Four Common Mistakes to Avoid When Cleaning Your Carpet
Cleaning the carpets in your home can often be a very time consuming process, but routine cleaning and maintenance of your carpet is absolutely necessary to help keep it in top shape. After all, your floors and carpets are an investment in your home.
But, what are the dos and don’ts of carpet cleaning? Here are four common mistakes to avoid when you are cleaning your carpet.
Scrubbing
The first instinct when you see a stain might be to scrub it down with a wet paper towel to try to get it off. Just resist this urge for a moment before going to town with the scrubbing. Here’s why: Scrubbing is one of the worst things you can do to try to clean a spot or stain because carpet is made up of small fibers that are wrapped tightly together and sealed with heat. When you scrub like crazy on one small spot, the friction can cause these fibers to tear and to drive the stain even deeper into those now torn and rubbed fibers. This can result in dark spots and noticeable differences in textures. If you find yourself in a situation you want to scrub, try a solution of 50% white vinegar and water and brush mildly using an old toothbrush to remove the stain.
Using “All Purpose” Cleaners
You might think it is perfectly safe to use an “all purpose” cleaner to clean your carpet but another huge mistake is trusting that these will clean every single surface of your house as well as the next. But some All Purpose Cleaners can contain harmful chemicals that can actually damage and destroy your carpets. You should always read carefully to make sure that any All Purpose Cleaner you use is safe for carpets as well.
Never Hiring a Professional Cleaner
There is always one person who thinks professional carpet cleaning is a complete and total waste of money. This is a huge mistake. Professional carpet cleaning is often more affordable than you might think and more importantly, if you’re constantly cleaning stains from kids or pets, a professional carpet cleaner can help you make sure your carpets are in the best possible condition they can be. The high pressure professional steam machines used by professionals run water and a carpet safe cleaning product that reaches all the way to the padding of your carpets. This cleans deeply but doesn’t allow your carpeting to get too wet and risk mold or mildew.
Not Testing Cleaning Products First
The fourth and final most common mistake to avoid when cleaning your carpet is a simple one: Test your cleaning products before applying them to your carpet and make sure the cleaner is carpet safe. Once you’ve read that the product is carpet safe, you can test the solution on a patch of your carpet in a hidden area to start out. This way if something undesirable happens, you can easily backtrack. Do not apply a cleaning solution to your entire carpet until you know how the carpet will react.
Contact Smart Carpet and Flooring at 1-800-526-7847 today for your next carpet installation!