Carpet Cleaning Tips

Use all the carpet cleaning tips in the world, and guess what? You still can't get your carpet as clean on your own as a professional carpet cleaner can. High pressure hot water and strong suction can't be beat, but then who needs perfection? The tips here will help you get that carpet clean enough between professional cleanings.

Lesson one - heat helps! Once above 118 degrees Fahrenheit, every 18 degrees higher changes chemical reactivity by 100%. Hot water extraction cleaning (also known as "steam cleaning" is done between 150 and 200 degrees. That's hot! Too technical? Just remember two points. First, that hot water extraction, or "steam cleaning" is far superior to "dry cleaning," and second, that if you do it yourself, use hot water!

Really there are three inter-related factors at work when you clean carpet. Heat is an important one. Dwell Time and Agitation are the other two. If you can't maximize one of them, you can make up for it somewhat with the others. In other words, if you can't get your cleaning solution hot enough, let it "dwell" a bit longer in the carpet, and scrub harder.

More Carpet Cleaning Tips

Detergent attracts dirt, so it's important to rinse out any cleaning solution thoroughly. That's another reason why hot water extraction gets carpet cleaner than the "dry" methods. The bottom line is that you need to rinse well when you clean your carpet.

A shop-vac can be a great help when cleaning stains. You can't just suck out the stain, but you can repeatedly wash and rinse the area, and suck the solution out each time. It's a more effective method than blotting up the water with cloth, mostly because you won't have the patience to wash, rinse and extract enough times if you're using paper towels or cloth.

Try to keep rugs outside and inside the front door. They'll catch much of the dirt that people bring in on their feet. This doesn't just mean less vacuuming, though. Dirt is like thousands of tiny blades that cut carpet fibers and permanently damage carpet. Damaged carpet stains more easily, and it's harder to remove the stains. It's even better if you take off your shoes in the house.

When you're ready to clean, vacuum first. If you use one of those portable machines, at least get the water as hot as you can. Always dry the carpet quickly, using fans to move the air around. You can't match the results of a good truck-mount hot water extraction unit, but you can at least lengthen the time between expensive professional cleanings, by using these carpet cleaning tips.