How to Deep Clean Your Carpet
Is your Carpet looking a bit dull? The colors are a bit off and there seem to be quite a few stains that have not been removed completely. If that is the case, then, what your carpet needs is a thorough deep cleaning.
Why should you deep clean Carpet?
Often times, regular cleaning only removes dirt on the surface level. There is usually a whole lot of dirt still embedded deep in your carpet. It can age your carpet faster and have a negative effect on your health. Deep cleaning every once in a while can help remove much of this dirt so that your carpet lasts longer and you family stays healthy.
How often should you deep Clean Carpets?
How often you deep clean your carpet depends on how much traffic the carpet faces on a daily basis. Higher the traffic, the more often you’ll need to deep clean. Deep cleaning carpets once a year should be enough.
Here is how you deep clean a carpet:
Step 1: Get rid of the Furniture
The first thing you need to do is get rid of anything that would get in the way of your carpet cleaning. Remove all the furniture and other knickknacks. Move them to another room. Clear the room completely before you start deep cleaning the carpet.
Step 2: Vacuum
Before you deep clean, you need to vacuum the carpet thoroughly. Make sure you cover every inch of the carpet. You can divide the carpet into smaller sections and vacuum each section one at a time. This way, you won’t miss any area of the carpet.
Always make sure you vacuum both the upper and the underside of the carpet (for detachable rugs). First, vacuum the upper surface of the carpet. Then flip the carpet and vacuum the underside thoroughly. After that, flip the carpet back to its original position and vacuum the upper side once more.
Additional tip: To get a better result from vacuuming, sweep your carpet with a broom first. This will lift the carpet fibers and displace the dirt within, which helps your vacuum cleaner pick up more of the dirt hidden in your carpet.
Step 3: Pre-treat the stains
The next step in deep cleaning is pre-treating the stains. Just as you pre-treat stains while doing laundry, you need to treat stains before cleaning carpets as well. Here is how you pre-treat stains:
Things you’ll need:
- Vinegar
- Water
- Clean Cloth
- Spray bottle
- Steam Iron
What to do:
- Mix one part vinegar with two parts of water.
- Pour the mixture in a Spray bottle.
- Spray the mixture over the stain
- Wet a piece of cloth.
- Put the damp cloth over the stain
- Put your iron on steam setting.
- Iron over the damp cloth for about 30 seconds.
- Repeat the process until you no longer see the stain.
Step 4: Steam Clean the Carpet
This is the most important part of the deep cleaning process. While there are other processes like dry cleaning that you can use, steam cleaning is the most recommended method for deep cleaning your carpet. Unlike other deep cleaning methods, steam cleaning uses very little chemicals, making it the safer option. Here is how you steam clean your carpet:
Things you’ll need:
- Steam Cleaner
- Hot water
- Carpet shampoo/ vinegar and essential oil
What to do:
- Remove the water container and fill it with hot water
- Add appropriate carpet cleaner. You can either use a carpet shampoo or, if you want to use natural ingredients, vinegar.
Quick Tip: Dilute vinegar with water before using it as a carpet cleaner. Use higher ratio of vinegar on high traffic areas and lower ratio of vinegar in low traffic areas.You can also add a few drops of essential oils in the mixture for a fresh smelling carpet.
- Run the steam cleaner over your carpet. Make sure you cover every inch.
Quick Tip: As with the vacuum cleaner, you can divide the carpet into sections so as to avoid missing any area.
- Repeat step three until the carpet is thoroughly cleaned. Run the steam cleaner more often over the high traffic areas.
- Remove the dirty water and carpet cleaning solution from the steam cleaner and pour another clean batch of hot water on the water container.
- Run the steam cleaner over the carpet once more. This will rinse out the carpet cleaner you used.
- Allow the carpet to dry.
Step 5: Use a Carpet Freshener
The final step is deodorizing your carpet. To do this, you can either buy a carpet deodorant from the store or you can create your own home-made carpet deodorant. If you’re buying a carpet deodorant, you can simply follow the instructions given on the bottle. On the other hand, if you’d like to make your own carpet deodorant, here is how you do it:
Things you’ll need:
- 1 Cup of baking soda
- 10-20 drops of essential oil
- ½ cup of borax (if you have pets)
What to do:
- Mix all the ingredients in a bowl.
- Lightly sprinkle the mixture over your carpet
- Let the mixture sit in the carpet for about half an hour
- Vacuum the carpet thoroughly. Make sure you remove all of the mixture from the carpet.
Congratulation, You’re Done!!!
Additional tips
- Test the cleaning solution before use. Whichever cleaning product you use, test-run it in a small inconspicuous part of the carpet before use. It will help you avoid damaging the carpet with harsh cleaners.
- Clean in Sections. While cleaning a large area you are likely to miss a few spots. So, divide the carpet into small sections. With every step, clean one section completely before moving on to another section.
- Know your Carpet type. Different types of carpet can react to the same chemical differently. So, find out what kind of carpet you have and do a bit of a research on what kind of cleaners you should and shouldn’t use on your carpet.
- Ventilate. After deep cleaning the carpet, ventilate the room properly. Open all the windows and turn on the fans. If possible, use a dehumidifier as well. It will help the carpet dry faster and prevent potential mold growth in the carpet.
Follow these instructions to deep clean your carpet properly.
If you have any comments, suggestions or additional tips, let us know in the comments below:
Happy Cleaning!!!