Home carpet cleaning/maintenance is so very important to keeping your carpet looking beautiful for years.  Whether your carpet is quite new or a number of years old, you will want to take good care of it.  In return you will continue to reap the benefits that your carpet will give you.

Carpet adds a considerable degree of comfort to your home. Only carpet can provide that soft, comfortable, warm feeling underfoot that is especially welcome in the winter months.  Carpet plays a key role in setting the mood and tone in a room as well.  There are many colors and styles available to choose from. Carpet also serves to provide a safe, non-slip surface.  And as an insulation from noise, it’s a very efficient sound absorber. Surprisingly, perhaps, carpet can also provide important health benefits by holding on to airborne dust particles and pollutants.

When it comes to carpet care, vacuuming your carpet is one of the most effective methods. There are two main types of vacuum cleaners.  The upright vacuum is self-contained and has a power brush that works in conjunction with the vacuum to remove dust, etc.   The canister type of vacuum has a hose and wand and may or may not have a motorized power brush.

There are specific challenges, and unique ones at that, when it comes to vacuuming.  Among these are vacuuming wool rugs in such a way as to avoid damage to the pile. Various health concerns come into play, too.  Among them, heart disease and vacuuming is a topic that is of concern to many folks. And what about the wisdom of vacuuming and sweeping after hip replacement?  Then, there is the whole area of fitness and weight control.   How many calories do you burn vacuuming?  It’s a great work-out right in your own home!

Vacuuming your dog?

There are certainly challenges to removing those stubborn pet hairs and keeping things at a manageable level when there are pets in your home.  Choosing a vacuum with powerful suction is essential to dealing with this task.  Of course, regular grooming of your pet will help to reduce the amount of shedding in the first place.  Proper nutrition can play a key role here, too.

Vacuuming dry wall dust is another one of those situations you may encounter. This can be a terrible clean-up task yet with the proper vacuum cleaner and techniques, it will be relatively easy to accomplish.

In addition to vacuuming your carpet regularly, there are other steps that should be taken to protect your carpet.  Among these are placing walk off mats in strategic locations.  These mats will capture dirt before it’s tracked on to you carpet. Entrance door mats are particularly desirable for this purpose and having outdoor entrance mats further serve to provide an extra measure of protection from tracked-in soil. Kitchen floor mats, chair mats, anti slip mats, and rubber mats are all effective variations.

And while on the subject of mats, attention should also be given to protecting your car interior with car floor mats as well.  The comedian Jerry Seinfeld, in a CNN interview with Larry King, defined the automobile as a place where “you’re inside, yet you’re outside.”  Whether in your home or in your car, trapping as much soil as possible and removing it from your living environment is beneficial.

Periodically, there comes a time when regular vacuuming and the use of walk off mats must be supplemented with carpet cleaning to deal with the more stubborn soils.  Carpet cleaning is important to maintain your carpet at its best. Do it yourself carpet cleaning is one of the popular methods. Supermarkets and home improvement stores routinely offer carpet cleaning machine rental services.  Carpet cleaning supplies from shampoo and carpet stain removal products to various portable home carpet cleaning machines are available.

Carpet steam cleaning is the most familiar form of carpet cleaning.  You can do it yourself by purchasing or renting a portable machine.  However, many people choose to hire a professional carpet cleaning service instead.  The service provider will clean your carpet using either a truck mount or a powerful, self-contained portable machine.  Soil is flushed from the carpet and extracted using jets of hot water mixed with detergent.  The carpet is usually dry in 5-6 hours.

An increasingly popular option to hot water extraction (‘steam cleaning’) is low moisture carpet cleaning. This option can take several forms including the use of bonnets, absorbent pads, dry foam and dry steam.  Because there is more agitation involved, less water is required to remove the soil from the carpet.  The  carpet is usually dry and ready for use in as little as one hour following cleaning.

Once the carpet has been cleaned, a carpet stain protector can be applied to the fibre to help minimize set-in stains from developing in future.  Carpet deodorizing can also be performed where persistent odors are present.

Richard Watters