About Carpet Cleaning

Keeping your carpets clean is part of general home maintenance and failing to keep on top of it can result in not only a dirty home, but also potentially harmful elements in the air you breathe in your direct environment. Carpet cleaning takes on many forms, among them, general vacuuming, spot cleaning for pets and spills, rental machines, and hiring a steam cleaning company. Each has its benefits and drawbacks, and it matters how you go about the process.

Expert Insight

When people think of carpet cleaning, they usually put vacuuming into its own category of cleaning, not realizing that your household vacuum cleaner is the first line of defense for your carpet. If you pick up the grit, the dirt and the dust, it has less chance of working it's way through your carpet area grinding in, making your carpet dirty and dingy. Many people vacuum only around furniture, but don't realize that doing so negates the dust particles that fall everywhere else. Dust that falls on your furniture falls on your carpet, too. It doesn't matter if you almost never use a certain room. Vacuum it anyhow, and you will help keep your carpet clean everywhere. The more dust you remove with a vacuum, the less likely it is that it will float back into the air and all around your room.

Expert Insight

People are messy. People with pets are messier. Sometimes you will need to spot-clean an area to clean up after a human or an animal. I recommend just about any of the spray products. Use the instructions on the can. One question whose answer you should always get before you start to spot clean is, "What will happen if I let it dry first?" In some cases, letting it dry will give you a better chance of cleaning it without staining it. In other cases, you may need more liquid than a spray will give. You might need water. Once example of a possible stain that needs water is water Soluble paint. Pour water on the stain and lift the water and the paint off with a dry rag. Do this over and over until the wet spot is wet only, with no more stain. The paint must stay wet or you're hooped. If, however the stain is something like frosting, you might do better to let it dry out before removing it with a dry cloth as if it were powder. Every stain reacts differently with your carpet, but if you pay attention, you can spot-clean effectively while minimizing damage to the carpet.

Expert Insight

Rug Doctor is one of the best known brands in do-it-yourself carpet cleaners, but there are others. Basically its machine is a plug-in system that adds water and detergent to the carpet while a powerful vacuum sucks the dirty water away from the carpet-all in a single swipe of the cleaning head. This type of system works well for seasonal use, but just as the engine in your Chevy is different than the one in Jeff Gordon's car, the rig doctor is good for some things, but only on a limited basis. If you live in a rainy or snowy climate, you will want to use the Rug Doctor or something like it in the fall to prepare for winter. Spring is the best time to call in the professionals.

Expert Insight

To really get carpet cleaned right, you will want to have it professionally steam cleaned. The machines used by today's steam cleaning companies are amazing. They heat the water to temperatures that a Rug Doctor will never reach, (essential for good cleaning) and they suck a greater amount of what they put down, back up and away. Furthermore, professionals have access to a number of strong chemical-based detergents that will clean pet stains, oils, and other ground in grime better than a spot clean or a Rug Doctor ever will. This should be a regular part of your spring cleaning regime.

Expert Insight

May your carpets be clean and may your environment keep you proud, in part the result of carpets that you know are safe from the harmful agents that often accompany dirty carpet.