If you have light colored carpet in your home, you might understand the challenges that come with keeping it clean. Unlike with tough flooring, carpet stain removal can be hard. It takes knowledge and the right techniques to obtain great results. Spot damage can happen so quickly, specifically when dealing with animals and small children, but reacting rapidly after a stain occurs can help eliminate it and keep your carpet looking clean and fresh.
Think about it, dirt and debris from outdoors can quickly come inside the home on the bottom of a shoe, or carried through open doors and windows by wind and rain. Once dirt has traveled inside the home, then regular everyday use of the carpet can push these foreign materials deep into carpet fibers. Carrying food or refreshments from one area to another can result in accidental spillage into carpet and create new stains.
Immediate carpet stain removal action is essential if you wish to keep your carpets looking clean and fresh.
The Benefits of Regularly Maintaining Your Carpet
Carpets that are maintained regularly can last a lot longer than carpets that are not. Carpeting is not supposed to only last for a year or two only to be thrown away and changed because it has become dirty and tarnished. A well made carpet should last a minimum of 5 or 6 years and most are meant to last longer than that. It’s not unheard of for carpet manufacturers to offer 10 year guarantees.
A carpet should offer a warm welcome to visitors to your home. But it can only do this if it is in good condition. It might be humiliating to have visitors come over and comment on your carpet if it’s tarnished and unkempt. The visit would be much more enjoyable if you could focus on your guests instead of your unclean carpet.
So How Do You Preserve Your Carpet? While there is no exact number to describe the length of time that a carpet will last, taking appropriate care of it will certainly assist to extend its life. Here are a couple of hints to keep your carpet in tip-top condition:
Vacuum It Regularly – In high traffic locations, like living rooms and hallways, daily vacuuming is advised. For carpeting in lower traffic locations like bedrooms, vacuuming every 2-3 days might be enough.
Carpet Stain Removal – This ought to take place the moment an accident happens. The longer a stain sits, the more difficult it becomes to remove. If you react immediately and deal with the stain properly it might vanish entirely. Leave it too long and you might need to hire the services of a professional carpet cleaning company to deal with it.
Don’t Allow Others To Walk On Your Carpets In Shoes – Shoes are made for walking outside. Wearing them in the home is simply a means of bringing outside dirt into the homes. Why not think about providing carpet slippers or shoe coverings for your guests if you are too embarrassed to ask them to walk barefoot in your home.
Carpet Stain Removal
Not all stains are the same, so they cannot be cleaned in the same way. If fruit juice or wine is spilled, for example, you need to use a paper towel to blot up as much of the liquid as possible. Be sure not to rub the content into the carpet. This is just going to make your task that much harder. As soon as you have removed as much as the liquid as possible, carpet stain removal can start.
Treat The Stain While It’s Still Wet
Before going full force to remove any kind of stain, be sure to carry out a spot test in an inconspicuous location of the carpet to test for color discoloration. If the area tested does not discolor, then spray stain removal solution directly onto the stain. To keep the stain from bleeding to various other locations of the carpet, spray plain water around the perimeter of the tarnish before using the stain removal solution.
This will assist to prevent the area remover and discoloring from spreading out. Use paper towels if possible to blot the stain in a circular movement inward. Paper towels are ideal because you can dispose them as they get soiled, and you won’t be transferring the debris back into the carpet. Once the stain looks like it has been removed rinse the area with water to remove any chemical residue.
Finally, leave all doors and windows to the room open so air can freely pass through the room to aid in drying. While the carpet is still wet prohibit traffic from walking over the cleaned area of the carpet. Carrying out carpet stain removal yourself, and doing it immediately, can keep your carpet looking clean and healthy much longer; and could save you from some hefty professional carpet cleaning fees in the future.
