living room

Viscose is a man-made fabric made by treating cellulose with sodium hydroxide and carbon disulphide. Since it's made from natural material, it's still soft and comfortable to the touch—unlike some other man-made fabrics. Viscose can be dyed almost any color imaginable, allowing for a variety of different styles. It's generally used to make curtains, dresses, jackets, shirts--and yes, area rugs.

It's also referred to as bamboo silk or art silk given how close to silk a lot of its qualities are. It's a fibre that's quite versatile and can imitate cotton, linen, silk and wool's look and feel.

What Are Rugs Made Of Viscose Like?

One of the most pronounced features of viscose rugs is that they shed easily. This is why they shouldn't go in areas with high traffic. All it will take is for them to get walked on dozens of times before viscose fibres end up bent. (Silk rugs, on the other hand, can get bent a few thousand times before full breakage.) It also means that spills won't do well on them.

They're usually hand tufted with the use of a tufting gun, which literally punches yarns through a fabric sheet. It's also possible to get them hand-knotted or handcrafted. In some cases, they are flat woven, braided or hooked.

When liquids like water are spilled on them, viscose ends up turning yellow. Any time a viscose rug gets yellow spots, if it wasn't a matter of a spilled drink, it means the room is too moist. Needless to say, viscose rugs should not be placed in a bathroom.

How Are Viscose Rugs Cleaned?

As previously mentioned, liquids will be awful for viscose fibres. Aside from spills, foot traffic will really end up doing serious damage. A viscose area rug should be preserved through keeping it in a low-traffic location or used as a wall hanging. Water-based cleaners should be avoided at all times.

In order to keep viscose rugs from yellowing when the cleaning process happens, the rug should be dried face down. Avoid using acetic acid and vinegar-based cleaning solutions. Don't allow the viscose rugs to be exposed to areas that are high-temperature. Extreme heat will lead fibers to deteriorate, though dry cleaning is acceptable. That said, it may not get stains out of a rug that's been soiled particularly badly.

Viscose rugs that have debris and dirt on them will do well with a carpet sweeper. Should there be a need for a vacuum, it's important to use the lowest setting and turn off any beater bars.

Only if needed, a mix of mild detergent, white vinegar and water will address stubborn stains. Specifically the foam on top of it. The area should be blotted dry using a clean, damp white cloth. More common stains will be addressed easily enough with mild cleanser.

Conclusion

Viscose is a material that's man-made through treating cellulose. It's still comfortable to touch and quite soft, though. The rugs made with this material are quite fragile but would work only in a pet-free, child-free, low-traffic environment.

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