Top 10 Carpet Cleaning Tips
1. Vacuum frequently and thoroughly. Most of the
wear of
carpeting is caused by dirt. Oily soils attract more oily soil
and
frequent vacuuming will reduce soil buildup.
2. Get at stains quickly. 99% of all stains can be removed by
one cleaning agent
or another if they are cleaned in the
first few days. The longer a stain
chemically reacts with
the carpet the harder it will be to remove.
3. Test carpet before scrubbing, extracting or spotting. All
carpets are
different. Some carpets are very sensitive to
acid type cleaners and will lose
their color quickly. Other
carpet dyes are sensitive to harsh alkalis.
4. Use appropriate spotters starting with the mildest. Do not
use harsh spotting
agents unless absolutely necessary and
always neutralize high alkaline or high
acid cleaners after
use.
5. Never dig or brush spots. The proper procedure is to
scrape the spot towards
the middle and then tamp the spot
into the white towel or cloth using a brush or
other tamping
devices. A meat tenderizer makes a great tamping tool.
6. Do not overuse detergents, shampoos or spotters. Too
much detergent will
result in residual left in the carpet that
even thorough vacuuming may not
remove.
7. Do not overwet carpet. Our carpet detergents are
chemically active enough so
they do not need a
tremendous amount of wetting. Over-wetting can cause
brownout, carpet shrinkage, adhesion problems and all
other kinds of nightmares.
8. Extract residual if possible. Rotary scrubbing will clean the
carpet fibers
the best by encapsulating dirt and detergent
residue, which powders off the
carpet. Periodic extraction
will flush out this dirt and other organisms deep in
the
carpet.
9. Never "coat" a dirty or spotty carpet. After scrubbing or
extracting a dirty
carpet, if you are not satisfied with the
results, do not apply a coat of carpet
protector as this will
result in "gluing in the dirt" making it harder to remove
it
the next time. Either re-scrub or extract the carpet or
leave the carpet
until the next cleaning cycle before you
coat.
10. Vacuum frequently and thoroughly. It is so important it
deserves two recommendations.