Carpet Cleaning Methods – Quick Ways to Keep Your Carpet Cleaner

Carpet is one of the most important things in your home to keep clean. Keeping your carpet clean is important, for both health and cost effective reasons. Your health can be largely affected by dust mites and other allergens that make carpets their home, and it is more financially sound to keep your carpet clean than it is to purchase a new carpet. You should professionally clean your carpets every twelve to eighteen months, and vacuum every day or two to keep them from appearing dingy.

There are many different ways to remove spots and odors from your carpets. To keep odors out of your carpet, periodically sprinkle baking soda on your carpets. The baking soda will remove a wide range of odors, from pet odors to body odor in carpets. When a spill occurs, it is important to spot clean it immediately. If you leave a spill on the carpet too long, it is more likely the stain will be permanent. Do not rub the stain too hard, as it will become more difficult to remove from the carpet but it could spread further and make a larger stain. Rubbing the stain too hard will also weaken the fibers of your carpet. It is best for the carpet if the spill is blotted so that there is no extra damage to the carpet.

Use gentle cleansers such as shampoo or dish soap to remove stains. Club soda and vinegar also work well on carpet stains. There are many commercial spot cleaners on the market for residential carpet use. Before applying these cleaners to the carpet, choose an inconspicuous area of the carpet to test the cleanser. When you are spot cleaning spills, use white cloths or plain white paper towels so that you can monitor the amount of the stain that has been removed.

For the more solid spills like pudding or peanut butter, scrape off the excess spill with a butter knife or similar object. Rinse the remaining part of the spill with warm water, and blot the rest of the spill out of the carpet. Solids that have dried on the carpet can be broken up and vacuumed out of the carpet. Any remaining stain from a dried solid spill can be rinsed and blotted out of the carpet.

There are also several different carpet cleaning methods to keep your carpets clean. Developing a regular routine of cleaning your carpet is the best way of prolonging the looks of your carpet.

The carpet shampoo method utilizes a foamy chemical that is scrubbed into the carpet. This cleaning solution binds with the dirt in the carpet. You apply the carpet shampoo to the carpet, allow it to attract the dirt and dry, and vacuum up the residue. Carpet shampooing is one option but because of the nature of detergents, it can allow the carpets to resoil easily.

Another method is dry cleaning. Dry Cleaning uses a dry absorbent compound to attract dirt and debris, and what remains can be vacuumed away. This option is used for common maintenance in areas that get a lot of traffic but need to be used regularly, which means there is no drying time available for the carpet.

The next method is called hot water extraction. Hot water extraction, commonly called steam cleaning, uses a fine spray mist of water to force out dirt, which quickly picked up by the vacuum part of the steam cleaner. You can perform hot water extraction on your own, or you can hire professionals to do the job for you. Either way, hot water extraction is the cleaning method almost all carpet manufacturers recommend for their carpets. The biggest downfall with this method is the drying time of the carpet. If the carpet is left too wet, it can form mold or mildew

For highly soiled carpets, there is the combination dry foam extraction method. This method begins with dry foam being applied to the carpet. A circular brush scrubs the carpet to loosen the dirt and soil. This solution is then extracted from the carpet leaving the carpet to dry very quickly. This method for heavy soil is the best removal option and the nice thing is that there is no residue left in the carpets to resoil quickly.

Remember that a clean carpet can greatly enhance your indoor air quality. It will reduce the dust mites and other allergens in your home and maintain the beauty of your investment. This can ultimately save thousands in costly carpet replacement.

Jim Thornton has been cleaning carpets for many years. In that time many methods of carpet cleaning have been used but the best carpet cleaning results have been achieved using dry foam extraction. For more information go to www.bubblesandsuds.ca