Are you having a tough time cleaning your carpet? It is no secret that carpets become dirty over time due to spills, snags and other accidents. In this article we are featuring 15 Carpet Cleaning Hacks to keep it free of the impurities that can bring health problems.
When you let this dirt accumulate for a period of time, your carpet will end up looking dingy and old. For you to ensure that your carpet is clean, looking new and smelling fresh, you should use the carpet cleaning tips highlighted below.
1. Avoid Spills Settling on the Carpet.
You cannot prevent spills on your carpet but you can manage them in a way that does not leave stains on your carpet. Whenever there is a spill on your carpet, you need to clean it quickly before it sets.
It may be tempting to leave a small spill for a while; however, you need to respond quickly in order for you to avoid stains down the road. Apply a cleaning agent on the affected area immediately, these happens especially near a trash can do it without rubbing first.
You will then use a clean cloth or a paper towel which will apply pressure on the cleaning agent thereby enabling it to soak up the spilled liquid. It is important to note that you should soak up the spill from the outside as you go in so that the spill does not spread.
2. Use a Robot Vacuum Cleaner
You can easily keep your carpet clean by using a robot vacuum cleaner. Robot vacuums are so great because you can set them up on a schedule so that they can clean your carpets when you are not around. See this video
Your floors will be free of dirt every single day without you putting in any work. Both cheap and expensive robot vacuums are so efficient at cleaning your carpets that you will find yourself relying more on them than other vacuum cleaner.
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3. Acquire a Worthy Vacuum– Code-less Type
You should not settle on using just any vacuum cleaner. It is important for you to find the right vacuum for your carpets. If your home has a lot of carpeting, you should consider spending more money on a good vacuum.
Because vacuuming regularly is the most important way of keeping your carpet clean, you need to ensure that your vacuum cleaner is up for the task. Depending on the needs of your home, you may require more than one vacuum to handle different sections of your house.
For example, an upright vacuum cleaner will do a great job on large carpeted areas compared to carpeted stairs where a cordless handheld vacuum cleaner works perfectly. See Top 50 Best selling vacuums
4. Be Prepared- Get an Emergency Kit
No carpet is completely protected from spill accidents and stains and having an emergency kit will enable you to deal with any issue swiftly. Your kit should include a few drops of dishwashing detergent, ice cubes, shaving cream, hydrogen peroxide, club soda and commercial stain remover.
Dish-washing detergent enables you to remove oil-based stains while ice cubes enable you to remove sticky substances such as chewing gum. Shaving cream can remove any type of stain while hydrogen peroxide is effective on blood stains. Club soda enables you to remove beer and wine spills while commercial stain remover removes most stubborn stains.
5. Use a Professional Carpet Cleaning Service Annually
If you wish to keep your carpet clean and looking great for a long time, you need to get it professionally cleaned at least once a year. There are also carpet cleaning machines that you can rent to do the deep professional clean yourself.
You just need to ensure that you are familiar with what you are doing so that you do not attract more dirt or the growth of mildew and mold from incorrect steam cleaning. Professional carpet cleaners have the right cleaning tools and expertise to guarantee you a clean and fresh carpet. Therefore, ensure that you use their services especially when you have so many stubborn stains on your carpet.
6. Keep a Consistent Carpet Cleaning Program
Apart from quickly removing stains, you need to maintain a regular cleaning routine so that your carpets remain in the best shape. You can vacuum twice a week using the right attachments so that you are able to clean hard to reach places.
If you cannot vacuum twice a week, consider getting a robot vacuum to help out between your hands-on sessions. Vacuuming and maintaining your carpet religiously may not be enough to keep your carpet looking great and fresh.
Your carpet requires more tender loving care which comes from you deep cleaning it twice a year. There are options such as bringing in a professional service or renting a carpet cleaner to remove any lingering stains and deeply embedded dirt thereby giving your carpets that brand-new look.
7. Manage High Traffic Areas
High traffic areas are where people mostly step on like your door way and your stairs. You can add a rug to these areas so that you minimize the amount of dirt that your carpet comes into contact with. It is important for you to ensure that the rugs you use are kept clean because you do not want the dirt from the rug to spread to the carpet.
You will find that it is easier to clean a rug compared to your entire carpet. Place a welcome mat at your front door to reduce the amount of dirt that is tracked into your house. Anyone getting into your house will be forced to dust off their shoes on the door mat thereby reducing the amount of dirt getting into your house and carpets for that matter.
8. Set Up Rules in Your Home
Rules are especially good where there are children and pets because they are the ones who are most likely to dirty your carpet. When you teach children how to stop running around the house with food in their hands and to remove their shoes before entering your house, you will be able to keep your carpets clean.
You can also train your pets not to go on the furniture. This will save you so much time that you would have otherwise spent cleaning the messes made by children and pets. They may not be able to adhere to your rules every single time; however, having those rules will reduce the number of stains in your carpet.
9.Take care of your Carpet with the Power of Vinegar
Vinegar is known to many uses related to baking soda when it comes to carpet care and one of the most exciting uses is to fluff up high-traffic areas in the house where the carpet just looks worn out and the fibers have been flattened. You will dilute vinegar in equal amounts of water and then spray it on the affected zones. Once the carpet material has absorbed the mixture, take a regular spoon and run it sideways along the carpeting to loosen the fibers and restore their original texture.
Carpet Cleaning For Pets at Home
It may be difficult to keep your carpet clean when you have pets at home. Therefore, you need to be ready to deal with any accidents that occur, use odor removers and do spot-cleaning to ensure that your carpet remains clean.
Most cats are normally indoors and that is why they are cleaner than dogs. However, they still shed pet hair which is why vacuuming twice a week is recommended. Getting pet smell out of your carpet is not easy regardless of the type of pet you have. Below are tips to help you clean your carpet with pets in the house.
1. Scotch Guard Non-Stain Resistant Carpets
You should scotch-guard your carpets especially those that are a few years old so that you put a protective guard on the carpet. You will have to repeat this after a period of time so that the fibers can maintain their structure and protect the carpet from additional stains.
Ensure every fiber is treated by doing this professionally. The moment you miss a spot stains will get under the treated fibers which will make it harder to get the stains out.
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2. Cleaning Pet Hair
A pet that sheds hair will accumulate it in everything. This will result in you finding a trail of hair on the floor. Your vacuum cleaner can be easily clogged with this hair. You can wrap mask tape around an old paint roller and attach it to an old mop handle or broom so that you can pick up pet hair before you begin vacuuming.
Alternatively, you can use a rubber-bristled carpet rake to collect clumps of pet hair so that you can remove them using your hand before you vacuum. Use a HEPA-filtered bagless vacuum three times a week to reduce the amount of left over pet hairs.
3. Steam Clean Monthly
You need to steam clean your carpet at least monthly so that you can wash it and remove any fleas, hair, or saliva that is embedded into the carpet. You need to use a mild cleaner so that it does not break down the carpet pile structure.
Because you are steam cleaning on a monthly basis, you should use a cleaner that is meant to freshen up the carpet or a cleaner that is designed for homes with pets. These cleaners usually have a more diluted concentration for them to be gentle on the carpet pile
4. Buy Stain Resistant Carpet
A stain resistant carpet may be expensive but it is worth it if you have pets in your home. If you are able to purchase it, this is the right one for you. It is a great option when you are carpeting a wood or tile floor or you are replacing the carpeting.
This carpet lasts for a long period of time and has a protective layer applied to the fibers. You do not need to scotch guard it because it can handle steam cleaning, vacuuming and spills without losing a lot of its integrity.
5. Cleaning Pet Urine
When it comes to keeping your carpet clean, pet urine is one of the most difficult problems to deal with. You need to find accidental urine spots quickly for you to be able to avoid stains. When you find a urine spot, you should start by using several paper towels to step on the spot with your shoes on.
This will remove the urine without allowing it to spread. You need to do this until your paper towels come up almost dry. Then, mix a cup of water and one teaspoon of ammonia, spray it on the affected area and let it soak in for 5 minutes.
Make tiny circular motions from the inside of the spot going outwards using a stiff brush. Finally, use a dry or wet vacuum to clean the rest of the affected area. This procedure will pull up all the urine from the carpet and prevent it from staining your carpet.
6. Removing Pet Odor
The first step to removing pet odor is using an extracting carpet cleaner to force clean water into the carpet and then removing it. You need to do this before you try using any enzyme treatment. Water will be able to remove any chemicals that still remain in your carpet from previous treatments and cleaning.
Enzymes will not be able to remove odors from the carpet if there are chemical residues. For a dry carpet, you can use powdered odor removers or apply liquid urine odor remover products which use bio-enzymatic properties to remove the bacteria that causes the odor.
Some liquid odor removers require you to saturate your carpet with the product and leave the carpet to dry for about two weeks before soaking up or extracting the product. You can use a tank sprayer to apply liquid odor removers to cover bigger areas. See best Odor Removers
7. Keep Your Pet’s Nails Short if you have them in your house
If your pet’s nails are long, they can easily damage your carpet. This mostly happens when they get excited and run around or slide across the carpet and catch the strands of the carpet in the process. This will leave an unraveling effect that will result in bare spots and carpeted areas that are less fluffy compared to others.
When you trim your pet’s nails, ensure that you also use a pet nail file on them. This will eliminate any rigidity left so that the nails feel smooth. Keeping your pet’s nail short also enables you to protect hardwood floors.
See Best Pet Nails Care Products
Conclusion
Maintaining your carpet and keeping it clean will give you a sense of pride every time you enter your home or have family and friends over. You need to follow the tips mentioned above so that you keep your carpet clean and fresh. Whether you have pets or not, there are certain measures you need to take to keep your carpet clean. Ensure you do not miss a single step!
Like this article? Then you would definitely love our other article on Facts About Inventions of Vacuum Cleaners
Hi there!
What a great post! I recently started to live on my own and there are many things that people don’t tell us! Things as basic as how to clean a carpet are often taken for granted and therefore people don’t pay attention to them! Thanks a lot for the information! It was really helpful and easy to understand!
Hello there! this is an amazing review you have got here. I am sure this quality information will be beneficial to anyone who come across it. For me, I will go with Keeping a Consistent Carpet Cleaning Program because that way it will be extremely clean and suitable.
Thanks for sharing this with me.