Product Review: Ruggable – Washable Rug – Do They Work?

I’m writing this product review of Ruggable washable rugs, not because I’m being paid to but because I think they are utterly fabulous.

I’ve got three kids, a dog and an incredibly clumsy husband (ahem, I have also been known to spill red wine on occasion!) so when I saw Ruggable being advertised on Facebook, my immediate response was – hell yes… followed by a desperate search to find out if they work and if anyone had reviewed them.

I couldn’t find anything so I took the plunge and, to cut a long story short, I am a very very happy customer and here’s my review of Ruggable:

What is Ruggable and how does it work?

Ruggable rugs are a two part product. There is an underlay and the topper / rug section. The underlay (which comes in different thicknesses) is basically a non-slip mat on the bottom with a ‘sticky’ surface on the top that gives you the feel of a traditional rug whilst the detachable topper or ‘rug’ section is a pretty, soft mat with a waterproof backing underneath.

The waterproof backing on the topper is an absolutely lifesaver as it contains any spills and stops it from affecting the floor or carpet underneath. It seems as if the underneath of the topper is just a fabric which meant I thought the underlay would need to be washed as well in the case of a spoll or doggie accident but this is not the case. The grey underneath of the topper is waterproof so only the topper needs to be washed.

The only negative that I have about Ruggable is that bits of dust and dirt get caught in the sticky black underlay when its not covered by the topper and these bits are hard to get off and won’t vacuum off. The black underlay is a little bit like a velcro surface (you can feel its a bit scratchy), and that’s how it ‘hooks’ onto the underneath of the topper. You can pick any big bits off and they don’t show or be felt once you have the topper on so this isn’t a deal breaker.

There are little tuck in corners on the topper that you fit the underlay into to keep things neat but in my experience, you don’t even need to bother with this.

Do they fit the washing machine and do they wash well?

The rugs come in lots of different sizes so that’s a factor of course. My rug is a 185cm x 275cm which is the one size down from the biggest size that they do. The topper (which is all you need to wash) easily fits into my 10kg washing machine and it even fits into my 8kg tumbledryer.

If you get one of the largest size, then a quick trip to the laundrette and their supersized machines would sort you out.

We’ve spilt all sorts of nasties on our Ruggables including a whole plate of spaghetti bolognaise and an entire cup of coffee. Yesterday, a rogue blueberry got trodden into the rug as you can see below.

With my old traditional rugs, I would have freaked out, been devastated and started scrubbing like Lady Macbeth before calling the rug cleaning company for a three figure bill but not with Ruggable! I simply pulled up the topper and popped it in the washing machine.

I wash my Ruggable(s) on a standard machine wash cycle at 40 degrees with non-bio washing powder.

You will find that due to the waterproof back that you might need to pull the topper out after washing, refold / reposition it in the machine and then run another rinse cycle and maybe even a couple of extra ‘Spin and Drain’ cycles to get all the soap and water out. This is probably when a larger machine or a trip to the laundrette might be easier as it would give the topper more space to move and be rinsed out.

Will Ruggable go in the tumbledryer?

When I first started washing my topper, I found that it was a bit of a pain to dry naturally and it depended on the weather. On a lovely sunny day, I could pop it outside and it was dry in just a couple of hours. On a dank, wet winter day, I was stuck with the rug hanging (and dripping, before I did the extra spins) in the house for 2-3 days.

I was worried about shrinkage if I tumbledried by Ruggable but I finally got fed up of the inconvenience and just whammed it in the tumbledryer. This was a real game changer for me! On a gentle ‘Wool’ setting, the topper is usually dry in just a couple of hours. Mine did not shrink at all thankfully!

What about stains?

On small stains, you can spot wash them away with just a little soapy water. I use standard washing up liquid and it means I don’t always have to wash the entire topper.

For larger stains, its best to get the topper rinsed out in the sink and then straight into the washing machine if at all possible.

That blueberry stain that I mentioned before… well it did dry out / set before I saw it unfortunately so this was worst case scenario. You can see from the picture below that the stain almost completely came out though.

Pretty good right? To be fair, if I had spot cleaned it first with soapy water before washing like I did with that orange nightmare bolognaise stain or the entire cup of black coffee, it would have all come out. The topper shown in the picture below is the one that was stained with bolognaise / coffee and its spotless!

Multiple toppers – is it worth it?

After buying my first Ruggable, I really wish that I had bought two toppers in the first place. Sadly, because there were no independent product reviews of Ruggable, I didn’t have the confidence to do so.

If you have two toppers, it means that whilst one is being washed / drying, you don’t have to put up with a scratchy black mat in the meantime and can relax immediately! You only need one underlay and once you’ve bought that the toppers on their own are much cheaper.

It’s also nice to be able to change up the look in your room so easily and I think I might end up with a much larger collection!

How often should you wash your Ruggable?

One thing that I have noticed about my Ruggable topper (particularly the paler one) is that they do seem to get grubby quicker than a traditional rug. We are a very naughty family and wear shoes in the house(!) and have a dog. The high traffic areas do seem to go a bit grey after about eight weeks. I think this is because the toppers are a very low pile so the dirt builds up on the surface rather than sinking into the pile as it would on a traditional rug. It’s the same amount of dirt, its just more noticeable.

That said, Ruggables are designed to be washable. So, its stupidly easy to pop them in the washing machine even when you haven’t spilt anything dramatic on them and they come out looking brand new. Easy peasy!

‘Assembling’ your Ruggable

This can be a bit of a pain, especially with the larger Ruggables, until you get used to it. The topper is designed to ‘stick’ to the underlay and boy does it stick and cause chaos when you first start. You may need to put it down and take it up a couple of times to get the topper square on the underlay.

My advice, roll your topper inside out before laying it on the underlay.

Start on one straight end and get this perfectly square. You can then slowly smooth your topper into place on the underlay a little bit at a time until you get to the other end.

If you have someone available to help, this makes life easier and they can hold the loose edge in the air as you smooth it into place a bit at a time. I’ll add a video of this to the blog next time I change my topper.

What about pet soiling and ‘accidents’?

We have a naughty dog that left unsupervised loved to pee and poo all over our traditional rugs. I think this might be a side effect of ‘mat training’ her as a puppy. Sadly, she has both peed and pooed on our Ruggables… but nowhere near as often.

You can clean up pet soiling as you normally would from any surface to remove the worst from your Ruggable topper. Just don’t scrub in any solids of course.

I then use Simple Solution Dog Odour and Stain Remover all over the affected area and let that sit for an hour or so before I wash the Ruggable topper in the washing machine. This hasn’t caused me any problems with staining or damaging the pattern. I just prefer the surety that there won’t be any residues left behind that might encourage our naughty dog to soil it again in the same place. This seems to have worked for us.

Do Ruggable Washable Rugs work? My review of Ruggable…

In summary – yes! I hope you can tell from my review of Ruggable that I think they are absolutely brilliant for anyone that loves a rug but has an accident prone household. Five Stars from Glasshouse Girl!

Note: if you are in the UK, then it’s best to buy from the Ruggable.co.uk website as import duties etc are all taken care of.

I really hope you enjoyed this review of Ruggable washable rugs, so subscribe to my newsletter or follow Glasshouse Girl on Pinterest for gorgeous upcycled furniture, home cleaning hacks, DIY upcycling tutorials, easy but tasty recipes and more!

Disclaimer

Glasshouse Girl provides hints and tips based on our own experience. If you choose to try these hints and tips for yourself, you are doing so entirely at your own risk. Always conduct a small test patch to ensure the process doesn’t cause damage. If in doubt, engage the on-site services of a professional tradesperson.