the rug (you need to try a few to find the right one for your setting).

Waves are not only a sign of a rug problem, they are also a safety concern. So take a look at your rugs and see if any adjustments need to be made. It’s good for the rugs, and good for you too.

– Lisa