How to Flatten an Area Rug: Removing Bumps, Creases, and Wrinkles

Your new area rug is in place and you love it, but it looks wavy. How-to fix those new rug wrinkles and creases fast!
Don’t want to wait for those wrinkles and creases in your new area rug to settle overtime?

Or maybe you got a new rug, before entertaining some guests, and want it to look perfect now!

I put my Textile college degree to work to come up with a solution.

Here’s a quick fix to smooth out the wrinkles safely, quickly, and easily.

Why New Rugs are Wrinkled and Creased？
Your new area rugged has been rolled up, in a truck, and a warehouse for who knows how long and likely at high temperatures.

All that heat “presses” the folds and wrinkles into place.

The way it’s rolled is always with the “face” or tufted side of the rug to the inside.

By the time it shows up at your home and you unroll it, it can look pretty awful and not lay flat…especially the new synthetic thinner indoor/outdoor types of rugs.


I wasn’t willing to wait for the wrinkles to settle over time and honestly it was a tripping hazard I wanted to eliminate.

My college degree is a B.S. Textile Chemistry and Manufacturing, from Clemson University, and I’ve actually been in a tufting plant to see how rugs are produced!

Basically, we are reversing the process that put the folds, wrinkles, and creases into the rug in the first place.

How-to Remove Wrinkles, Waves, and Creases from an Area Rug？

First the disclaimer… that you must NEVER place an iron directly on a rug or carpet…EVER.

If the rug contains any synthetic material it will melt and permanently mark the rug.

Even if it is a natural rug like sea grass or wool an iron may scorch the rug.

ALWAYS use a white towel to prevent dye transfer during the ironing process.

Place white towel onto rug, while applying pressure, iron directly over towel. Iron the full area of the rug.

For more stubborn creases and wrinkles, apply additional pressure, and hold iron over those areas for up to 10 seconds along each section.

INSTRUCTIONS

1.Fill iron with water. Pre-heat to highest setting with steam on high
2.Place white towel onto rug, while applying pressure, iron directly over towel. Iron the full area of the rug.
3.For more stubborn creases and wrinkles, apply additional pressure, and hold iron over those areas for up to 10 seconds along each section.
4.Once all wrinkles and creases are removed, vacuum the rug to fluff up the pile if it is tufted.

NOTES
Use a WHITE TOWEL to avoid any dye transfer through the heat and steam process.
NEVER iron the rug without a towel in place.
For stubborn wrinkles, dampen the towel slightly. I didn't do this to protect my hardwood floor.

Now doesn’t that look easy? It really did only take 10 minutes and it was totally worth the effort.
I’m loving the new rug and it looks so smooth and pretty in the newly remodeled room.

Here’s to smoother rugs ahead 🙂 Now if only getting rid of the wrinkles on my face was this easy.