Your carpet does way more for your home than just covering your floors. It’s soft and cosy, comfortable, and adds warmth to your home. But with everyday wear and tear, it can quickly become dirty, stained, and in some cases, even smelly. Your floor covering can be a considerable investment. Caring for your carpets or rugs correctly will keep your room looking great, and in the long run, you’re protecting your investment. That’s why we’ve compiled five easy steps to help you achieve a happy carpet that not only looks great but also feels fresh and clean. From regular vacuuming to deep cleaning, we’ll show you how to keep your carpet in top shape for years to come. A happy, well cared for carpet is a long-lived carpet. If you’re a busy parent or pet owner, we bet you wonder how you can make maintaining your carpet clean effortless and enjoyable. So let’s get started on the journey towards a happier home! So what’s most important when it comes to carpet care?
1. Choose the Right Carpet for the Environment
High-traffic areas need tougher floor coverings, but choosing durability doesn’t have to mean spending more money. Nylon and Polypropylene carpets are both tough enough to stand up to heavy traffic and inexpensive when compared to wool or wool mixtures. They won’t confer the luxury feel and softness of natural fibres, so you wouldn’t want them in a bedroom, but they’re often a perfect solution for hallways and stairs. Some of the modern choices in natural materials are worth a look too. Coir, made from coconut husks, is hard-wearing, looks good, and it’s slip resistant, which makes it great for stairs and landings.
2. Use Underlay
Foam-backed carpets don’t need underlay, but most others do. Lack of underlay, or the wrong underlay for the carpet, can lead to stretching and rucking and could cause the backing of the carpet to break down. Good quality underlay can also minimise furniture indentations in the carpet, an important benefit if you ever want to move furniture around. That’s definitely helpful for anyone of you who like to move things around every now and then just to change the feel of the space.
3. Banish Shoes at Home
That can take a while to establish as a rule, but it’s worth it. Making sure that every member of your household has a pair of slippers and keeping a few pairs spare for guests will extend the life of your carpets. It’s a fair bet that most professional carpet cleaners wear slippers in their home! These experts will tell you how much leaving shoes at the door will cut down on soil, dirt, and grit being tracked into your carpet, which will work its way down into the pile. These tiny particles disturb the fibre and, over time, can cut into the carpet.
If this isn’t enough to convince you, you might also like to know that in tests carried out by the University of Arizona found nine different species of bacteria on people’s shoes. The researchers rated shoes as ‘dirtier than a toilet seat’!
4. Vacuum Regularly
It’s not just about appearance. It’s about that dirt and grit again. The longer it stays in the carpet, the deeper into the pile it sinks and the harder it is to remove. Regular vacuuming will keep a carpet looking good and extend its life too. In the end, you might need to hire a cleaning company to deep-clean your carpet and return it back to life. From that, you can continue when the regular maintenance.
5. Keep It Clean
Again, it’s not just about appearance, though that’s certainly part of the issue. Let’s face it, one of the most common reasons for changing a carpet is not so much that it’s worn out as its owners can no longer bear to look at it! Be it from occasional spills, pet accidents, or that mysterious stain that you don’t know how it appeared but now you definitely can’t remove on your own.
So without further ado, we can say that there are two major components to keeping a carpet clean:
Stain Removal
When it has to be done, it’s best done quickly. If spillages are allowed to remain on the carpet, they ‘set,’ meaning that the material adheres to the fibre of the carpet, and the staining can become permanent. Different types of spillage will need different sorts of treatment, and the carpet’s composition will also determine what sort of stain removal is needed. It’s worth knowing what sorts of stain removal will work, for what sort of spillages, and keeping an emergency kit to hand. You may need to follow up on your emergency treatment with a professional carpet cleaning.
Routine Cleaning
However carefully you vacuum, not all dirt and dust will be removed. Periodic carpet cleaning will make your carpet last longer and may even be a requirement to maintain, your manufacturers guarantee. Carpet cleaning methods include wet methods, most typically hot water extraction, and dry cleaning methods, using dry powders or non-water-based solvents. You can hire equipment to do this yourself, but professionals will generally get better results than you can. In the case of hot water extraction, professional equipment will remove more of the water than those available for hire to the public. This means more effective cleaning and faster drying, which itself is better for the carpet as slow drying increases the risk of mould.
Conclusion
In conclusion, maintaining a happy carpet isn’t rocket science. By following the five steps outlined in this post—vacuuming regularly, spot cleaning spills immediately, deep cleaning periodically, and using professional services when necessary—you can keep your carpets looking clean and fresh for years to come. Remember that a well-maintained carpet not only enhances the aesthetics of your home but also contributes to a healthy indoor environment by reducing allergens and pollutants. So go ahead and give your carpets some TLC today. Your feet will thank you for it.
