- Reduce Dirt from Carpets with Walk-off Mats
- Vacuum Your Carpet At Least Once a Week
- Use the Right Height and Speed for your Vacuum Cleaner
- Always Deal With Spills and Stains Right Away
- Use Household Cleaning Agents First
- Be Careful about Commercial Cleaning Products
- Steam Cleaning is the Most Effective Measure against Dirt and Grime
Reduce Dirt from Carpets with Walk-off Mats
Prevention is always better than a cure, and that’s the same for your Lower Mainland carpets as well. That means you should use walk-off mats outside and inside the home to prevent from getting too dirty.
On the outside of your door, use a mat with a coarse texture to help get rid of soil and dirt from shoes. And then inside, use a water-absorbent mat that keeps wet shoes from soiling your carpet.
Vacuum Your Carpet At Least Once a Week
Even with mats, you’ll still need to vacuum your carpet. Carpets that are placed right by the entrances should be vacuumed twice a week. The same goes for carpets that experience high traffic. The rest of your carpets should be vacuumed at least once a week.
Frequently vacuuming your carpet will preserve its lifespan, as dirt particles have sharp edges that grind at the fibers when you walk on a dirty carpet. Dirt and soil attracts similar particles, so you should reduce the dirt buildup by vacuuming properly.
Use the Right Height and Speed for your Vacuum Cleaner
Of course, vacuuming can be counterproductive if you don’t do it properly. One thing you need to do is to make sure you vacuum your carpet at the right height. You can’t just set it right at the carpet’s surface, as the vacuum cleaner will just damage the carpet (and the drive belt and the roller brush of the vacuum may be damaged as well). You can’t also set the height too high, because you won’t pick up any dirt. Instead, turn on the vacuum and then lower it to the carpet until you feel the vacuum cleaner trying to go forward.
The right speed for your passes over the carpet is also important. A quick pass over the low-traffic areas will do. But for high traffic areas, make it two passes, and do it slowly to remove the ground-in dirt more effectively.
Always Deal With Spills and Stains Right Away
When you deal with the stain right away, there’s virtually a 99% chance that the stain can be removed. Stains become harder to remove the longer you leave it unattended, because you give the stain time to chemically react with the carpet fibers.
For food spills, don’t scoop or dig at the solids, which can set the stain into the carpet. Use a dull knife or a spoon to gently scrape the solids into the middle of the spill, after which you can then transfer the solid spill onto a towel.
Use Household Cleaning Agents First
About 80% of stains can be dealt with by using your regular tap water. First use a clean and dry white cloth over the stain to absorb as much of the spill as you can. Then blot (never scrub or rub) with a damp white towel patiently until the stain is removed.
You may have to change your dirty cloths until you get it done. For really tough stains that water can’t remove, try using a solution made of equal amounts of water and white vinegar.
Be Careful about Commercial Cleaning Products
Not all commercial carpet cleaning agents are the same. Many are made by shoddy manufacturers with no regard for quality control. So what you may buy to clean your carpet may in fact make it get dirty much faster, and it may even damage the texture and color of your carpet fibers.
To minimize the risk, test your carpet cleaning agent on an inconspicuous area of the carpet first. You should also stick to the recommended cleaning agents set by your carpet manufacturer.
Vancouver Steam Cleaning is the Most Effective Measure against Dirt and Grime
This method doesn’t use toxic or harsh chemicals. That makes it quite safe not just for the carpet but also for the environment. Just because you think that your carpet is clean doesn’t mean it doesn’t have microscopic allergens and bacteria. Steam cleaning removes bacteria and allergens more effectively than vacuum cleaners. It removes not just the dirt you see, but the dirt you can’t see.
Contact A Cambie today for further information.