Top 5 Carpet Cleaning Tips For Lush Carpets

Everyone walks all over the carpet daily, and it carries more germs, bacteria, and outdoor debris into it than you can imagine. So whether you're cleaning an old carpet to make it new or moving into a new home and laying new carpet, there's a definite art to cleaning carpets.

The different types of carpet cleaning

If you own carpets and want to make them brand new again, here are ten carpet cleaning tips for your home. But before we get into those, here are five of the most common carpet cleaning methods to help you decide how best to save your carpets. Cleaning your carpets is a critical part of cleaning your home.

1. Dry powder cleaning

Dry powder cleaning is not considered a deep clean carpet method, but dry powder cleaning helps clean a carpet's surface. Dry powder cleaning puts a powder down on top of a carpet. This clumps all surface debris on top of a carpet, which can then be picked up.

2. Encapsulation cleaning

Encapsulation cleaning is a favorite method of professional carpet cleaners and is used in deep cleaning carpets. The carpet is first vacuumed, then an encapsulation chemical is applied to the carpet to pretreat carpet stains.

Then, you clean the carpet with a rotary agitation machine (essentially a large vacuum), which vacuums away the encapsulated product — usually a mix of dirt, grime, and debris from the carpet surface and inside the carpet fibers.

3. Hot water cleaning

The hot water cleaning method is used by most homeowners who clean their carpets by renting carpet cleaning machines.

This method sprays hot water on the carpet at high pressure to loosen dirt, debris, and grime from the carpet fiber — a powerful vacuum then sucks this up. This water extraction method is an inexpensive, quick method to clean carpets.

4. Professional steam cleaning

This method is usually employed by professional carpet cleaners and uses steam to clean the carpet, expelled at high pressure.

Professional steam cleaning helps rid the carpet fiber of dust mites, bacteria and mold but also helps improve the carpet's aesthetic appeal. It is ideal for showing apartments or houses and is frequently a part of tenancy cleaning.

What is the difference between a hot water extractor and a shampooer?

There are two main methods for professional carpet cleaning. These are carpet shampooer or hot water extractor, which is shaped and fundamentally operates like a vacuum cleaner.

One of the tips for using a carpet shampooer is to use it when your carpet is dry, and when it has been thoroughly vacuumed, so the shampooer doesn't clog up.

A carpet shampooer recycles a carpet shampoo solution through the mechanism and uses that same solution across the entire floor. Unfortunately, for most uses, a carpet shampooer doesn't do a great job of deep cleaning a carpet — as it leaves residue behind.

The far superior method of industrial and personal carpet cleaners is the hot water extraction method. No longer are you using paper towels, now you're using a powered machine that vacuums up debris and dirt as it cleans. As a result, it has a far greater collection rate than that of a carpet shampooer.

Top 5 Carpet Cleaning Tips

Now that you know more about the different carpet cleaning methods traditionally used by homeowners, here are some of the best tips for homeowners who want to clean their carpets.

1. Use an enzyme remover for heavy stains

An enzyme remover is one of the most effective methods of removing stains from your carpet. These can be purchased at most hardware stores and are perfect for removing pet stains or blood. However, any large areas affected by blood stains should be subject to a deep cleaning by a professional carpet cleaner.

These enzyme removers are perfect for pet owners who might be used to removing pet stains from their carpets and don't want to hire a professional carpet cleaner.

2. Try spot cleaning small stains

To save money, try cleaning your carpet with a mixture of dish soap and warm water. This type of spot cleaning is perfect for small areas.

A wet, warm water-laden dishcloth should be mixed with dish soap before being blotted onto the affected area. This is great for small amounts of blood or other liquid items. For more viscous liquid items, like syrups and such, you'll need to scrub the affected areas hard with a damp, wet cloth.

3. Cleaning Ink requires hydrogen peroxide

If one of your little ones makes the unfortunate mistake of getting ink on the carpet, you'll have a rough time cleaning it off. The best way to get ink stains out — or at the very least reduce the prominence of the stain — from the carpet is to use isopropyl alcohol or hydrogen peroxide.

Of course, you won't be able to get the ink stain out completely, but it will stop the ink from binding to the carpet in the same fashion.

4. Use of home remedies is perfectly acceptable

People who prefer to use home remedies for many things will extend that courtesy to their carpet cleaning. And they're all the rage these days. Bicarbonate soda and white vinegar are one of the most potent and useful home remedies for carpet cleaning.

Combining these two products creates a mild detergent perfect for removing small stains like tea but unsuitable for pet accidents.

5. Clean your carpets according to traffic

While there isn't such a thing as overcleaning your carpets, if they have a lot of traffic, you should ideally clean them once or twice per year. If you have pets, then to save your carpets, you should make sure to clean your carpets more often — preferably using a steam cleaner or hiring a professional carpet cleaner.

Whether you're cleaning your carpets for yourself or as a rental agency or landlord, it's essential to ensure that your carpets are regularly cleaned, particularly before new tenants move in.