Cleaning your carpets is a job that seems endless, probably because it is. In order to keep your rugs and carpets in good condition, looking attractive, smelling great and feeling good under bare feet, it is important to routinely vacuum and clean them. Carpets can also be a breading ground for bacteria and microorganisms, providing yet another reason to know how to clean a carpet properly.
Homes that have a couple of children running around, a pet or two, and lots of visitors coming and going will need carpet cleaning more often. On the other hand, a home with just one or two people who don’t stir things up much or drop food or spill drinks on the flooring will not need to clean the carpet as often.
One of the first tips for how to clean a carpet and maintain it well is to try to minimize the “dirty traffic” that tends to bring a lot of dust, grime and debris into the carpeted area from outside. Area rugs and carpets can help to protect high-traffic areas and in some homes, it might be better to use vinyl or tile instead of carpeting, at least in some areas.
There is another thing to keep in mind if you are considering new carpets. The lighter the color of the rugs and carpets you install, the more frequently the carpets will need to be cleaned. This is true both in terms of regular vacuuming and how often the light colored carpeting will need steam cleaning or shampooing with special carpet cleaning equipment.
Another basic tip for cleaning a carpet is to vacuum at least once a week or more if you can see debris starting to collect. You should think of vacuuming as being the first line of defense for keeping carpets looking new and pristine for as long as possible. With frequent vacuuming you will help keep dust, crumbs, dirt and other debris from becoming ground into the fibers of the carpet as foot traffic passes over the area.
The vacuums that do the best job at cleaning carpets are those that have strong suction and that also have an agitator or brush roller. A machine that has a lot of suction can pull dirt from deep inside the fibers and the brush roller will help to make it easier to detach debris from the surface of the carpet where it can sometimes become entangled with the looser fibers at the top.
In homes where the rugs and carpets are light colored and also get a lot of heavy foot traffic, it is best to add carpet steam cleaning or shampooing to your vacuuming routine quarterly. Areas with lighter traffic and darker colored floor coverings can often go a year in between these deep cleanings. The easiest answer to the question of how to clean a carpet properly is to hire the services of a professional carpet cleaning business that will bring experience and expertise to the job and save you a great deal of work.
Filed under Home Improvement Tips by on Oct 15th, 2008. Comment. 
If you have put a lot of cash into the rugs and carpets in your home, then you want to protect that investment by keeping the carpeting looking clean, fresh and vibrant for as long as you can. In addition, you should also be aware that when carpet cleaning is not done on a regular basis there is the potential for health problems to crop up as well. This is because the carpets don’t only attract dust and dirt, but they can also be a breeding ground for dust mites and other bacteria and microorganisms.
As these microscopic organisms build up in your carpeting because cleaning carpets has not been high on the priority list, they can cause a great deal of problems for people who are sensitive to dust mites and other tiny creatures in your carpets. Many people are allergic to these microorganisms and if they are allowed to flourish they can start to create an unhealthy environment in the home, even for those who are not particularly sensitive to such things and who don’t have allergies.
Keeping these tiny microorganisms in check can be as easy as simply doing a deep carpet cleaning twice a year, minimum, and more often if you have high traffic in your home. You can choose from several different methods of cleaning carpets as there are many options these days. The best method for your particular situation will depend on several factors.
One of the first things that should be evaluated, when deciding how to handle the cleaning of your carpets, is the amount of foot traffic that regularly passes through the carpeted areas of your home. The more people and pets that are going in and out of the house and are traipsing around on the carpeted area or oriental rugs and other area rugs, the more quickly the dirt, dust and microorganisms will collect and start to thrive. A lot of foot traffic in heavily used areas will also serve to grind in the dirt, debris and dust mites deeper into the carpet, making them harder to remove by vacuuming alone.
When cleaning carpets of any type or style, you must also take into account the kind of material that the carpeting has been made out of. Using the wrong cleaning carpet method can damage the rugs and ruin your investment. This is one reason why is it such a good idea to call on carpet and rug cleaning professionals who have experience and expertise. While hiring professional carpet cleaners will cost more than if you were to do it yourself, you won’t need to worry about destroying your new carpeting or expensive Oriental rugs.
The carpet cleaning companies generally offer five types of cleaning services. These are dry cleaning, bonnet cleaning, shampooing, foam cleaning and steam cleaning. These professional services will test the fibers in your carpets and will tell you exactly which method is right for your floor coverings. Make sure that you check their references and get a price estimate before authorizing the work.
Filed under Home Improvement Tips by on Oct 11th, 2008. Comment.