How Should You Vacuum Your Carpet?
Everyone from the carpet manufacturer, health and nanny sites to carpet cleaning blogs will insist on you vacuuming your carpet regularly. This is with good reason. It will reduce the rate at which loose debris and allergens are building up within the material. Most people are already familiar with the importance of this. But what is the right way to actually go about it? Let’s delve into this, to ensure that you get better results from the vacuuming process.
Start by getting the right vacuum for your carpet
Vacuum cleaners come in all sorts of shapes and forms, targeting different applications. From the upright vacuums to the canisters and hand-held units, you want to work with the equipment that will suit your particular situation. In fact, it is recommended that you check from the specific manufacturer of your carpet to see if there are certain features that are recommended for the vacuums to be used on your carpet. Options vary from the soft carpets to those that have the traditional cut pile. In case you’re using a Central Vac system, then here the variations will be made with the vacuum head attachments, based on the particular carpet being worked on.
For instance, the trendy “soft carpets” that come with a luxurious feel can be quite problematic to vacuum. Sure, they are softer than the conventional carpets, but their specific construction makes vacuuming a hurdle. For starters, they have very fine fibres in comparison to the conventional carpets. Secondly, the tufts come with more fibre strands with some brands having even three times more fibres when compared to the standard carpet. With the additional fibres, the carpet has a higher density, so pushing the vacuum through it takes more work.
This does not mean that the soft carpets can’t be vacuumed. Far from it. One simply needs to use a vacuum that is designed to handle such situations. For instance, for the vacuums that have an adjustable height – where you can raise or lower them as seen fit, this will enable you to ensure that there is proper airflow when working on the soft carpets. Note that when the vacuum is too low, the carpet can get damaged. When the suctioning action that used to lift the dirt off the material gets too close to the backing, the carpet can get lifted from the padding, even just slightly. When this happens regularly, the carpet eventually buckles. Even the vacuum brush that is positioned too low will damage the fibres, causing blooming, where the soft carpet gets all fuzzy. Start the vacuuming from the highest height, working your way down to a setting where the brush is just at the tip of the carpet’s fibres. For the wheels in this case, go for the vacuum that has large wheels, as it will enable you to manoeuvre it more easily through the dense and long fibres.
Rotating brush: To use or not?
Also known as a beater bar, this is a feature that comes with some vacuums, which is particularly handy in agitating the fibres of the material, loosening up the soiling that is in the pile for it to be removed. However, this functionality can damage some types of carpets. These are the likes of the Berber carpets and others that have a looped style. Using the rotating brush on them can lead to the fibre getting loosened. What’s more, in case a fibre strand is pulled from the loops, it will wrap around the rotating brush and get yanked with such a strong force that it pulls out of a number of rows, ruining the carpet in the process. Other carpet types that should also not be vacuumed with units with the beater bars include the long frieze carpets since these will easily get entangled, and wool carpets. So for these instances, you can either work with a vacuum that doesn’t have a beater bar, or go for the units where the rotating brush can be turned off, allowing you to use the vacuum with just its suction functionality.
Mode of approach
Start by first clearing up the items left lying around on the carpet – from the kids’ toys, coins, and even paper clips. Pick these objects up by hand to avoid scenarios whey they are suctioned into the vacuum, as it would result in damage to the equipment.
Move the vacuum slowly on the carpet, with a forward-back motion. Avoid the temptation to rush the process – which tends to occur when you have lots of chores to get through. Moving the vacuum cleaner too fast means that it would have sufficient time to pick up as much soiling as possible for the carpet, making the process less effective. Push and pull the vacuum, overlapping the different areas that you’re working on.
Whenever the vacuum bag or canister gets full, ensure that you empty it. In fact, it’s recommended that you don’t allow it to go beyond 75%, in order not to hamper the performance of the vacuum.
For those hard-to-reach spots and tight spaces, the hose attachment allows you to deliver better results These are the likes of the crevice attachments that is particularly effective when vacuuming along the baseboards. The upholstery attachment can also be used for the delicate area rugs. It’s also easier to work with the hose attachments on the start case compared to moving a large vacuum head over the area. Remember to pay attention to sections like where the riser and the tread meet, since this is where more dust collects.
Remember that vacuuming is not a replacement for carpet cleaning. Even the most powerful vacuums are not enough to get rid of all the grime that is building up in the unit, especially that which is buried within the carpet and adhering to the fibres. A deep carpet cleaning will be occasionally required, to get rid of the gunk and stains, prolonging the life of the unit and enhancing the health standards of your home.
