I have a big rug in my bathroom (Not huge, its about 5' x 3').. it's thick and has a thick rubber back. I don't know how to describe what it's made of, but it's not the usual kind of rug you would find to go around the toilet (with a toilet seat cover to match), it's a more expensive rug and the threads kind of loop up and back in.. lol Does that make sense? Anyway, it's been in my bathroom for a while and I want to wash it but I don't want to ruin it. Help?
I have one I think is very similar to yours (from Crate and Barrel?). It's a big black rug that almost looks shaggy, only it has no rubber backing, and it sits under the coffee table. I have several with rubber backings too, but the weave on them is very fine. When they need cleaning, I just take them outside, set them on the deck and hose them off with the power sprayer. It's kind of gross how much dirt comes out of a rug. After I've given them a good bath, I throw them up over the deck railing and let them air dry. It doesn't seem to hurt them, and it's the only way I have ever figured out to clean rugs. I made the horrible mistake of putting a rubber backed bath mat in the washer/dryer once. The washer creased the rubber backing really bad, and the dryer made the corners curl under and melted some of the rubber. I had to toss a perfectly good bathmat out, and I will never make the same mistake. Now the non-backed rug that sits under my parrots cage goes in the industrial washer at the laundromat and air dries. It's pretty beat up from that, and inhale had to patch it, but it also stained and gross from having a bird on top of it flinging food, so I don't really care, it isn't decorative. So ya, no washer/dryer, but the hose seems very effective.
You can wash rubber-backed bathroom rugs right in your washing machine...Warm water setting, regular detergent. However...how to dry it? That's a dilemma. The rug looks better if you dry it in your dryer, but eventually the dryer will cause the rubber backing to come of in little pieces. I dry our bathroom rug in the dryer anyway, but end up having to replace the rug every couple of years because the backing has come off. The backing won't come off if you hang the rug to air dry, but the rug doesn't look nearly as fluffy or pretty. It's a personal choice on how to dry it...machine or air dry, but you can wash that rug right in your washer...warm water not hot. Again, hot can ruin the backing. -
Put it in your yard and wash it with a hose
You could try washing it by hand in the tub with soap or put it in the gentle cycle of the washing machine, or take it to the cleaners.
