Keeping carpets clean is quite simple if you follow a regular maintenance schedule for vacuuming and deep cleaning, and ensuring that all spills are blotted up and stains attended to immediately. If you have bought a new carpet, you are more fortunate than old carpet owners, as the new fibres have the ability to reflect light rays and to offer resistance to soiling and staining.
If you follow a strict vacuuming schedule, you can easily retain the original look of the carpet and also extend its life by quite a few years. Some manufacturers recommend that the number of times you clean your carpet in a week should be equal to the number of persons residing in your home. For example, if you have three persons staying in your home, you need to vacuum your carpet at least thrice a week. Vacuuming at least twice a week is the least you can afford if you want to safeguard your carpet.
Using doormats and rugs in strategic spots like entry and exit doors, entrance to corridors, bottom of stairs, etc, can reduce the amount of soil brought into the house. Use pads or rugs for resting feet near desks and sofas. Dry soil has an abrasive quality that can badly damage carpets if it is allowed to be ground into the carpet. Try to remove the soil when it is still on top of the carpet instead of letting it be walked on.
Buy a vacuum cleaner that has a dual motor to power the suction and the rotation brush. A good rotation brush can loosen up soil that has been ground into the carpet, and can suck out all particles even from the backing. Also check that the brush height can be correctly adjusted to the height of your carpet fibres. It should have good filtration and a top loading bag is preferable to a bottom loading bag for ease of use. And make sure you change the bag when it is half full, as the efficiency of the cleaner reduces as the dust bag gets fuller.
Using a rotation brush whenever you vacuum easily brings out the soil so it can be sucked up by the vacuum cleaner. Slowly push the vacuum cleaner forward in the direction of the pile and then in reverse as many times as needed. But, if you have a thick pile carpet, do not use the rotation brush as it can damage the fibres. Instead use only suction. Run the vacuum at least three times over heavily trafficked areas, in slow, deliberate back and forth strokes.
Sprinkling salt one hour before vacuuming will make the carpet look brighter. If there are indentations in the carpet, fill them with ice cubes. Once the ice has melted, the fibres of the carpet will stand upright again. After vacuuming, you will notice that your carpet has a flat look. To revive the fibres, hold a hot steam iron just over the carpet taking care not to let it touch the carpet. This should bring the fibres up.
Keeping your vacuum cleaner in good shape is also very important. Clean the brushes, hoses, and other attachments on a regular basis and replace all worn out parts immediately. Change the dust bag frequently.
With these measures, and calling in professional carpet cleaners at least once in three months for deep cleaning through hot water extraction, you can keep your carpet looking as good as new.
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