Carpets can make a home more inviting and comfortable, they can spruce up the look of a room, and they can even help keep your home warmer during the winter. But if you live in a home with lots of carpets or rugs, then you also know that they can quickly become dirty and shabby – probably not the look you’re going for. The life of your carpets depends largely on your cleaning methods and daily habits, so to help you enjoy your soft, beautiful floors for longer, we’ve put together our top 5 tips for keeping your carpets clean.
Use Door Mats
One of the simplest ways to make sure your carpets stay cleaner longer is to prevent dirt from getting on them by using doormats at every entrance. Make sure you get both outdoor and indoor mats to offer an extra little bit of protection and don’t be afraid to ask friends and family to wipe their feet before they come in. This should help keep most of the dirt and grime on the mats and off your carpets.
If you have pets, using doormats is especially important because pets tend to get plenty of dirt stuck in their paws and claws. Making sure that they walk over the doormats will take care of the loose stuff, although you’ll never be able to get 100% of the dirt off of them. If it’s raining, stop your pet on the doormats for a moment before letting them in so that those first muddy footprints will stay there instead of finding their way onto your carpets.
Take Off Your Shoes
Once you get past the doormats, you might still be tracking in a whole host of nasty stuff if you wear your shoes inside. Dirt, bacteria, chemicals, and even fecal matter can come in on the bottom of your shoes, getting trapped in and below the fibers of the carpets. Plus, your shoes can cause a great deal of wear and tear to your carpets and floors, literally grinding, damaging, and matting the material. Asking everyone to leave their shoes by the door is an easy step to prevent this from happening. If you don’t want to walk around barefoot, you can keep some slippers by the door to change into.
Clean Spills and Stains as Soon as Possible
When something spills on your carpet, or when you notice a stain that wasn’t there before, clean it as quickly as you possibly can. The longer that stain stays on your carpet, the more difficult it will be to remove. There are many great spot and stain sprays on the market, some engineered specifically for pets or food, and you’ll need to choose the ones that fit your biggest and most common problems.
When cleaning a spot, never rub the stain – it can just spread it to a larger part of the carpet, and it will damage your carpet fibers. Blot the stain using a white cloth or paper towel. Do not use colored cloths or towels because the dye could transfer to your carpet, leaving a bigger mess than you began with. Try to soak up as much liquid as you can before applying the spray so that it will have a better chance of removing what remains, and always blot from the outside of the stain inward to avoid spreading the stain further.
Vacuum Often
We know this one may sound like common sense, but vacuuming regularly is the easiest and most effective way to make sure your carpets stay clean, and it also impacts the cleanliness of the rest of your home and the air that you breathe.
You should aim to vacuum the whole house at least once a week, but you’ll want to vacuum even more frequently in areas with high traffic or where your pets hang out because those areas will get the majority of the dirt. And to get the best results, invest in a high-powered and efficient vacuum cleaner, and check the bag or canister regularly – if it gets too full, the vacuum will lose suction and you’ll end up doing twice the work.
Get a Professional-Level Deep Clean Once a Year
We’ve already pointed out how important it is to vacuum, and we stand by that, but you should remember that it can only remove dirt that has remained on the surface of your carpets. Over time, dirt, pollen, allergens, and other things will find their way below the carpet, stubbornly remaining no matter how many times you vacuum. This is why we also recommend that you get a professional-grade deep cleaning done every year. A deep clean will get below the fibers of your carpet and pull out all of that nasty stuff that you can’t get from just a regular clean.
There are two main options when it comes to deep cleaning your carpets: you can either rent a deep carpet cleaner yourself, or you can hire a cleaning company to do the job professionally.
Before hiring a carpet cleaner, you should also consider hiring a cleaning company to clean your home overall to avoid any dust or dirt from getting on your newly deep cleaned carpets. If you’re ever in the Dallas area, we recommend reaching out to one of our friends over at maids2match.com
On the other hand, you could do it yourself, which also isn’t too difficult. But be sure to double-check that it was done properly or you could be in for a rude awakening when you find that mold and mildew are now growing on your carpet. If done right, it’s estimated that an average room takes about 20-30 minutes to complete. Most home improvement stores have equipment available for rent, or you can also check with specific manufacturers to find locations with rentals near you. However, if you don’t want the hassle of renting the equipment or if you simply don’t have the time, a professional cleaning company can take care of the job while you are out, but you should be willing to spend quite a bit more.
If you want to keep your carpets looking and feeling fresh, then incorporating these 5 tips is the way to go. Using doormats, kicking off your shoes, cleaning quickly and frequently, and deep-cleaning once a year is the key to keeping your floors soft and beautiful.
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