Since our floors are new and so beautiful we want to do everything right to preserve them.

She was dead set on a new floor. LOL!!!! Sorry Charlie!!!
Claim denied... Go pound sand, lady Her stance was the sales guy @ one of the big box stores should have told her it was going to change colors.

One thing I find interesting -- we left our master bedroom open to sunlight for, oh, maybe a couple of weeks before moving any furniture into it. The dark/light difference in that room has been very slight compared to the other rooms (and it does get a decent amount of sunlight). If I had it do over again, I would let each room "cure" for a few weeks before moving furniture in, since it seems that a lot of the darkest darkening seems to happen in the initial weeks.

When we checked the pad underneath one of our other rugs we noticed a different pad made of felt which had not left any residue. So my advice is to get a good quality felt pad so as to not ruin your floors. We didn't not choose our pads -- the dealers who sold us the rugs brought their own hence the different types in our home.

I think rugs at entryways are an absolute must. They catch a ton of dirt. Personally, I think area rugs are just one more thing to clean. Plus a lot of dirt/dust gets trapped underneath them at the edges.

But the foam pad left a mirror image on the floor - you could even see all those little pincushion hole marks from the pad. And the floor is still sticky. Needless to say we've been on the phone to Macy's.

I will never use those pads again. Now I'm looking for the felt ones that were mentioned above. Can anyone recommend a source or a brand name?

We're putting our house on the market in a month or so. Is there ANYTHING we can do to make this problem less obvious? Our furniture will all be in our new house by the time we try to sell this one, so leaving the rug there all by itself would look odd and, besides, it wouldn't feel honest.

Personally, if everything else in the house looked good, I would be so happy to get a hardwood floor that what you describe would not keep me from buying.

I salute your honesty, that alone makes you a wonderful seller. Maybe you could have your rug there, turned back at the corner to show you're not trying to hide anything, with a big sign that says credit to buyer of $(whatever) for new area rug of your choice. Then they can use the credit to sand the floor or whatever.

However, it is very important to have a padding underneath your rug. Otherwise you may incur the discoloration as mentioned. That is to say, both rug and floor need to breathe.

As for vacuuming under the rug:
It's a great idea to clean underneath your rug and pad. But full cleaning need not be frequent. Proper attention to the rug and pad is as follows:

Full sweep out from under the rug every 3-6 months. If you decide to mop, at least allow a full day for the floor to dry in a normal climate. Every week, however, it is advisable to flip each side and end back 2 feet or so (of both rug and pad) to sweep out dirt and grit around the perimeter. This will help prevent any high abrasives from dulling your floor.

Additionally, it's also important to note that you're rug will need attention too: especially if it's an Oriental! Oriental Rugs should be vacuumed on the face every week, or as needed.

Every 6-12 months, do a more thorough vacuuming: Vacuum first the back of the rug with a beater vacuum (helps push dirt and abrasives out through face of the rug) then vacuum the front.

Also keep in mind the traffic of the area in which the rug is located. It is very important to encourage even wear of your rug to preserve not only it's value but it's appearance as well. I have seen from experience how important it is that rugs be rotated every year.

I think it was Grendle Fly who said new floors need 30 days to breathe. This is very true in the instances of natural wood, and treated wood. For purposes of proper curing, it is essential.

This is my first post to this forum, so I would like to leave everyone with a tip: If you walk on your Oriental Rugs with socks, it will actually polish the wool over time. Also, this will help keep your rug looking newer for longer as well as giving it a finer sheen and luster.

Good health