home sectionhome section
Vaseline petroleum jelly is effective for many skin-related tasks. While using it to soothe chapped lips or remove makeup is fine, you don't want Vaseline stuck in your carpet. An old Vaseline stain in carpet fibers acts as a dirt magnet. Over time, dirt, debris and other stain materials adhere to sticky Vaseline, resulting in carpet fibers that are stuck together and dirty-looking. You can get an old Vaseline stain out of your carpeting by removing the substance and tending to its greasy residue.
A peek inside a Bissell carpet shampooer reveals a pair of belts. These belts drive the brush roll beneath the vacuum and the pump inside the machine. Both the brush roll and pump provide crucial cleaning power. The brush roll removes stubborn dirt, while the pump dispenses cleaning fluid to the floor surface. Breaking either belt can spell a temporary end to your cleaning plans. Installing a new belt first requires removing the old one.
Soot sometimes spills onto the carpet as homeowners clean a fireplace or take soot outdoors for disposal. This fine, dark powder quickly stains carpet and becomes embedded within the flooring. Failure to promptly remove soot worsens the dark blotches, which become more difficult to extract the longer they remain. Furthermore, soot is generally harder to remove from long carpet piles than short carpet piles, especially when it has set for a long time. Remove soot stains as soon as possible for the best results.
Lacquer is very smooth and durable. This can make it tough to remove from surfaces that you’ve accidentally applied it to, such as your carpet. Act as quickly as possible to remove lacquer stains from the carpet, as the more time you let it sit, the more it will soak into the carpet fibers. Prevent spills by laying a drop cloth whenever painting in your home and by carefully wrapping up the drop cloth when you’re done painting.
While chalk allows children to use their imaginations, adults sometimes pay the price when chalk stains appear on the carpet. Fortunately, those colorful and bright chalk stains on the carpet need not be permanent. Once you notice the chalk stains, clean them immediately to prevent the dust from settling deep into the carpet fibers. Removing the chalk gently and carefully will restore your carpet back to its original condition quickly.
Fudge contains milk, sugar and cream that can make your carpet feel greasy and slimy. It can also contain chocolate or other colored flavors that can dye the carpet. Pick up dropped fudge as soon as you notice it to prevent it from smearing on your carpet, making it tough to remove.
Carpets can be a big investment in your home and keeping them looking clean and pristine will help them last longer and look better. One way to do this is to ask guests to take their shoes off when they come in to your home. This will prevent the rubber form their tennis shoes from making scuff marks on the carpet. If this happens, use solvents that will dissolve the rubber.
Whether you're removing carpet from tacking to repair the flooring underneath or are completely tearing out the carpeting in the room, the job can be done by anyone even if they have no prior home improvement experience. Carpeting can be heavy, so it's best to do the job with an assistant to make the job easier. If the carpet is excessively dirty or old, it's a good idea to give it a quick vacuum before starting, because pulling up the carpet can easily release any dirt and debris that's accumulated in the fibers.
If you have completed a remodeling project in your home recently that included plaster, you might have splattered some on your carpet. Even when you use a drop cloth and are very careful, small amounts of plaster can find their way onto your carpet. But don't worry because plaster on your carpet is easier to remove than paint. You can remove the plaster by following a procedure that requires a moderate amount of time and effort.
Naturally occurring formaldehyde, a chemical compound of hydrogen, oxygen and carbon, is used in the manufacture of household goods, including carpeting. Post production, it transforms into a volatile organic compound, or VOC, the term used to describe the transformation of the compound into a gas. Exposure to off-gassing as new carpeting slowly releases VOCs into the air can result in allergic reactions, asthma attacks and other health issues. You can expedite the off-gassing process with new carpets to reduce the risk to your health.
Prepping a room for paint is essential. Repairing, sanding and cleaning walls helps the paint adhere and look better. In addtion, taking the time to protect furniture, windows and flooring prevents a sloppy paint job. One of the most difficult areas to protect is the carpet right along the baseboards. Fortunately, you can choose one of several ways to keep paint off that area.
It's a familiar scenario: You turn on the television, prop your feet up and pop open a soda only to watch its contents spring forth and onto your carpet. Besides normal accidents and clumsiness, soda spills are often caused by the buildup of carbonation that propels soda out of cans and bottles when you open them. Luckily, you can remove many soda stains with a solution that is based on the ingredient hydrogen peroxide.
Keeping your carpets clean involves deep cleaning them every few months and then spot cleaning stains as soon as you notice them. Black spots can be particularly troublesome if you have a light colored carpet. The removal process is easier if you know exactly what caused the black marks as you can use the correct removal process. If not, troubleshoot the issue by trying several different cleaning processes. Always test the cleaning method and solution on a small area first to make sure it won't damage the carpet.
Paint can splatter while you are painting and if you did not cover the carpet with a dropcloth, you will be dealing with an ugly mess. Paint stains are difficult to remove but you can remove most with a little effort. It is easiest to clean paint spills when they are still wet so act quickly when you see the mess. If you allow paint to dry, you may still be able to remove it, but it will take more time and work. Acrylic, a water-based paint, is easier to remove than oil-based paints.
Being a dog owner has its fair share of disadvantages, one of which is dog hair. If your dog sheds a lot, you will likely find an abundance of dog hair in your carpet. Even though you may run your vacuum cleaner over the carpet, you will still find dog hair. The best way to remove dog hair from the carpet is with a vacuum cleaner; however, there are specific methods that must be used when vacuuming dog hair from the carpet to ensure that you suck up as much as possible.
Despite best efforts, it is almost a certainty that one home improvement project in your lifetime will result in paint being spilled on your carpet. Unfortunately, getting latex paint off of carpet is no easy task. However, with a little patience and good old-fashioned elbow grease, it usually can be done.
If you live in a traffic-heavy house, then you may occasionally find that someone has tracked in tar on the bottom of their shoes. Tar is one of those nightmarish substances because it leaves a sticky mark on your carpet and upholstery. If you have tar inside your home, it is not easily removed with soap and water. Purchase an all-purpose, stain-removing lubricant and follow specific steps to get rid of the tar.
Replacing a carpet on a floor involves a lot of hard work, especially if the floor underneath the carpet is concrete. There are different ways people can use to remove carpet padding from concrete, some easier to do than others. One way is by using boiling water with a sharp tool to scrape padding glued onto concrete, which is an effective method that is less time consuming as well as inexpensive.
