Carpet Cleaning – Tips and Tricks To Keep Your Carpet Looking New

CarpetCleaningTips 234x300 Carpet Cleaning   Tips and Tricks To Keep Your Carpet Looking NewNo matter how clean you keep your home, carpets reflect the real level of activity in your home. From spots and stains to full on high traffic ground in dirt, carpets tell all your secrets.

Move Your Furniture!

Anyone who has had a carpet for a long time knows that if your furniture stays put you end up with a patchwork appearance once you move a large piece of furniture from one place to another. One easy easy to avoid this problem and give your room a new feel is to simply rearrange your furniture. This allows your carpeting to get used uniformly and also allows you to give it a good cleaning in the process. Vacuum as you go and deal with indentations left by heavy pieces by placing you iron on its steam setting and hold it closely enough to your carpet for the steam to hit it. Do not place your iron directly on your carpet as this could melt the fibers.

Tackle Stains and Spills Right Away.

Stains can be no big deal if you get to them right away. Vacuuming is typically a part of every home’s weekly cleaning schedule. If you have pets or children then chances are you vacuum even more often. Mentally divide your carpet into smaller more manageable areas and move the vacuum slowly over each section before moving on to the next.

Some carpet repairs can be easy to clean if you keep a small stash of extra carpeting pieces around. Carpet fibers are usually made from synthetic materials and, as a result, they can melt when exposed to heat. If a small area has been burned, carefully snip away the melted fibers and put a small amount of glue down. The either replace with a piece of carpeting from your leftover scraps or cut the fibers off the good scrap and “replant” them into the hole left in your carpeting.

Learn How to Deal with The Worst Stains

Out of all the stains a carpet can get wax is certainly one of the most intimidating. Use caution during this process and don’t press too hard when scraping as this can drive the wax particles further into your carpet. Use an iron on a lower setting and put a piece of brown paper between it and your carpet. Wax

Shoes are dirty, we all know that, and keeping them off your carpet will prevent a lot of ground in dirt and debris from ever touching your carpeting. In the winter include a chair or stool right by the door so people can sit down to remove boots.

Use Gentle Cleaning Products

When addressing stains or marks on your carpet don’t go for the harsh removers first. Try gentler products to see if they can handle the job first. Harsh commercial cleansers can break down your carpet fibers while removing the stain. Vinegar water and even laundry detergent diluted with water and used in a spray bottle can handle most organic stains.

When you do need to clean your carpet or you just have a spill be sure to dry your carpet thoroughly. Moisture trapped in a carpet can encourage mold and bacteria growth which can spread to your flooring as well as aggravate allergic or asthmatic reactions in household members and guests.

Carpet Protectors

CarpetFilmApplicator 001 300x225 Carpet ProtectorsAfter the previous carpet cleaning (a year prior) a protector was applied to all of the carpets in a home that houses two adults, a teenager, and two dogs – during their last carpet cleaning the owner was amazed at how easily the soil released itself from their carpet fibers and that most of the stubborn spots were no problem for the technician – all due to the previously applied protector.

A carpet protector cannot make soil, food or drink hover six inches above the carpet, but it does provide you with the necessary time to clean up a spill before it can become a permanent stain.

Protectors guard against two things – “Soiling” and “Staining”. Does that mean that a protected carpet or sofa cannot be stained or become soiled? If coffee or a soda is spilled on a protected area and left unattended to dry, the dyes from these spills will eventually seep through the protector and may stain the fabric; however if the surface is immediately cleaned with an appropriate spotter or by a professional cleaner, the chances are very good that all of the spill will be removed. An added benefit of protecting your carpets and fabrics is that dust and soils are easier to remove when vacuuming.

Protected fibers essentially have a barrier to lessen the entanglement of abrasive soil within a carpet…thus vacuuming is far more productive. This means you reduce the wear and tear and the abrasive effects of soil within your carpet. Hence, with routine maintenance it will last longer than un-protected carpet.

Are protectors perfect? No

The bottom line is that carpet protectors give you an infinitely greater chance of cleaning soil or spills than you would otherwise have without a protector. Almost all new carpets now come with a protector to help prevent staining or premature wear.

Carpet protection tips:

You can drastically prolong the beauty of your carpeting and greatly improve the healthful quality of your home environment if you:

1) Don’t wear dirty, grease-laden, abrasive shoes upon your carpeting.

2) Don’t permit house pets to excrete body waste on your carpet.

3) Keep it vacuumed well, and

4) Have it professionally cleaned by a properly trained technician on a regular basis.

Remember: Carpeting, like clothing, is a textile product that requires proper care. Abusing it will cause permanent, visible damage.