One most important thing to keep in mind when you have a carpet in your premises is cleanliness of the carpet. Maintaining clean carpets at home is one of the toughest chores at home. Wet or dirty carpets not only make the home look shabby but also unhealthy. Therefore, it is important to clean and maintain them regularly. Carpets can be cleaned in many ways however the equipments for cleaning them depends totally on the method you choose for cleaning . Some of the equipments are brushes, vacuum cleaners, scrubbers and steam generators. The description of each equipment is given below in order to make you understand their usage and pros and cons:
To remove a tough stain, simply blot the spot and dry working from the outside in, rinse thoroughly with clean water, then blot again. Never scrub the carpet, or you risk ruining the carpet fibers or letting the spill soak through to the carpet pad.
- Vacuum Cleaner: Vacuum cleaner is a popular equipment for cleaning the carpets. It is a device which sucks in the dirt and dust particles from the carpets by creating a partial vacuum. The dirt gets collected in the container fitted in that machine when you run it on the carpets or rugs. Before using vacuum cleaner, make sure that the carpet is not wet or else the dirt will not be sucked properly. Also make sure you clean the filtering system of the machine after its use. Vacuum cleaners are available with different adjustments. You can use them for other purposes also.
- Brushes: The second important equipment is Brushes. Brushes are the best way of cleaning dust and dirt from the carpet. It brushes out sand particles from carpets or rugs easily. The major drawback of this is that it requires lot of effort to clean. Also it does not deep cleanse the carpet or rug as the vacuum cleaner does. You can find many types of brushes.
- Steam Cleaners: Steam cleaners are also used for cleaning the carpets. They are just equivalent to vacuum cleaners. Steam cleaner provides deep cleaning to the carpets or rugs as it penetrates into the carpets and takes out the dirt, sand and soil from it. Steam cleaner does not use any chemical and therefore you can use it at indoors without any hassle. It keeps the air fresh within home or office.
It is advised to first consider the quality of the carpet before choosing the cleaning equipment. If you have placed long rugs then that require a different cleaning method. The short shag rugs can be cleaned by brush. Whereas carpet gets best clean up by steam machines.
Cleaning techniques
It is a well known fact that carpets are difficult to clean up. However we have come to you with some useful techniques which will surely make your work easy. There are number of cleaning techniques which you can use to clean the carpet. Few easy and useful techniques are given below:
- Carpet Shampoo: It is one of the traditional and cheapest ways of cleaning the carpets. There are many types of carpet hair shampoo available in the market. These shampoos attract the dust particles from the carpet and makes it clean. You just have to apply carpet hair shampoo solution on the carpet with the help of vacuum cleaner and let it dry. It will draw all the dust and soil particles from the carpet.
- For stains and spills: Stain material or spills on the carpet for a longer period makes the color of the carpet dull. Therefore the spills of tea, coffee etc should be immediately cleaned by the blotting paper and then should be cleaned by carpet shampoo. Permanent stains or hard stains of soda or acid should be dry cleaned or removed by professionals.
- Steam Cleaning: It is also hot-water extraction technique. This technique is widely used by people across the globe as it is quite effective in carving out dust and soil particles from the carpet. This method actually utilizes hot water. Steam cleaning is a relatively expensive way to clean and usually requires professional help.
- Carpet brooms: It is one of the traditional ways of cleaning the carpets. In this method the carpets are hanged through wall and then are beaten by the carpet rods to drain out dust. One of the drawback of this method is that the life of the carpets reduces particularly due to wear and tear caused by the brooms
- Dry cleaning: In this process water is not used therefore it is known as dried natural powder. In this method, the dry powder is spread all over the carpet and is then left for about twenty minutes. After this, by use of vacuum cleaner, the powder and the soil is taken away.
General Tips to keep in Mind
If you decide to do it yourself rather than hire a pro, you need to keep a few things in mind.
• Make sure the cleaning equipment you choose has enough vacuum power to allow the carpet to dry in 6 to 12 hours or you may risk damage from getting it too wet.
• Use fans or a dehumidifier to expedite drying time after cleaning. Be aware that if your carpet is wet for more than 24 hours, you risk mildew and bacteria growth.
• Choose a cleaning solution that has a pH of 10 or less, and make sure you remove all detergent after cleaning.
• Double-check your warranty. Carpets with stain resistance must be cleaned with products formulated for them or you risk impairing their effectiveness and voiding your warranty.
