Negosentro.com | 7 Mistakes You Don’t Want To Make While Cleaning Carpet | Carpets are often selected because of their beauty. After all, nothing stands out in a room more than carpeting that goes from one side of the room to another. And if you have carpeting in several areas throughout your home, it’s safe to assume you want to keep it looking as good as possible for as long as possible.
Of course, if you have kids or heavy traffic areas, it’s not always easy to keep your carpeting looking just like new. If you regularly end up with surprise stains or accumulated dirt dragged in from outside, you’ll definitely appreciate knowing how to restore your carpet’s appealing attributes.
You’ll be more likely to be able to handle unexpected spills or stubborn stains with less frustration and more success if you avoid the following seven mistakes you don’t want make while cleaning carpet in your home.
- Using a Bunch of Store-Bought Chemicals
There are plenty of carpet cleaning company products you can purchase at your local store or online. While some of the reputable ones may be good for small or even tough stains if they are formulated right, you’ll be doing more harm than good if you over-saturate your carpets with the chemicals in these products.
Steam cleaning your carpet is a much more effective way to attack ground-in dirt and deeply-embedded particles and odors. Detergent is used as part of the steam cleaning process, but it’s applied in a way that’s more even than what’s normally done with products you have to manually spray or apply yourself.
- Vigorously Scrubbing Stains
It’s tempting to attack a tough stain with a vengeance. Unfortunately, this approach to carpet cleaning can damage your carpet’s fibers and leave you with thin or visibly worn patches. Instead, you want to blot the stain.
Blotting is done by first preparing a mixture to tackle the stain. A common one is a combination of warm water, vinegar, and dish soap. Apply this mixture to the affected area and let it sit for about 5-10 minutes.
You’ll then dry the area by blotting. If attempts to blot stains away just aren’t cutting it, call on a carpet cleaning pro to tackle the stain in a safe and effective way.
- Not Taking Action ASAP
It’s understandable to put off certain household tasks if you already have your hands full with other things, like keeping an eye on your kids and attending to various personal or professional obligations. Still, you don’t want to put stains on the back burner!
If you don’t tackle stains right away, they’ll be even tougher to get out. What’s more, stains that are set for a while are also more likely to get deeper into carpet fibers. You may even had stains that reach the padding that’s below the carpeting. If this happens, you may end up with additional issues with odors related to the stains that are very difficult to get rid of and mold growth.
- Not Testing Cleaning Products First
Not all carpet cleaning products are created equal. Even if you just have a small stain to tackle, do a test spray on part of your carpet that’s not normally all that visible first. Taking this initial step will prevent unexpected issues with discoloration or fading. It’s especially important to do this if you are using a new product you haven’t tried on your carpeting before, especially if you’re not sure your preferred product is specifically designed to work well on your type of carpeting.
- Renting Faulty Equipment
It’s fine to be an ardent do-it-yourself and rent carpet cleaning equipment. The potential mistake here, however, is that such equipment tends to be used fairly frequently by multiple customers. Technically, rental equipment is supposed to be inspected and checked before it’s rented to the next customers.
But this doesn’t always happen, especially when there is a high demand for a particular piece of carpet cleaning equipment. If rental equipment isn’t properly serviced or maintained, it could end up malfunctioning. The resulting malfunctions could damage your carpet by discharging too much detergent, scrubbing too hard, dispensing too much water, or generating excessive suds.
- Not Using Deodorizing Powder Correctly
The purpose of deodorizing powder is get to the heart of what’s causing stubborn or strong carpet odors. These powders can be a good thing if used correctly since they don’t just cover up scents. They actually tackle the source of carpet odors.
The potential problem is not using deodorizing powders correctly. If you don’t thoroughly vacuum, for instance, after you apply this type of powder, a gunky build-up may develop over time on your carpet, at least in the area(s) where you use deodorizing powders.
- Not Knowing When to Call On the Pros
Not every stain requires assistance from a carpet cleaning professional. This being said, there are times when it is best to call on the pros if you aren’t having success with DIY carpet cleaning efforts. Professional cleaning experts are also trained to identify stain sources and put together a plan of attack that’s based on many different factors. Some of these include:
- The type of carpeting you have
- What you’ve already tried on your own
- The nature of the stain
- The overall condition of your carpet
Like many other things in your home, carpeting has a life expectancy. Medium-grade residential carpet typically lasts anywhere from 5 to 15 years. Top-quality carpeting can remain appealing for as long as a quarter of a century. Ultimately, how much life you get out of your carpet will depend on how well you care for it over the years. Getting into the habit of keeping your carpeting clean by smartly tackling stains quickly is a good place to start!
