Tips and Facts About Do-It Yourself Carpet Cleaning

Carpet Care Tips

While regular carpet cleaning by professionals is necessary to ensure your carpet leads a long and healthy life, additional care and maintenance on your part can go a long way. Proper care and maintenance of your carpet will extend its useful life and preserve its appearance longer. Failure to maintain proper care will result in premature wear. Additionally, clean carpets contribute to a healthy indoor environment.

Useful Tips

-In a pinch, make your own spot remover by mixing 1/4 teaspoon liquid detergent (without bleach) and 1 cup cold water.

-Over time, the stain-resistancy of stain-resistant carpet wears down. -For optimum performance, have a protector regularly applied after cleaning.

-Stain-resistant does not mean stain-proof. Be sure to act immediately to prevent spots and spills from causing permanent damage.

-Your furniture collects everyday dirt and soil just like your carpet. For convenience, have both professionally cleaned at the same time.

-Vacuum frequently and thoroughly. Most of the wear of carpeting is caused by dirt. Oily soils attract more oily soil and frequent vacuuming will reduce soil buildup.

-Get at stains quickly, 99% of all stains can be removed by one cleaning agent or another if they are cleaned in the first few days. ----The longer a stain chemically reacts with the carpet the harder it will be to remove it.

-Test carpet before scrubbing, extracting or spotting. All carpets are different. Some carpets are very sensitive to acid type cleaners and will lose their color quickly. Other carpet dyes are sensitive to harsh alkalis.

-Use appropriate spotters starting with the mildest. Do not use harsh spotting agents unless absolutely necessary and always neutralize high alkaline or high acid cleaners after use.

-Never dig or brush spots. The proper procedure is to scrape the spot towards the middle and then tamp the spot into the white towel or cloth using a brush or other tamping devices. A meat tenderizer makes a great tamping tool.

-Do not overuse detergents, shampoos or spotters. Too much detergent will result in residual left in the carpet that even thorough vacuuming may not remove.

-Do not overwet carpet. Our carpet detergents are chemically active enough so they do not need a tremendous amount of wetting. Over-wetting can cause brownout, carpet shrinkage, adhesion problems and all other kinds of nightmares.

-Extract residual if possible. Rotary scrubbing will clean the carpet fibers the best by encapsulating dirt and detergent residue, which powders off the carpet. Periodic extraction will flush out this dirt and other organisms deep in the carpet.

-Never “coat” a dirty or spotty carpet. After scrubbing or extracting a dirty carpet, if you are not satisfied with the results, do not apply a coat of carpet protector as this will result in “gluing in the dirt” making it harder to remove it the next time. Either re-scrub or extract the carpet or leave the carpet until the next cleaning cycle before you coat.

-Vacuum frequently and thoroughly. It is so important it deserves two recommendations.

Between Cleanings

The normal hustle and bustle of everyday life can take its toll on your carpet. To keep yours looking its best between professional cleanings, vacuum heavy traffic areas two to three times a week, and the rest of your carpet once a week.

Using indoor and outdoor mats at each entrance can reduce the amount of dirt tracked into your home. Be sure to clean these periodically to ensure their utmost effectiveness.