best way to clean carpet

Best Way to Clean Carpet at Home | A Helpful Guideline

Carpets tend to attract a lot of dust, dirt, stains, as well as animal hair. You should also be aware of germs and bacteria. Taking care of your carpet will not only make it look good, but will also prolong its life. So, if you want always to have fresh and healthy carpets, you should approach their cleaning with all seriousness.

Let’s now see what you can do to make sure that your carpets are at their best!

Regular Maintenance

Calender open in a tab

Regular maintenance is something you should be doing if you want to maintain the condition of your carpets. Don’t think that occasional deep cleaning them will do the trick.

If you do not do regular cleaning, the carpet will be good only for a short time after deep cleaning. There are several things you could do to ensure the everyday good condition of your carpets.

Vacuuming

A necessary thing to do with carpets is vacuuming them regularly. This doesn’t mean that you have to vacuum carpets every day, although, if you have pets, you might need to treat your carpets 7 days a week.

The choice of a vacuum cleaner is quite important in treating your carpets, as well. You could generally go for any kind of vacuum cleaner, but if you want to do more than just removing dust from its surface, you should go for an upright model. They often come with rotating brushes that loosen up the dirt before the vacuum picks it up.

When vacuuming your carpets, you shouldn’t rush the process. Your vacuum needs time to loosen and then suck in the dirt, so be patient. You might also need to run the vacuum over your carpets more than once to treat them fully.

Removing spills immediately

Wine Spill

With spills, a good rule is to clean them up right away. If you let the spills soak into the carpet, it will be much more difficult for you to remove them in the future. If you want to save time, you should treat the spills as soon as possible.

A good way of immediate spill cleaning is putting a paper towel or, if you don’t have it, any kind of clean cloth, on the area. it will then absorb the spilled fluid. You could then pour baking powder on the spill and wait for about 15 minutes. With wine or other kinds of colorful liquid, also use a little bit of club soda before pouring the baking powder. After the spill dries completely, you can vacuum up.

Protecting used areas of your carpets

Another thing you should consider doing is protecting the areas of the carpet that are walked on frequently. Such areas could be carpeting near your front door, kitchen, or the hallway.

You can protect your carpeting in a variety of ways: you could put plastic protector mats or throw rugs on those heavy-traffic areas. In this way, you could avoid dirt or grass from the outside getting onto your carpet. Identify the areas of your carpeting that are used the most and protect them. This will save a lot of your time in the future.

Deep Cleaning

Apart from the regular carpet cleaning, you might need and even should perform an occasional deep cleaning of your carpeting. This is done best with such machines as carpet cleaners or carpet shampooers. The toughest stains and odors cannot be removed with regular cleaning, even with the best vacuums, in most cases, so you might need to sooner-or-later resort to a carpet shampooer.

You don’t necessarily need to buy a carpet shampooer to get your cleaning done. You could rent one: moreover, you could even hire a professional to do all the cleaning instead, in case you don’t know what to do. Just keep in mind that different carpet cleaners are designed for different carpet types.

Carpet cleaning machines are used with stain removal products, as well as carpet cleaning solutions. Before applying those to your carpet, you need to first vacuum it completely to free it from loose dust and dirt. Furthermore, before vacuuming, sweep the carpet to get all the dirt closer to the surface.

How exactly you will need to be cleaning carpets depends on the machine, so consult with its instruction manual. But, generally, you first spray a stain removal product (or, alternatively, vinegar) onto the carpet. Then, you need to add water and the cleaning solution to the machine. Follow the instructions to do everything right.

When cleaning the carpet with a carpet machine, make sure to run over its surface slowly. Be sure to cover every inch: you may even overlap already cleaned areas to ensure that you don’t miss anything.

Keep in mind that with some carpet cleaners, the dirty water goes into a separate reservoir. This reservoir may then be emptied into the toilet.

After you are done with the cleaning, let your carpet dry for it to look and smell as good as new.

General Tips on Carpet Cleaning

Treat older stains with vinegar. Even if you missed a spill a couple of days ago, you still should be able to clean it relatively easily. Many carpets are pre-treated with stain-resistant chemicals, which will make the stains easier to remove. You only need to spray the area lightly with vinegar and then wipe it with a clean cloth. For tougher stains, you could saturate the spill with vinegar, sprinkle baking soda, and, after the spot is dry, vacuum the area.
Do not try to scrub stains away. This may deepen the stain into the carpet even more. Additionally, you might damage the fibers, which won’t bode well for the looks of your carpet.
Do not use excessive amounts of water, vinegar, or any other liquid. The liquids could seep into the carpet so deep that it is unable to dry, which could lead to mold growth.
Use ice cubes to get rid of stuck-on stains. The ice will make sticky stains like gum hard and much easier to remove.
Use hard-bristled brushes for easier removal of stains. This works especially well in combination with a water and water shampoo solution.
Test cleaning products on smaller areas beforehand. This will allow you to see how well a solution works. Apart from that, you will know if a solution is bad for your carpet.

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