Wood Furniture

When you consider how much our furniture does for your home, it's amazing how little it actually requires from you.  However, there are a few simple things you can do to ensure its rich, natural beauty and long-lasting wear.

Allow 30 days for your product to cure.  Avoid using materials that can scratch the surface of your furniture until the varnish has fully cured, forming a hard, protective finish that's resistant to water and alcohol.

Use a damp cloth for normal cleaning.  If additional polishing is required, avoid products with silicone, wax, solvents or abrasives. For best results, we highly recommend Guardsman Polish with Sunscreen, available at our store.

Avoid exposure to heat sources.  Prolonged exposure to a direct heat source, such as a register, can cause cracking or warping. Objects left on top of your furniture in direct sunlight may also cause uneven aging of the wood's surface.

Do not place hot items like pots and pans on the surface without protection.  Enough said.

Maintain the level of relative humidity in your home around 35%.  Low humidity may cause your furniture to dry or crack, while high levels can result in swelling or warping. Either way, restoring optimum humidity levels will often correct the problem. Humidity gauges are available at most hardware stores and provide an easy way to improve the comfort of your home and extend the life of your Amish Haus furniture.

Heirloom Wool Rugs

Vacuum your carpet regularly.  Sand and grit work down to the base of the pile where abrasive action damages the wool and results in loss of pile.  Always vacuum your carpet with the suction attachment only (never use the beater brush) to remove surface dirt.  Beater brushes remove a small amount of pile with each use and destroy fringe in no time.

If food or liquids spill onto a carpet clean the spill as soon as possible.  Use only club soda and a clean bath cloth or towels.   Spills such as mustard, should be allowed to dry until hard and scraped off.   Never use a cleaning agent as these may affect the dyes and produce permanent color changes. Be sure that the top, undersurface of the carpet, and the pad are completely dry before relaying the carpet.   Failure to do so can result in mold, mildew, and dry rot with significant damage.

When should you have your carpet professionally cleaned?   This depends upon the location and traffic patterns in your home.   Obviously, higher traffic exposes carpets to more dirt.   When your carpet is noticeable soiled, it is time to have it cleaned.

How should carpets be cleaned?  Wool carpets should never be “Dry cleaned” using powders, as this simply polishes the surface and leaves a large quantity of gritty residue.  Wool carpets should never be “steam cleaned” as this will cause dyes to bleed.  Oriental carpets should always be thoroughly dusted to remove dirt and grit prior to washing.  This cannot be achieved by vacuum cleaning. If not properly done, the dirt residue hardens in the foundation of the rug and makes them stiff and brittle.  Oriental carpets should always be thoroughly washed using an appropriately rinse the rug until all cleaner is removed.  You should never simply surface shampoo your carpet. This will merely brighten the surfaces and leave the shampoo and dirt in the carpet.

A pad designed for wood carpets is important for the long life of your rug.  Wool rug pads should be nonskid and promote air exchange between you carpet and the floor.  The pad should be designed so that dirt can settle to the floor and not damage the back of the carpet.

Moth damage can occur anywhere but usually in dark areas under furniture that are not regularly vacuumed.  The only long term effective moth proofing is zinc fluorosilicate, which lasts until a rug is cleaned. Other moth treatments lose their effectiveness in a few months.  Be sure that any of your carpets particially concealed by furniture are properly treated.

Your carpets should be rotated 180 degrees periodically to minimize wear from traffic patterns and to even out any sun fading.

Any carpet will fade if exposed to direct ultraviolet.  Most modern windows are Low E and mostly eliminated this problem.  Older windows may be coated with UV blocking film to minimize this problem.