If carpet is new to both you and your home or perhaps you’ve upgraded to something better with a different color, proper carpet care will help keep your floors looking as fresh and as clean as they did on the day they were installed. Keeping up with your carpet on a daily basis might seem like a hassle at first, but in just a couple of weeks, these tips will become second nature to you and your family. Here are a few tips to keep your newly installed carpet looking brand new.
Routine Cleaning
Place welcome mats outside of entryways to encourage visitors (and your family) to clean the bottom of their shoes before entering your home. Once inside, try to avoid having anyone wear shoes altogether, especially if you recently went with a lighter color for your carpet. The soles of the shoes can bring in an enormous amount of dirt and wear down the carpet fibers. Keeping your socks on will prevent the spreading of natural oils from the bottom of your feet that dirt is naturally drawn to.
Vacuum the carpeted areas in your home at least once a week. Be mindful and change the bag/bin as you move through every room, this will prevent dirt and dust from escaping and being picked up and moved from one room to another. Vacuuming in several different directions (not just up and down) can help stop your carpet from losing its newly installed volume and becoming flat.
You might not have known that different types of carpet call for certain types of vacuums. Use an upright vacuum with a beater brush on twist carpets and a cylinder vacuum on loop pile carpets.
Shedding is normal after the installation of new carpet. Vacuuming frequently after installation will help stop this. Small balls of fiber can collect on the surface of the carpet over time as well. This is called piling, and you can simply use scissors to cut the pills free as they pop up.
Every So Often…
Every now and then your carpet may need special treatments to help keep it looking new.
These special treatments aren’t as much of an immediate issue as these situations tend to build up over time and should be checked on every few months.
The weight of furniture can dent the carpet and eventually cause permanent indentions. Prevent this from happening by occasionally moving and rotating the furniture in your carpeted rooms. You might encounter a dent that refuses to immediately spring back to life after having the furniture moved. To bring this area of carpet back to life, take an ice cube and allow it to melt on the marked dent. Once it has melted, use the edge of a coin to scrape the carpet back into place.
Spot Cleaning
The biggest battle against carpet is keeping it safe and protected from stains. While not every spill can be prevented there is a variety of methods to help combat them. Thanks to technology and a bit of an extra cost, stain resistant carpet is a now a popular flooring option for homeowners with pets and children. Use the following tips when spot cleaning your carpet and as a last line of defense if your stain-resistant carpet has proved to be not-so-resistant.
The longer a stain sits, the more difficult it’s going to be to pull the stain from your carpet. Time is of the essence when it comes to cleaning up spills and they must be rectified immediately. The longer you leave them, the more likely they are to become permanent. To begin, gently blot the stain with a sponge starting from the outside and working your way into the center. Only use enough detergent to keep the stain damp. You don’t want to soak it in the solution and always allow the blotted area to dry properly after being cleaned.
Stains on wool carpet should be treated with water and a mild detergent solution. One teaspoon of detergent to a half pint of water is a great place to start.
For dark liquids like coffee, tea or alcohol, try adding a teaspoon of vinegar to your cleaning solution.
To clean dried dirt or food that has become stuck to the carpet, attempt to scrape up any dirt using the dull edge of a knife or spoon. Then follow up with your cleaning solution and sponge and start dabbing the stain away.