Care And Maintenance For Your Carpet
To keep your carpet looking better for longer, routine maintenance will be needed. With the barrage of abuse that it receives every day- the people walking on it, tracking in soiling from the outdoors, the dust and grit that accumulates within the fibres, to the occasional food and drink spills, issues like inkblots and urine stains from pets, vomit incidences be they from pets that are ill or individuals who had one-too -many drinks at the club and get home to hurl out the contents of their guts- it all winds up on the carpet. There are universal rules to the care of your carpet. These include:
- Regularly vacuum your carpet
The loose debris- which includes dust and bits of gritty residue that were scraped off from the bottom of people’s shoes by the fibres of the carpet and trapped within the material- can be removed during the regular vacuuming sessions. The goal here is to reduce the rate at which the soiling builds up, since the gritty soiling will damage the fibres of the carpet. It’s like tiny pieces of sandpaper being ground against the carpet material, weakening it and reducing its structural integrity.
- Attend to spills immediately
Spills should be dealt with immediately- or as soon as possible. Waiting it out will allow the liquids to seep deeper into the carpet pile, and become more difficult to remove. Water-based stains- from tea and coffee, soda and other beverages that are frequently spilled onto the carpet, oil-based stains like those nail polish accidents where some of it drips onto the carpet as you prepare yourself to head out- you don’t want to give the spills the opportunity to soak into the carpet. Reach for the absorbent cloth that you have in your establishment, and blot up the spot. Note that the emphasis here is on blotting- not rubbing. Use the cloth to absorb as much of the stain up as possible. Rubbing the spot will simply force the stain deeper into the carpet, exacerbating your problems.
- Schedule regular carpet cleaning sessions
That vacuuming that is routinely carried out is not effective enough to remove all the gunk that is buried within the carpet. Professional cleaning will still be needed, where high efficacy machinery is used to flush out the soiling that has accumulated in your unit. Take hot water extraction for instance. With this approach, heated water is pumped into the carpet at a high pressure. The mechanical action of the process, coupled with the temperature of the water, dislodges the dirt from the carpet pile, flushing it out to the surface. Vacuums with powerful suction are then used to extract the contents. Carpet cleaning agents may also be incorporated into the process- such as pre-treatments that allow the heavy build-ups of grime to be chemically broken down. Are you dealing with stubborn stains? Don’t fret. Professionals carpet cleaning services also come in handy here, with tough-acting agents being used to dissolve the stubborn stains, the contents of which are then extracted together with the rest of the soiling.
Why You Should Hire Professionals For The Carpet Cleaning
Well, for starters- it’s a laborious job. The carpet – unlike other fabrics in the household, comes with its unique cleaning requirements. Right from the onset, you’ll be dealing with heavy levels of soiling. Remember that the carpet is basically a humongous air filter, sifting up particles from the environment and trapping them within its structure. Dust, pet fur and dander, grit that is tracked in under the paws of your pet plus the bottom of people’s shoes, fibres from the surrounding upholsteries and furnishings, dead skin cells and the hordes of dust mites that they sustain, smoke for those households where there is a person smoking, grease splatters, paint particles, chemicals from the aerosol products that had been sprayed into the interior space, which settle down onto the carpet- the material can load up over 4 times its own weight in dirt. By the time the colour changes are visible and the carpet has begun looking all dull and forlorn, there will already have been loads of dirt that have accumulated within your unit. This is not the everyday cleaning chore. High-powered equipment is needed to get rid of the gunk, otherwise you will spend an entire day working on just one unit. Speaking of equipment- the units that are available for rent come with reduced power ratings. In a bit to make them lighter and portable, aspects such as the pump size and motors have their capacities reduced. Sure, you will now be able to fit the carpet cleaner into your family vehicle- but what happens when you get home and begin the actual cleaning process? Working with reducing scrubbing power, all through to the extraction, can be exasperating, forcing the task to take far much longer. What’s more, there are dealerships where the carpet cleaning equipment is not properly maintained, hence you end up working with units that are poorly tuned, which negatively affects the process further.
What of the risks involved? With a DIY carpet cleaning, simple mistakes can end up leading to huge headaches. For instance, working with detergents that are usually used for other applications in the households, from dishwashing liquids, and soaps to products that are applied for the general cleaning- these end up causing issues like colour bleeding or rapid resoiling. With discolouration, it’s a result of the chemical products that are applied not being compatible with the particular kind of carpet. Rapid resoiling can also be attributed to failing to properly rinse the carpet after cleaning it. The detergents that remain within the pile trap more dirt, hence it gets soiled faster. Another common mistake is overwetting the carpet. Soaking it with too much of the cleaning solution or water can cause damage to the carpet pile. Shrinkage of the material, delamination- where the secondary backing of the carpet gets separated from its primary backing- these will be expensive to repair, and often one ends up being forced to purchase a whole new carpet. This is not how you envision things going. With professional carpet cleaning services, the risks are avoided, and you get to end up with quality results.
