Do your carpets look like they could be featured in a murder mystery series? Do your guests think that a herd of wildebeest just stampeded through?
While extreme scenarios can cause damage, daily wear and tear is more than enough to make your carpets look dingy over time. To get things looking fresh again, you’ll have to get to work cleaning. But what are some of the best ways to clean carpet?
Keep reading to learn about nine carpet cleaning tips that will get your carpets looking spotless and new.
1. Run Over It With a Vacuum
One of the simplest ways to clean a carpet, vacuuming is also one of the most effective.
As long as you’re using an effective vacuum, vacuuming does a great job of picking up different types of debris, such as pet hair, soil, and dander. If you have pets, or just have a general layer of dirt, vacuuming could be your best best.
Make sure that when you vacuum, you go in both a horizontal and vertical direction. This will ensure that you pick up all debris and fabric.
2. Use Shampoo
While vacuuming is effective at picking things up off the surface, sometimes you need a deeper clean. If that’s the case with your carpets and rugs, it’s time to pull out the shampoo.
No, shampooing doesn’t mean you go and grab the bottle of TRESemmé from your bathroom. Make sure that you use a quality carpet cleaning shampoo. Taking the time to study the ingredients and choose a better one will give you cleaner carpets.
Vacuum the carpet before shampooing it to pick up any particles. You should also spot treat any problem areas beforehand.
3. Use Vinegar
Vinegar is great for getting stains out of carpets. The sooner you treat a stain with vinegar, the more effective it’ll be.
To clean your carpets with vinegar, get a spray bottle, water and vinegar, and a white cloth. Blot the stain out with the cloth until it’s dry, then mix the water and vinegar in the spray bottle. Mist it over the stain, then let it sit.
After around 10 minutes, blot out the vinegar with a clean towel. Most, if not all, of the stain should be gone.
4. Spot Treat It
If your carpet is clean but has a few stains, you’ll need to use a different treatment to remove them.
Choosing an all-purpose stain remover should be fine, but if the stain in question is something like blood, you may need a specialized one. Either way, make sure to first test it on an inconspicuous section of the rug.
If it checks out, spray the area, then dab it with a cloth until dry. Be careful not to push too hard, otherwise, you can push it deeper into the fibers of the carpet.
5. Use Baking Soda
As most homes have it on hand, baking soda comes in as an affordable and convenient cleaning option for stains.
Baking soda works great for stains that aren’t greasy. To use it, cover the stain with baking powder, then mist it with hot water. Let it sit there for several hours.
After waiting, vacuum over the area and suck up the mixture. It should now be sparkling clean.
6. Steam It
Steaming your carpets is a great way to not only give them a deep clean but also kill any bacteria or other harmful things. Steaming will eliminate bed bugs, fleas and ticks, and mold, all of which can impact your health.
Clear off the room, vacuum and spot treat (if necessary) the carpet, then prepare your steam mopper. Once you have it ready, run it across the room, moving from one corner to another. This will ensure that you clean every inch of your carpet.
If you don’t have a steam cleaner, there are many professional services that you can turn to for help. If you’re in the Tennessee area and are looking for a great steaming service, contact Safe-Dry of Nashville.
7. Hire a Cleaning Service
No matter how skilled a cleaner you are, it’s a good idea to sometimes work with professional cleaners.
Cleaning services clean for a living, which means that they won’t rush through the job because they have something to do after. They’ll take the time to deep clean your carpets, revealing lighter carpet colors than you know existed.
Aside from giving your home the deep clean it needs, a cleaning service will also do it in a much shorter amount of time. Something that takes you 5 hours to do might take a team of cleaners 20 minutes.
8. Clean Your Furniture
Whenever you clean your rugs, you should make a point to clean your furniture, as well. If you don’t, you’ll end up with a dirty rug again in no time.
Like your carpets, upholstered furniture is a magnet for soil particles, dust, and a variety of other things. These particles can then fall back down onto your carpets, dirtying them and encouraging other filth to spread.
From time to time, have a professional come and clean your furniture. They’ll be able to clean more out of it than you even knew was there.
9. Lift the Rug
Make sure that whenever you clean area or throw rugs, you also lift them to clean what’s underneath.
Dust, hair, and other particles often get trapped underneath removable rugs. This can then spread back to the area that you cleaned.
When vacuuming, move the rug to the side to clean the entire area. Depending on what the flooring is underneath, you can also shampoo it, spot treat it, or treat it with a household product, such as baking powder.
Keep It Fresh With These Carpet Cleaning Tips
If you don’t want your carpets to look like Monet paintings, then you need to know how to clean a carpet. By following this guide and the carpet cleaning tips mentioned, you’ll be able to get your aged carpets and rugs looking brand-new in no time.
Do you now have a better understanding of how to remove carpet stains? Before you go and start scrubbing, take a moment to check out some of our other blog posts for more helpful guides and tips.
