Tips for carpet cleaning

Your shoes contain huge amount of dust and dirt so it's best to avoid any contact between the carpet and the shoes. Always have entrance mats outside your doors. And do not feel shy in asking your guests to remove the shoes when they come. And if it is too tough for you, then make sure that people who enter your home use the mats to get debris and dirt off of their shoes before they come in.

The other basic thing you can practice is that when you are at home take care and do not go barefoot on the carpet. Always wear slippers or socks; as when you walk with naked feet on the carpet, the oil from the bottom of your feet tends to dirty the carpet to a great deal.

When thinking of carpet cleaning there are two basic procedures which are

1.VACUUMING- is the best way to maintain and clean your carpet. As a fundamental rule carpets should be vacuumed at least once a week. Whenever you vacuum your carpet make sure that you do a good job meaning going over the floor in several directions to allow the vacuum to pick up all it can.

2.STEAM CLEANING - is another best, cost effective, chemical free method to clean carpets and is environmental friendly at the same time. Steam cleaning is best for killing dust mites within carpets and at dealing with smaller stains and spills. It is an excellent method for killing bacteria and to fight odors.

And here are some practical and simple carpet cleaning tips

FIGHT THOSE ODORS AWAY Simply add baking soda to the bag in your vacuum cleaner to get the odors out of your carpet.

TIPS ON SPOTS AND SPILLS

 Spots and spills are common with small children in the home and are very difficult to remove. But with these tips I believe that getting rid of spots and spills will be a child play for you. The basic is that you should try and clean them immediately. If you fight the spill when it's fresh, then you have a better chance of getting rid of it completely. The common tips are that do not rub the spill as you might end up spreading it. And blot or scrape the entire area carefully before you apply any cleaning solution.

HANDLING SPECIFIC CARPET STAINS From chocolate to wine, your carpet has a number of potential enemies and here is the list of specific stains with their removal secrets.

1.CHOCOLATE/COFFEE:Scr ape the chocolate and blot the spilled coffee immediately and make a mix with 1 teaspoon of mild detergent, 1 teaspoon of white vinegar and 1 quart of warm water Apply this mix to the spot and rinse it well. In the end just vacuum gently.

2.WINE:if you spill red wine on your carpet throw lots of salt onto it. It absorbs the wine and the colour. Just leave it overnight and then vacuum up the salt in the morning.

3.ACID STAINS:Dilute the acid stain immediately with baking soda and water, then apply a solution of ammonia (1 part) and water (10 parts). Rinse with cold water, let it dry, and vacuum gently.

4.CRAYON/CHEWING GUM/WAX:Is very easy to remove just harden the chewing game or wax stain by pressing an ice cube against the blob of gum or wax stain. Once it is hardened the gum or wax can be pulled off very easily.

5.CANDLE WAX:To remove the drops of wax from the carpet place a couple of sheets of newspaper over the wax and iron on a low heat - the newspaper will absorb the molten wax and then just treat the area with ice as mentioned above.

6.BUTTER:Try to scrape up as much of the butter as you can. Then apply dry-cleaning fluid on the butter stain and let the carpet dry. If the spot still remains, repeat the procedure. In the end just vacuum gently.

7.BLOOD:Make a mix with 1 teaspoon of mild detergent, 1 teaspoon of white vinegar and 1 quart of warm water. Apply this mix to the blood spot and let it dry. Then apply the dry cleaning fluid and vacuum gently after the carpet is dry.

8.GRAVY/ALCHOLIC BEVERAGES: Quickly dilute the stained spot with cold water and absorb the excessive liquid as much as you can. Then mix 1 teaspoon mild detergent, 1 teaspoon white vinegar, and 1 quart warm water. Apply this solution to the stained spot, and let the carpet dry. Vacuum gently in the end.

9.CATSUP:make a mixture of 1 cup vinegar and 2 cups water and sponge it into the rug. Frequently wring out sponge until stain is goes away.

10.FRUIT: Fruit stains are very hard to remove if they are allowed to set, but if you act quickly this method usually prevents a permanent stain. Scrape up spilled fruit, and absorb fruit juice. Quickly clean one potato, cut in half, and rub the stain gently with wet end of spud. Juices often help to dissolve the stains.

11.VOMIT: Don't panic but treat it quickly. Blot up the vomit area as much as possible, and then dilute it immediately with baking soda and water. Apply a solution of 1 part of ammonia and 10 parts water. Rinse with cold water, let the carpet dry, and then vacuum in the end.

OTHER IMPORTANT GENERAL CARPET CLEANING TIPS

To get the new look for your carpet make a mix of little vinegar in a bowl of warm and it wipe over the carpet, it helps to re-vitalizes the carpet bringing its colour back.And always follow the golden rule "Never rub a stain, just blot as rubbing breaks down the fibers and spreads the stain".

Always keep your eye out for spills and treat them immediately.And the last tip is just buy a very dark carpet with very dark, random, non-repeated patterns. The simple way to avoid carpet cleaning as any stains or dirt are easily hidden on dark coloured carpets and there is no need to clean a lot as you never notice it being dirty.But be careful and try not to drop anything dark on the carpet as it will be really tough to find on it.