The life span of your rugs will certainly be shortened as you employ improper ways of cleaning it. As much as your abuse your carpet the more likely is that they are going to last for very long. Everything is taken into the equation here, both the use of the carpet and the methods of cleaning it. Here are some tips to help you and some strategies that you can use which will expand the use of your carpets.
Strategy 1: Dealing with Dirt
Dirt is absolutely the worst enemy of carpets. Think of dirt as tiny blades that are stuck inside your carpet. The carpets get filled with dirt gradually and as much of it as it stays there the greater the damage it will be. While walking to make the dust particles grind together and inadvertently lower to quality of your rugs. The particles will also grind the fibers in the carpet and cut and mash everything away. This is why dirt is the most harmful enemy of your rugs and you need to address it as soon as possible. If you do not you will just be taking away parts of your rug, one bag at a time, every time you do your vacuuming. Here are some of the most important tips for dealing with dirt in your carpets.
Vacuum Often
In order to protect your carpets, the first thing that you need to do is to vacuum as often as possible. The most appropriate thing to do is to vacuum at least once a week. It will enhance the quality of the rugs and prevent the dirt accumulating as much damaging your carpets in the process. Entrance areas or areas where you frequently move are actually required to vacuum twice a week while other parts of the house where you do not use up to rugs as much as often are find with one treatment a week.
Always Vacuum with an Empty Bag or Clean Filter
If your vacuum’s bag is overfilled or the filter is not cleaned, it can reduce the power of your vacuum in half. The result of this are not thoroughly cleaned carpets and improper vacuumed areas. You will need to do twice the more work and spend more energy. Bag-less vacuums often have problems with their filters as they are not properly maintained. With regular vacuuming change the filters on your vacuums every three months in order to preserve their cleaning potential. With vacuums that have bags make sure that you replace bags when they are ¾ full. That way the vacuum’s suction ability stays preserved.
Vacuum at Appropriate Speeds
It is very important to vacuum at the right speed. Not doing so will also result in the improper cleaning of your rugs and leave most of the dirt there. One needs to vacuum the rugs at slow speeds in order to thoroughly get all the dirt out. The best way to do it is to make a quick pass over low traffic areas in your household and with the high traffic areas make two passes. If you do tow slow passes, it will be far more effective than making several fast passes as it will remove all the dirt from the carpets that way.
Use Walk-off Mats
Use the walk-off mats both inside and outside of your house. Make sure the walk-off mats with coarser texture are placed in front of your door when people enter so it will remove soil and dirt from people’s feet as they enter. Water absorbing mats are best offered for inside as that way they absorb the water from wet shoes as people walk inside.
Strategy 2: Use a Professional Service Wisely
When hiring a professional cleaning service to get your carpets cleaned make sure that you do your research correctly. What professional cleaning services can provide to you are various methods that are considered contemporary and quality opposed to other types of cleaning. Dry carpet cleaning, steam cleaning or hot water extraction are just some of the offered services that you can hire a pro to do to your rugs. But, be careful when acquiring these types of services and better get some which are certified or the ones which are recommended to you. The pros will certainly do a better job when cleaning but you will also need to know that the service you are hiring is a proper one.
Do not Take an Offer Over the Phone
Professional carpet cleaning services often provide their pricing on the spot. This means that they will come by your house to do the cleaning and give you an estimate depending on the number of rooms that you want cleaned or the amount of surfaces that require to be dealt with. Quality cleaners like Love Carpet Cleaning service always provide their reference and have a written guarantee for their work, so keep an eye on these things before accepting anything over the phone.
Do not Trust “discount” Carpet Cleaners
When you see an ad that provides information for a discount carpet cleaning service, do not rush and immediately hire that one. These are actually low quality cleaning services that do not provide a thorough cleaning job that a real professional cleaning agency might. Most of these discount services will only sprinkle some soap over your rugs and rinse it up with a bit of water and will be gone in 30 minutes tops. The soap will attract more dirt as it usually does and you will have to do the whole thing all over again.
You get your Money’s Worth
Quality carpet cleaning professionals charge their services according to the given standards. You will certainly not regret the money you spend after they are done. Their pricing is mostly based on the services you actually need, type of carpeting or size of carpets and jobs. Usually a professional carpet cleaning service will get their job done in around three to four hours before getting their job done.
Strategy 3: DIY and Steam Cleaning Machines
Steam cleaning is very useful and more than appropriate for your carpet cleaning purposes. It does not damage the carpets at all and prolongs the life span of the carpets with great deal. As the services are very useful they also come with a price. The professional cleaning agencies offer this as a part of their cleaning arsenal but also charge quite a hefty sum for it. Not all people are able to hire and book steam cleaning services so some people choose to do it on their own. If you decide to clean your carpets with steam cleaning, there are two options left for you, rent one or buy one. Of course renting will only be a temporary solution and comes at a cheaper price, though you will have to buy your own detergents that are necessary for the machine to work. The ones that you can rent are actually a lot larger and store more water. The ones that you can buy are smaller and more compatible. They can be safely stored and put away and also are quite easy and useful to use. They store less water but are in fact lighter. If you’re looking to buy one, read this article from the Guardian.
Clean the Carpets Before it gets too Dirty
It actually depends on the traffic that your carpet suffers in whether you need to clean it. If you use it too much of course it will require that you clean it a lot more times and more frequently of course. But the thing is that you do not need to wait for the carpet to get quite dirty as the cleaning will be much harder. The best way to do it is to recognize when the colors of the carpet start looking a bit dull and then perform the cleaning. If it is too dirty it will be much harder and difficult to clean.
Vacuum Before and After Cleaning
It is best to vacuum the carpet before and after cleaning. You will remove larger chunks and patches of dirt that way when your vacuum it before the actual cleaning while when you finish it is good to do it after the carpet is completely dry so it does not attract soil.
Elevate Heavy Furniture
In order to prevent your rugs from getting damaged it is better to elevate the heavy furniture from touching the rugs. Particularly the furniture which has metallic legs can leave imprints of rust on your carpets which will be hard to remove and clean, not to mention that it will ruin the rugs. Put wood block or plastic films beneath the legs of furniture and elevate it that way so the furniture does not affect the carpets in a bad way.
Do not Over Wet the Carpets
DIY machines will put a lot of moisture into the carpets and the majority of them do not have a strong enough motor or suction to extract it all out. So instead of being left with a wet rug it is best to make one pass with a soap and water solution, then he next with the neutralizing rinse solution and then two drying passes to finish everything off.
Remember to let it Dry Thoroughly
Wet rugs attract mold and mildew. In order to prevent that you will need to dry them thoroughly. Open all the windows and use fans or dehumidifiers to dry them all up. You can even use your AC system but put it on a moderate setting so it gradually dries the carpets up. Also do not walk on the rugs while it is drying nor put the furniture back. It will need around 12 hours to completely dry but sometimes 6 to 8 is enough as well.
Strategy 4: Deal with Stains as Fast as Possible
When dealing with stains it is of paramount importance to act as quickly as possible. If you want to remove the stain properly and deal with its removal in a positive way you will have to act immediately to remove it. If you wait for the stain to dry it will cause greater damage or it will be much difficult for you to clean it. Either way, the rugs are the ones which get to suffer.
Be Quick on your Feet
The best advice we can give you in removing any kind of stain is to do it as quickly as possible. If the stain is fresh and you manage to get to it fast, there is a 99% chance for you to clean and remove it.
Try Water First
Not many people know that around 8% of the stains can actually be removed with simple water. So before you start doing or using anything else try plain water first. Use a clean white cloth first to absorb the stain as much as possible and then use a wet cloth to see how much of the stain you can actually remove. Sometimes you will succeed in removing the entire stains but sometimes you can soften the effects of it this way. Repeat the process a few times in order to remove the stain.
Blot, don’t Scrub
The biggest mistake one can do is to try rubbing the stain. This is a big no no as you risk of making things even worse that they actually are. Scrubbing will certainly damage the fibers of your carpet and make the area fuzzy, so a marking will be left whether you remove the stain or not. Also, remember to blot from the outer part of the stain to inward so the stain does not spread and create more damage.
Introduce Vinegar or Club Soda
If you do not manage to remove the stain with plain water, there is something else you can try before using chemical solutions. Try a mixture of white vinegar and hot water. This is known to have great effects on cleaning stains and it is something that you sure have around the house. Club soda can also be used in the same way and can provide great results as well.