How to Clean Your Carpet at Home – the Professional Way
If you’re cleaning your own carpets and rugs on a regular basis, we wouldn’t mind betting the routine starts and finishes with a standard vacuum cleaner. There’s nothing wrong with that, and for most of us that’s the full extent of our carpet cleaning process.
Regular vacuuming is important for the cleanliness of your home and the longevity of your carpet, but as time goes on you should be looking at occasional professional deep cleaning services. These types of services will keep your flooring looking fresh, clean and the colour they’re supposed to be!
Whilst keeping on top of your carpets with a simple household hoover may sound achievable, we’re here to tell you that on its own it isn’t enough. You chose and invested in your carpet for a reason, so why stop caring about it now?
Over time both soluble and insoluble soils build up in your carpet, as you walk over them, they act like an abrasive to wear your carpets quicker. Regular vacuuming and deep cleaning will help remove these soils and keep your carpets looking better for longer.
We’ve detailed some key areas to understand before the cleaning process. This includes which materials to look out for, and what processes will best suit your carpet. Remember, there are right ways and wrong ways of cleaning your carpet!
Common carpet materials and methods
Wool tends to be the most common carpet material. It’s important to take care when cleaning your wool carpets as they are particularly sensitive to heat and certain cleaning solutions. To find out more, you can read our ‘wool cleaning’ blog here.
Polyester carpets, though typically more durable than wool, are still susceptible to damage as a result of improper cleaning. It’s important not to use the shelf bought carpet cleaner or stain removers on these carpets, as these can damage even the most hardy of floors with the hydrogen peroxide in them. Hydrogen peroxide is an effective stain remover, but it needs to be extracted from the carpet to avoid long-lasting damage.
Not extracting chemicals from your carpet can be an unnecessary risk. We’d always suggest calling a professional carpet cleaning service like ourselves for advice before getting started. Doing it right from the start will save you a lot of money in the long run!
Things to avoid when cleaning carpets
Polypropylene carpets are similar to polyester carpets in that they are very chemically resistant, they are also unable to absorb liquid. This isn’t good in regards to potential liquid staining. As polypropylene carpets do not absorb anything, that liquid will travel through the backing and into the underlay potentially causing smell and wicking issues. Just when you thought you’d cleaned your carpet, you’ve inadvertently done the opposite!
Wicking is a drying process that carpets go through after they are cleaned. The carpet will dry from the bottom upwards, potentially bringing old and new stains up from deep in the pile, the backing, and underlay. To avoid stains, it is important to speed dry the carpet. In order to do this to a high quality, you’re going to need the help of professionals with industry-standard equipment. To find out our carpet cleaning processes in full, click here.
We do commercial cleaning too!
Whilst this blog is geared towards carpet cleaning at home, many of the same principles apply in commercial spaces too! Many places of work have high footfalls, with frequent wear from employees and visitors. This, if anything, means you’ll likely need to professionally clean your office carpets more frequently than those at home.
To find out more about our carpet cleaning services, in either a home or commercial setting, please click here.
If you’d prefer to talk with our friendly team about your options, please call tel: 0800 6446545
