28 November 2022
By Roger Kennedy
roger@TheCork.ie

Quickly and Easily Maintaining a Clean Carpet in 5 Simple Steps

(Hint: you’ll need a vacuum for two of the processes.)

Carpet is fantastic for playing board games on and rolling around like a kid. The warmth is palpable. Moreover, it is extremely absorbent, retaining odours from cigarettes and pets alike. It also acts like Velcro by snagging onto dirt and dust particles, such as hairs, dander, and dust bunnies. The carpet has to be cleaned frequently (like, very frequently), or else your soft, comfortable floor will devolve into a quagmire of yuck.

Carpet Cleaning is a breeze if you have a decent vacuum. As an adult, you’ll need to shell out some serious cash for a food vacuum, but trust us: it’s worth it. (Oh, and remember to empty the vacuum after each usage!)

This manual details the best methods for cleaning carpets and suggests how often you should do it. It also includes extra information on how to clear stubborn stains and trouble spots.

Here are the basic procedures for cleaning a carpet.

1. vacuum

• Why? The dirt and dust that would otherwise be crushed into your carpet and wear down the fibres are sucked up by the vacuum and removed.
• First, clear the area of any large items, wires, and obstacles such as shoes, the dog bed, floor cushions, your foam roller, etc.
• Try out the various vacuum attachments to clean the borders of the carpet and the space under the bulky, inconveniently placed furniture.
• Make sure you get every last bit of dirt and dust by vacuuming in both directions.
• A vacuum with revolving brushes is ideal for getting the grime deep into the carpet fibres.

2. Treat and clean any trouble areas or stains before they set in.

• A clean, damp towel can be used to blot at the stain (never scrape the stain; it will typically simply make it worse!).
• Give the stain a good scrubbing with club soda, vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, or a dish soap (like Dawn) and water. Many discolorations and spots can be removed in this way. (Further information about other stains is provided below.)
• To remove any lingering detergent or other cleaning product, always dab the area with clean water once you’re done cleaning it.
• Use a salt solution on stains that just won’t come out.
  • Club soda can be used to saturate the stain.
  • Scatter salt over the stained area that has been soaked with club soda. A buffer created by the salt keeps the stain from becoming permanent.
  • Wait around 20 minutes to dry out the salty soda solution.
  • Remove the granulated salt by sucking it up.

3. use soap and water to clean and sanitise.

• DIY remedy: white vinegar and water, 1:3.
• Use the soft bristles scrub brush and vinegar solution to thoroughly clean the carpet, paying special attention to any stinky or ugly spots.
• Even if your carpet now makes your living room smell like a bag of chips, the acidic characteristics of vinegar will assist to deodorise it.
• Rinse the area with water and dry the cloth to remove the vinegar.
• Sprinkle baking soda on the smelly carpet sections, let it sit for 20 minutes, and then vacuum it up to get rid of the odour.

4. Steam cleaning

• The use of steam cleaners requires strict adherence to the manual’s instructions.
• Start steam cleaning the carpet by moving the machine back and forth slowly while using hot water and a little amount of the ready-made cleaner of your choosing.
• If you push a steam cleaner forward, it will expel water, and if you pull it back, it will draw it in. Carpets may easily develop mould and mildew if too much moisture is left behind, therefore it’s crucial to move the steam cleaner carefully to extract as much water as possible.

5. Suck it up (once again)

• To the contrary, you still need to run the vacuum over the entire room one more time before you can call it clean. And the satisfaction of seeing the lines in the carpet afterward is immeasurable.

How frequently should a carpet be cleaned?

What kind of a question is this? Yes, really. I’m sorry to break it to you, but if you’re wondering, the answer is yes, you should clean your carpet at least once a week. With pets in the house, vacuuming should be done on a near-daily basis. At least twice a year, you should steam clean (or deep clean) your carpet. Furthermore, it will be easy to see where stains need to be treated or cleaned. The optimum time to treat a stain is while it is still wet or fresh.

Cleaning and Deodorizing Carpets

No one likes the smell of a musty carpet. Find out how to get rid of unpleasant smells and eliminate lingering odours with these helpful hints.

Smoke

Put the baking soda in a sieve and then sprinkle it on the spots. Since baking soda is an absorbent, it will trap the scents and work its way down to the carpet’s foundation. Let it rest for 30 minutes after you’ve walked all over it (with shoes on, of course) to ensure an even coating. Let’s start over by giving it a good vacuuming.

Mildew

You may use a dehumidifier or a series of downward-pointing fans to remove excess moisture from your carpet. After the spot has dried, spray the carpet with a solution of two cups of warm water and one cup of white vinegar. Vinegar’s high acidity helps to flush out and destroy odor-causing chemicals by dislodging them. If the carpet becomes too wet throughout the treatment process, the mildew problem will likely recur. The carpet will no longer smell like vinegar once it has dried.

Mold and bacteria

A slug of vodka on the carpet should do the trick for lingering smells like mildew and germs. Alcohol is effective in dissolving odorous substances. You may kill mould by adding vodka to a spray bottle and then spraying it on the affected regions. Allow the alcohol to settle for 15 minutes, and then wipe the stain with a clean cloth. A place contaminated with mould may be remedied by applying baking soda, leaving it there for 31 minutes, and then vacuuming off the powder.

Cat or dog faeces

Unfortunately, you already know this. Utilize a dry cloth to absorb as much of the spill as possible. In a dish, mix together the two cups of warm water and two cups of white vinegar. Then, (carefully!) stir in the four teaspoons of baking soda. After combining the ingredients, spray the solution over the discoloured area using a spray bottle. After 5 minutes, dab the area with a clean, wet cloth to remove the stain.

Because of the carbonation in club soda, it may be used as a suitable replacement for pet urine on carpets. Put some on the stained area and let it sit for a while. If you want your carpet to dry more quickly after cleaning, opening a window or turning on a fan might assist. Repeat blotting until the odour disappears.

Sweat

The carpet in your house may start to smell like a gym when you do so many exercises there. Using a spray of Febreze Fabric can help eliminate unpleasant odours and replace them with more pleasant ones, like lilac or violet.

The Proper Way to Clean a Carpet

Stains can be found in a wide variety of forms. Particular stains can be removed from carpets in the following ways:

Paint

This first step must be taken regardless of the paint type being used.

• To clean up the paint that has dripped onto the carpet, use a spoon or putty knife.
• Take care not to get any unstained parts stained as well.
• Be careful not to rub or further press the paint into the carpet.
• Use a dry cloth or paper towel to dab up any stray paint.

As an acrylic medium:

• Vinegar and hot water are used to
  • Distilled white vinegar and warm water (2:20) in a plastic spray bottle should do the trick. Blend the solution by shaking it vigorously.
  • To remove paint stains, spray a mixture of vinegar and water on them.
  • Wipe down with a wet sponge or paper towel.
  • To finish, dab the paint spill with a sponge dampened in cold water.
  • Repeat the cycle of spraying and blotting until the paint stain is gone.
  • Allow plenty of time for the area to dry out naturally.

Use of Rubbing Alcohol

• Wet a cloth down completely with isopropyl alcohol.
• Use the alcohol-soaked cloth to blot at the stain as necessary.
• Soak the paint stain in alcohol for around 25 minutes.
• Then, use a dry towel to wipe the paint stain repeatedly to remove any lingering rubbing alcohol.
• It’s best to wait for the area to dry naturally.

Paints that require water to dry:

• Scented dish detergent and hot water
  • Use a clean, dry rag to blot the paint stain to remove any paint that has pooled on the carpet’s surface.
  • To clean up messes, just dip a cloth or paper towel into a soapy mixture of warm water and a drop or two of dish detergent (we like Dawn).
  • Use a damp rag or piece of paper towel to blot the stain until it vanishes.
  • Use dry rags or paper towels to blot up the moisture.
  • Please wait for the area to dry naturally.
• If the paint stain is still evident after blotting with the soapy towel, try steaming the area with a portable steamer.

The Red Grape Juice

Soda bicarbonate for baking

• Soak up any additional wine with a clean, dry towel.
• The red wine stain can be soaked up by applying a little amount of cold water to the area. Depending on the size of the stain, we suggest around a quarter of a cup. Water will help dilute the wine and reduce the blotting effect.
• Blot the moist stain until it disappears or disappears to a reasonable extent.
• Combine one part water with three parts baking soda to make a paste. The consistency should be similar to that of cake batter.
• Apply the baking soda paste liberally to the carpet to remove the red wine.
• If you want the paste to dry completely, you should let it around 20 minutes to settle.
• Scrub the carpet well with baking soda and then vacuum up the residue.

Salty club drink

• Use a dry, clean cloth to blot up the wine spill.
• Saturate the wine stain with club soda, preferably chilled. Because of the carbonation in the soda, the stain should be lifted from the carpet fibres.
• Salt the stained area that has been drenched with club soda. The salt acts as a buffer, keeping the stain from becoming permanent.
• Wait around 20 minutes to dry out the salty soda solution.
• Remove the granulated salt by sucking it up.

Toenail varnish

Remover for nail polish

• Since this technique might produce discoloration, it is important to first try it on a little hidden area of the carpet or rug (a corner, perhaps, or behind a piece of furniture).
• Using nail polish remover on new smudges is optimal.
• When removing nail polish, it is essential to use a product that does not include acetone or any other dyes.
• If you have light or white carpet, nail polish remover will be your best bet for getting the polish off.
• To remove a nail polish stain, soak a cloth in nail paint remover and blot or dab at the spot.
• If you use nail paint remover on the carpet, don’t drench it. Don’t use any of it on anything else than the stain itself.
• Instead of scrubbing, blot the area.
• Nail polish remover can be replaced by rubbing alcohol, and the same procedures applied.

Hairspray

• If you want to get the nail paint out of the carpet, use hairspray with a high alcohol concentration. Because it contains no alcohol, hairspray won’t remove the stain from your carpet that was spilled with nail paint.
• In fact, hairspray is most effective on dried-in stains. Nail paint dries quickly, so before you spray the hairspray, you should remove as much of the dried stuff as possible by scraping it off and vacuuming it up.
• Apply cold water on the nail paint stain to dampen it.
• Spray on roughly ten to fifteen pumps of hairspray. That is a lot of hairspray, no doubt!
• Along with the hairspray, try adding a little rubbing alcohol to the stain and seeing if it helps.
• Scrub the discoloration with cold water and a soft bristles brush (an old toothbrush works great).
• Please wait for the area to dry naturally.
• More tips on how to remove nail polish from carpet can be found here.

Blood

Peroxide of hydrogen

• The use of hydrogen peroxide on carpets and rugs should be avoided since it can severely discolour them. Before applying this approach directly to the stain, it is recommended to test it on a hidden area of the carpet.
• To use, soak a cotton ball in hydrogen peroxide.
• The blood stain may be removed by repeatedly dabbing it with a peroxide-soaked towel.
• Finally, dab the former stain with a cloth wet with cold water.
• Use a dry cloth to blot up any remaining moisture.
• If you don’t have a wet vac handy, just let the area air dry.

Gum

Ice

• You may get rid of the gum stain by rubbing it with an ice cube.
• The gum may be removed using a putty knife or any other sharp tool.
• White vinegar or a cleaning product containing citrus can be used to remove any remaining gum stain, or you can try scrubbing the area with a citrus-based cleaning solution.
• To finish, swab the area with clean water to remove any trace of cleaning solution or vinegar that may have been left behind.

Wax

Iron

• If you want to remove a wax stain from carpet, you should put a moist white towel or rag on top of it (ideally one you don’t care about, as the wax will migrate from the carpet to the cloth).
• You should iron the towel for 20-25 seconds at high heat.
• You’ll need to do this several times to get all of the wax to separate from the carpet and cling to the towel.

Oh my goodness, that was a barrage of data about how to clean your carpet. There’s no more justification for distasteful carpet conditions like spills, odours, or pet hair balls. Don’t forget to invest in a vacuum that you will like using. The efficiency gain from this will be enormous. And don’t forget that baking soda and white vinegar may do wonders for getting rid of odours and stains if you keep them on hand in the pantry.