How to Keep Carpet Clean: 6 Maintenance Tips

A carpet can hold about four times its weight in the dirt?

Carpets tend to be catch-alls for dirt, pet hair, spills, dust mites, mold, bacteria, insect husks, volatile organic compounds, and many more allergens that cling to their fibers. Dirty carpets can cause serious health issues.

For this reason, it’s imperative that you maintain your carpets and keep them clean at all times. In this post, we’ll discuss some excellent tips on how to keep the carpet clean and avoid possible problems.

  1. Vacuum Often

Vacuuming often is quite apparent, and you should do it at the very least once a week. If you have pets and children, try to do it twice or more times a week to catch all the dirt, debris, and dust that could accumulate.

One of the best things about vacuuming is that it picks up dirt before its trodden deeper into the fabric, which would make it harder to remove.

Before you start vacuuming, it’s official to give your carpets a shake. It will dislodge loose dirt and grit that could be trapped within the fibers. The process will make it easier for the vacuum cleaner to pick it up.

Place more focus on heavy traffic areas as they have more dirt. You can actually vacuum these areas more often than the rest of the carpet. You should also vacuum the carpet backing at least once a month.

Maintaining your vacuum cleaner is an essential part of keeping your carpet clean. You need to empty it, clean it, and replace the filters and bag regularly. If the bag is full or the filter is not working accordingly, the dirt will back into the carpet and make it worse than it was.

  1. Consider Using Rugs and Mats for doorways and High Traffic Areas

If you want to know how to keep the carpet clean, one of the best and easiest ways to do it is adding protection through doormats and rugs. Rugs and doormats are easy to clean and replace compared to your carpet. Use doormats in all your entryways and use rugs or runners in high traffic areas.

Think of area rugs or runners as a decorative way to protect your carpets and extend their life. Area rugs happen to be an incredible way to bring a room together while also serving a different purpose of catching all the dirt before it gets to the carpet.

One good thing about this is that rug cleaning is easy, and some may even be machine washable, which will take out all the stress of vacuuming and cleaning.

Doormats, on the other hand, will catch all the dirt coming from outside before it gets in the house. This is one of the most efficient ways to protect your carpet and keep it clean. Doormats are also machine washable, and if not, they’re easier to clean given their small size.

  1. Consider Banning Shoes Inside the House

Shoes bring in a lot of dirt and germs into the house, and your carpet can quickly soak it all up. Carpet cleaning will be much easier if you ban shoes inside the house. This way, you won’t have mud and grass or other grime happening to your carpet.

It may seem hard for all the housemates to adapt to, especially if you have children. However, you can make it easier by keeping an organizer or a basket by the door where everyone can put their shoes.

An organizer will have two purposes. One, it’ll encourage people to remove their shoes, and two, it’ll keep the shoes out of the way to prevent the entryway from looking too crowded.

Otherwise, you may find a lot more than the shoe organizer can handle. Besides, when people find the shoe organizer full, they may be tempted to just get in the house wearing them. Establishing these rules will only take a few weeks.

Once the habit sinks in, it’s going to be second nature to everyone. When this happens, your carpets will remain cleaner for longer periods, and carpet cleaning will become much easier. This also works for other areas of the house and not just the carpets, so win-win.

  1. Clean Spills Immediately They Happen

One of the best things you can do for your carpets is to keep sources of stains away from them. Avoid bringing food, wine, juice, or other beverages near the carpet. Encourage all family members to eat in the dining area.

Still, once in a while, you’ll find that you’re dealing with carpet stains. When something spills, the best thing you can do for your carpet is blot it out with a dry towel immediately. Avoid rubbing or scrubbing it as it only makes the stain worse.

One good trick you can use on spills is to pour club soda on the stain and allow it to sit for about 10 minutes. Club soda works really well on fresh stains. Once it’s soaked up, blot it out working from outside in.

  1. Take Advantage of Baking Soda

Baking soda comes in handy in so many home cleaning projects, and it’s can do wonders for your carpet. If you have children and pets, you may be worried about using harsh chemicals. Instead, sprinkle baking soda on your carpets and allow it to sit for about 15 minutes before vacuuming.

Baking soda sucks up all the odors from the carpet and makes it look brighter by the time you’re done vacuuming. You can also sprinkle some essential oils that will leave your carpet smelling fresh and clean, which is a lot better compared to using carpet fresheners.

  1. Have a Regular Deep Cleaning Schedule

While vacuuming on a regular basis is okay, at one point, you need a deep clean to get out of the dirt and grime that accumulates over time. The trick here is to keep your carpet cleaning and deep cleaning schedule regular. Do it about every two to three months, or call-in professional carpet cleaners instead.

How to Keep Carpet Clean: Let’s Recap

Now that you know how to keep the carpet clean, it’s time for you to put it into practice. These are some excellent carpet maintenance tips because if you vacuum regularly and deep clean once in a while, your carpets will retain their beauty for a long time. Between all that, catch carpet stains early, especially wine and pet urine, use area rugs and doormats where possible, and ban shoes in the house.

If you like our maintenance tips, please check out our blog section, where we have so much more for you.

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