How to Clean a Wool Rug Using Snow

Cleaning a wool rug can be a choir that is not all that nice. Wool rugs are very heavy and cumbersome if they are big. Anytime you clean wool you worry about effecting the wool as you clean it. Wool can shrink and discolor with cleaning. Here is an idea you can try if you don’t mind experimenting with a wool rug. I did it and it worked beautifully to clean my 9×12 wool rug that I keep in my living room. This cleaning method involves no harsh chemicals or expense.

You need to live in a place that has snow and below freezing temperatures to clean a wool rug this way. The temperature must be below freezing or it won’t work. If the temperature is not below freezing the rug will get too wet and it just might ruin the rug without cleaning the wool rug. The snow should be fresh and clean. Newly fallen snow works well to clan a wool rug. The snow should be at least four inches deep and the fresh powdery kind of snow is the best.

Find a place in the snow that is very clean and flat. Place the wool rug on the spot of snow so that it is lying flat and touching the snow over the entire surface of the wool rug. Let the wool rug stay like this for about an hour in the below freezing temperature. The will allow any grease particles to solidify in the freezing temperatures.

After the wool rug has been lying outside in the snow for about an hour simply take a walk over the wool rug. Take a nice long walk and make sure you step all over the wool rug. Make sure you are wearing clean shoes or boots for your walk over the wool rug. After you have walked all over the surface of the wool rug you can shake the wool rug out and repeat the process on the other side of the wool rug.

You can keep repeating the process until the rug is good and clean. This same method can be used to clean wool blankets also.

This procedure works well with wool since it does not take out any of the wools natural oils. If you are unsure about doing this to your wool try it on something that is not too important to you and see if it works well enough and safe enough for your finer wool items.