You might be sick of the way they look, or feel, or smell. Maybe you’re putting your home up for sale, hosting respected guests or cleaning for spring. There’s never a bad reason to want to clean your carpets, and lucky for you, there are several easy steps you can take to make them look new again.
First, clear out the clutter from the room you’ll be cleaning. Remove all large pieces of furniture from the room; place an ice cube over any area of carpet dented from being underneath your furniture. Let the ice cube melt completely, this will give volume back to the dented parts of your carpet. Once melted, blot these areas dry with a paper towel before running the edge of a spoon against the direction of the dent in order to fluff the carpet.
Next, go over your carpet with a dry vacuum cleaner. This will suck up all the dirt, dust and allergens, readying for your carpet for wet cleaning. When vacuuming, focus on corners, places where the carpet meets the wall, and high-traffic areas such as doorways. If necessary, use one of your vacuum’s attachments to access hard-to-reach spots.
Now, it’s time to wet-clean your carpet. You can do this by using either a carpet shampooer or steam carpet cleaning machine. These machines can be rented or bought at most hardware stores.
Shampooing the carpet will generate a thick foam lather that will break the bonds holding the dirt particles to the carpet fibers. Steam cleaning removes dirt from your carpets by blasting hot water and steam through your carpet’s fibers and subsequently vacuums up the dislodged dirt particles with 95% of the expunged water and steam. Unlike carpet shampooing, steam cleaning will not leave any sticky residue behind, as it relies solely on hot water and steam to do its job.
Once you’re finished wet cleaning the carpet, allow it to dry completely. Open the windows in the room to generate a cross-breeze. Run the ceiling fan and any standup fans to circulate the air and facilitate drying.
Once the carpet is dry, sprinkle a carpet deodorizer over the entire carpet. If you don’t have one at home, baking soda does the trick nicely. Leave this on the carpet for as long as the label specifies, or at least two hours if you’re using baking soda. Once the time is out, run over the carpet again with a dry vacuum cleaner; be sure to suck up all the deodorizer.
Finally, return all furniture to the room and enjoy your fresh, newly cleaned space.
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