Best Techniques to Clean Your Carpet

Prolong the life of your carpet with these easy care tips.

If you think about it, the carpet of your home is probably the most used part of your house. Your family walks on it every day and as a consequence, tracks dust and dirt throughout the carpet of your Chicago home.

While your carpet takes a real beating over time, it’s in your control to keep it looking its best. We’ll show you how to maintain your carpet with these top techniques for cleaning your carpet.

Vacuuming Your Carpets

Many people make it a regular habit to vacuum their carpets once a week or so. While this is a good general recommendation, it might surprise you to learn it may be overkill in some situations.

For instance, if you have a home with a room or two that’s rarely frequented, you may be better off vacuuming those rooms less often. That’s because vacuum cleaners are hard on carpets and can make them lose some of their luster.

So, the idea is to focus your efforts on rooms and areas where foot traffic is the highest. For instance, your entryways, living rooms, and other areas near the front of your home are likely to be areas where your family tracks in dirt from the outside the most.

Vacuum those areas once or twice a week, and vacuum areas with less traffic less often. Remember, always start off with a clean bag or filter and empty your vacuum’s canister before or after each use.

When vacuuming, don’t rush it. Pass the vacuum cleaner slowly over the carpets so that more dirt is suctioned up. Vacuum over low traffic areas once and high traffic areas twice.

Choose the right vacuum cleaner to fit your needs.

To maximize your efforts when vacuuming your home, choose the best vacuum for your needs.

For instance, if you have pets, you’ll want to choose a vacuum that has the right kind of attachments and a hose. This way, you’ll be able to vacuum up animal dander from your furniture and areas where your pet’s hair accumulates.

If you have health issues and you don’t have a lot of energy or if you have stairs, you may want to opt for a more lightweight vacuum cleaner.

The point is to assess your needs and pick out a vacuum cleaner that’ll do the job the most efficiently and effectively. You don’t have to break the bank and you can invest your money where it counts.

Tackling Tough Stains on Your Carpet

No matter how hard you work to keep your carpets clean, spills and stains still happen. It’s part of life, particularly if you have children or pets.

The key to minimizing their effect is to address them as soon as possible once they’ve occurred. Many carpets have been pre-treated to prevent stains from setting in if they’re handled in a timely manner.

The first thing you can try to do is to blot the stain out with a cloth soaked in water. Never scrub or rub a stain out because it’ll only make the dirt or stain sink deeper into the carpet fiber.

Blotting with a simple wet cloth can be a simple but effective method for ridding your carpet of stains. However, some stains, like blood, wine, and others may need a little more help to remove them.

Blood stains

Blood stains can be tough to get rid of without the right application. Fortunately, hydrogen peroxide will often do the trick. Think about what it does to those nasty nicks and cuts. It’ll do the same for your carpet. Just loosen the blood stain in your carpet with soap and cool water by gently dabbing the stain. Scrape off whatever comes loose, then apply hydrogen peroxide to the stain. It may foam a little, so don’t worry if it does. Then dry the area by dabbing it with towels. One thing to remember is to never use warm water on blood stains, as it will set the stain.

Pet Stains

Purchase an organic cleaner at your local pet supply store. Spray the stain and dab at it. Unfortunately, for this type of stain, it may be necessary to apply more pressure, which is not often recommended. But, pet stains tend to work their way more into the fibers of the carpet than other types of stains. Keep wiping away at the stain until you’ve removed as much as possible.

Beer, Wine and Coffee Stains

For these types of stains, it’s club soda to the rescue! Apply club soda to a cleaning cloth and blot the stain. If it doesn’t soak out the stain completely, you could mix one part water with one part vinegar in a spray bottle, then spray it on the stain, allowing it to sit for 15 minutes. Then, use a clean sponge to soak up the mixture, along with the stain. Repeat if necessary. Follow it up by rinsing with warm water soaked into a towel or sponge, then lay paper towels over the area to absorb the moisture. Place something on top of the paper towels if need be to make them have deeper contact. Keep in place for one day or so until the carpet is dry.

Chewing gum

Chewing gum is easily tracked into the home from the outside. It can seem impossibly sticky to remove, but have no fear. Apply ice cubes to the gum for about 30 seconds to a minute, then use a butter knife to lift as much of the gum out as possible. If any gum remains, you may choose to cut out a few strands of the carpet to eradicate it completely. If you do, be careful to remove as little of the carpet as possible.

Other stains

Believe it or not, shaving cream is one of the best stain removers for many types of carpet stains. Spray the shaving cream directly on the stain and allow it to sit for around a half hour. After that, blot it away with a dry, white towel, then spray the area with equal parts of vinegar and water, then dab away at the area. Voila! Many stains disappear with this technique.

Steam Cleaning Your Carpets – DIY or Hire a Chicago Cleaning Professional?

That just might be the million dollar question. There are a few important things to remember if you choose to do it yourself.

• Read the steam cleaner’s manual thoroughly before using it.
• Follow the instructions to the letter when it comes to mixing the cleaning solution, rinsing, and drying the carpet.
• Start as far away from the doorway so you don’t track over your clean carpet.
• Don’t overwet the carpet, remove as much water as possible, and take your time doing the job. If you have ceiling fans, put them on to help speed up drying of the carpets.

Most experts recommend deep cleaning carpets at least once or twice a year to remove more settled in dirt and grime.

It’s a tedious and time-consuming process. Many people prefer to hire a cleaning company to do it for them. The choice is yours.