How to Clean Carpets
Your carpet can take a beating. From daily foot traffic, to pet and child related debris, there’s a lot of dirt in and on your carpet’s surface. It’s no wonder it can look worse for the wear. Thankfully, regular cleaning can help revive your tired carpet, making it look fresh and good as new – or, depending on the age of your carpet, as good as it gets.
Here’s the thing: your carpet is a lot like your body. If you care for it regularly and properly, it can look great years from now. But if you are sporadic about your carpet care, it’s going to show it’s age – and even look older than it is. So stay on top of it with these easy cleaning and care tips for any carpet.
1) Vacuum
Seems obvious, right? Of course you should vacuum your carpet. However, you may need to be vacuuming it more than you are. It’s great that you pick up the bigger bits of debris, like fallen crackers or clumps of pet hair, but you do actually need to vacuum it thoroughly. It’s one thing to look clean: it’s another to be clean.
How often you should vacuum your carpet will depend on how much traffic that carpet gets. A guest bedroom that is hardly ever used may only need vacuuming once a month – just to remove dust. A busy family room or rec room carpet could need vacuuming once a day. It may sound like a drag, but the real drag is having a carpet you just installed last year looking like it’s been around there for decades. Vacuum your carpet when it is needed – not when you feel like it.
2) Clean Spills Immediately
Your dog knocks over your potted ficus plant, and there’s dirt everywhere. You’re tired, so you do a cursory sweep of the area to get up all the obvious dirt. You’ll vacuum the area properly tomorrow – and maybe you do. But in the meantime, that dirt is nestling into the fibres of your carpet, and if people or pets are walking on the area, it’s grinding the dirt in, making the area look discoloured and dirty.
Deal with spills properly, right away. In the case of a loose dirt spill, do a primary sweep and then vacuum the entire area – even if you don’t think the dirt could spill that far. If you leave it, what could have been resolved with a simple vacuum may need steam or dry cleaning.
If you’ve spilled liquid, address it right away with a club soda and a damp cloth. Club soda is particularly useful with red wines, fruit juices and pasta sauces. Remember to dab the spill. Don’t rub!
3) Get a Carpet Cleaning System
A carpet cleaning system will give your carpet a deeper clean than vacuuming while also working to remove stains and brightening up the look of your carpet. Whether you want to rent a carpet cleaning system or buy one, you have a couple of options to consider.
Wet Systems
Wet home systems use a water extraction method that sends a cleaning solution into the pile of your carpet and then sucks the dirty solution right back up into the machine. Just be sure to not drench your carpet since this may damage the carpet’s underlayment and backing, which will result in discolouration, shrinking and even odour.
Also, for ease of use, it’s best to use a system that does not require a clean water hookup, but has it’s own portable storage of clean water. This will save you the work of having to drag a hose around your home.
Dry Systems
The dry extraction method begins by sprinkling an absorbent dry compound over your carpet. Next, you use your dry cleaning machine to suck up the compound. It’s a powerful and simple way to clean your carpets.
4) Call in the Experts
If you have a carpet with a lot of stains, or a rug that is a family heirloom and you’d like to be cleaned properly, don’t hesitate to enlist the help of professionals. Professional carpet cleaning is especially prudent when you have a big event coming up and you need your space to be pristine. You don’t want risk not getting the results you want, and you’ll more than likely not have the time to try various methods yourself. And not only will pros have more powerful treatments and tools than you, but they also have experience – and the more experience the better.
Our experts have decades of experience working with the most stubborn stains, and most finicky rugs and upholstery. Hiring our team of local experts is the best way to ensure you get the clean, refreshed look you want the first time. So, if you have an open house, or a treasured rug or carpet, or if you want a thorough clean before and/or after a party, then pro is the way to go.