Waterproofing rugs - DIY vs Prof Job

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Brambridge04

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Just wondering how does their own rugs, and who gets them done via a cleaners. Do you notice a difference in the "result???"

I have always done my own, use nikwax rug wash, and then the proofer, i make sure rug is as clean as i can get it, before it goes in machine, and make sure i use the exact measurements the instructions say to. my LW/no fill weatherbeeta is the MOST waterproof rug i own, infact, i quite often put it over heavier rugs in winter in really wet conditions. I normally proof it once a year.
 
I get mine professionally washed and then re-proof it myself, I did once have a wash and proof but the rug leaked at the 1st bit of rain!! At least if I proof it myself them I know it is done. :) :) :)
 
I thought about doing this but heard it can wreck the machine....? I have a LW Weatherbeeta that's leaking so if yours is that waterproof by doing it yourself then I'll give it a go!
 
Irishbabygirl said:
I thought about doing this but heard it can wreck the machine....? I have a LW Weatherbeeta that's leaking so if yours is that waterproof by doing it yourself then I'll give it a go!
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As long as u brush off as much mud / hair off as you can, its fine, ive always done that, and washed LW to HW in my machine.... never been problem x
 
Professional companies I find wash them so hot to get them pristine that the manufacturers coating on the inside disintegrates and then they leak even when reproofed. Washing them myself they may not be pristine but I've never had to reproof one either. I wash with soap not detergent too. With 2nd hand rugs I find home bought painted on reproofers better than whatever the cleaning companies spray on. I've never used a reproofer in the washing machine.
 
Sugar_and_Spice said:
Professional companies I find wash them so hot to get them pristine that the manufacturers coating on the inside disintegrates and then they leak even when reproofed. Washing them myself they may not be pristine but I've never had to reproof one either. I wash with soap not detergent too. With 2nd hand rugs I find home bought painted on reproofers better than whatever the cleaning companies spray on. I've never used a reproofer in the washing machine.
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I have a small Rugwash Business and NEVER wash anything on a hot wash !! Instructions on the rugs are strictly adhered to and Nikwax and Nuumed rugwash products are only used, as is Nikwax Re-proofer. The re-proofer is most definitely not sprayed on, it is applied through the appropriate cycle via the washing machine.
 
I don't reproof mine in a machine, use a paintbrush. Used hydrophane for years, tried gold label & tent reproofer last year when I couldn't get any. Mine have yet to leak, water just pours off & never even damp underneath, & mine go out whatever the weather.
 
I have an industrial washing machine at home and wash loads of rugs(liveries from our yard and other yards). Never wash hotter than a warm(40C) wash(&everything comes clean),use nikwax Rugwash&
Rugproof and have never had a problem with the machine or the waterproof-ness of rugs after being done. Turnout rugs are not generally (on our yard anyway) washed more than once a season&are only re-proofed once a season too,after washing.
 
Another here who uses a paintbrush and/or a broom to apply waterproofing to my rugs - and another who has found in the past that rugs sent away to wash are subsequently a prob re waterproofness (is that a word?).
 
As a newbie to rugging, this is something I now have to think about (and sooner, rather than later, due to this 'summer' involving Chloe being attached to her rug 24/7).

Are you self-proofers with brushes saying that you literally sprawl the rug out and brush on re-proofer (presumably dissolved in a bucket of some sort!)? Any recommendations for brush on re-proofers?
 
littlelegs said:
I don't reproof mine in a machine, use a paintbrush. Used hydrophane for years, tried gold label & tent reproofer last year when I couldn't get any. Mine have yet to leak, water just pours off & never even damp underneath, & mine go out whatever the weather.
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Even no fill rugs???
 
When I proof my rugs, I get whatever my local horse shop has and then just spread the rug out and paint on the proofer, leave it to dry and then re-proof it, actually ok if you have only 1 horse and only a couple of rugs to proof, could be costly if you have several rugs!!!! :eek: :eek:
 
I re-proof my own, but send mine away to be washed only.

You can buy re-proofing sprays. I bought one called fabsil that you brush on, which is very good and the results seem better than when I had previously had rugs re-proofed at the cleaners.

I find washing rugs myself hard work. Turn-out rugs are especially laborious as you have to do it outside and they weigh about 3 tonnes, and then all the water wells up between the lining and the outer, and then I usually start to cry with despair because everything has turned into such a mess :D
I used to wash smaller rugs like fleeces in the washing machine, until the last time when a major catastrophe occurred and the washing machine pipes got clogged up with mud and hair and my kitchen flooded. I was already banned from washing horse kit in the home washing machine, so I had to fix it and clean up before anyone came home!
 
The first year I sent two of my four turnouts away to be washed and reproofed and they both shrank so last year I just hosed off outsides and scrubbed with broom to get rid of most of mud, hoovered inside and out once dry and reproofed by hand. Seems to have worked OK but getting a few dry days in a row has been the challenge for this year.
 
I brush the worst of the mud off once dry .. (luckily did them back in April/May time... before all this wet weather!!)

then wash down with hose and a solution of NikWax Rugwash

then soak in a diluted solution of proofer in a very old and no longer used drinking trough for about 6 hours

thats all very easy... but the really difficult bit is getting it out and hanging it to dry somewhere. I had to make a tiny slit in the lining at the bottom to allow all the water out

However the proof of the pudding has been all the rain recently and ...yay!... they are waterproof...;)

I think next year I will send them off though as its blooming knackering:) no good for bad backs!
 
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