Various types and styles of carpets are found in homes up and down the country. Carpeting your home can be a big financial investment, so it’s important to keep your floors protected and as clean as possible. Obviously, accidents will sometimes happen, especially if you have pets or a young family running around. In this latest blog post, we cover 10 professional carpet cleaning tips and tricks of the trade. Take a look below for our favourite at-home carpet cleaning remedies, using products found in every home.
1. Treat stains fast
Spills and accidents are a part of life and can’t be avoided, however, it can be extremely frustrating marking carpets and floors. Whether it’s a spilt cup of coffee or the dreaded red wine, the trick with stains is to address them fast. Make sure to never rub the mark as this could discolour the carpet, instead gently blot from the edges in to soak up any remaining fluid. You can then go in with a stain remover product.
2. Tackle pet hair with a window squeegee
Our furry friends bring so much joy to our lives, but they do no favours to our treasured carpets. If it’s not a splattering of muddy paws, it’s the never-ending cat or dog hair that lodges itself throughout the fibres in the carpet. As hard as you may try, a vacuum just never seems to hoover it all up. Our top tip is to use a damp window squeegee to dislodge hairs, simply move the wiper from side to side to get all those hard-to-reach pet hairs.
3. Use an iron to clean carpet
If you find yourself unable to address a stain quickly, you can actually try to fix the mark using a clothes iron. When removing already dry stains, hoover the area and spray a mixture of vinegar and water onto the mark. Place a towel over the stain and apply the pressure of a hot iron to lift the stain from the carpet onto the towel. Repeat if necessary until the mark is removed.
4. Use baking soda to get out oil stains
Oil stains are always a worry with any material, especially carpets. Luckily, there is an easy solution using ingredients found in most kitchen cupboards. Use either baking soda or corn starch to lift and remove oil stains. Apply a generous dusting of either over the affected area and leave for at least 15 minutes. This helps to soak up the oil from within the carpet fibres.
5. Baking powder also helps get rid of odours
Baking powder is a superstar ingredient when it comes to carpets. Not only can it help lift stains, but it can also tackle nasty odours as well. This can be useful to lift urine smells when toilet training a new puppy, for example. As with the previous step, apply a dose of baking powder to the area that smells and leave for several hours. The baking soda works to neutralise foul odours and leave your carpet smelling good as new again.
6. Melt wax stains
Perhaps you recently found yourself distracted at a dinner party and didn’t realise the wax candle dripping all over your precious carpet? Have no fear, we have an easy solution to removing the stain. Find a paper bag and place it over the dried wax, then apply light pressure with a hot iron to lift the wax from the carpet onto the bag.
7. Freeze off chewing gum
Chewing gum is notoriously tricky to remove once stuck, however a top trick to get out this sticky residue is ice. We’ve all been in the frustrating situation where we’ve walked in a piece of gum on the soles of our shoes from the street. The next time this happens, simply place a bag of ice cubes over the stuck gum, and after a minute or so use a knife to remove it. Cold chewing gum is far less sticky and typically lifts off pretty easily.
8. Use rubbing alcohol for nail polish stains
It’s a common scenario: you’re completing an at-home manicure and accidentally spill your polish all over the carpet. The chemicals that make up this nail polish could make you panic that you’ll cause serious damage to the carpet, but we have the solution. Firstly let the nail polish completely dry for you to scrape off the carpet, then rub the stain lightly with alcohol to lift the mark from the carpet
So there you have it, some of the best tricks and tips to use the next time you have an accident at home to keep your carpets protected and clean for longer. At Clean All Crew, we are the deep cleaning experts that you can rely on. For more tips and advice on domestic cleaning, get in touch today.
