7 Carpet Cleaning Mistakes You Should Avoid

Maintaining a clean carpet is an important task you should see to. That’s an area of your home where dust and other pollutants can accumulate if you disregard proper carpet cleaning and care. You can always rely on professionals to deal with the task at hand, but you should have some knowledge on how to deal with the cleaning on your own. 

To that end, any carpet cleaning mistake can make the job a lot harder than it needs to be. You should gain some insight into the most common of these mistakes and make sure you avoid them in your day-to-day care and cleaning of the carpet at home. Let’s delve into a few of the most common ones: 

You never book professional carpet cleaning service

If you want to keep your carpet looking as good as new for the time to come, you need to book professionals at least once every 6 months. They use gear and specialised solutions that deal with the deeply ingrained impurities within the fibres, where a normal vacuum cleaner does not work.

Traditionally, the summer is one of the largely preferred times of the year for booking professional carpet cleaners. That is when you can most easily dry the carpet and freshen up the room by removing annoying allergens from the surface. But once you know just how useful it is to have your carpet professionally cleaned, you may even want to increase the frequency to two times a year. You will appreciate it in the long run.

Ignoring the importance of vacuuming is a carpet cleaning mistake

One of the most important things for proper carpet cleaning is vacuuming. If you want to maintain your carpet in good shape for a longer time, you will not allow dirt and dust to accumulate there. The way to do it is to vacuum it regularly.

At the very least, you should do it once a week, although you may even want to increase the frequency in high-traffic areas. And aside from not ignoring vacuuming, you must also do it well. Don’t rush the job, but rather move the vacuum slowly, giving it time to pick up dust and other debris.

Alternate the vacuuming pattern so that the pile of the carpet doesn’t hide away the dust. You can also address hard-to-reach areas with the proper vacuum cleaner attachment. Make sure you don’t forget about these vacuuming basics the next time you are doing your carpet cleaning rounds.

Getting a carpet too wet during cleaning

Everyone knows that getting professionals to do some expert-level carpet cleaning from time to time is necessary. It can freshen up the carpet and make it look great. You may even be tempted to employ some of the hot water extraction methods on your own, but there is a major mistake you can make.

Oversaturating the carpet is a big no-go. When moisture gets to the backing, it has a very hard time drying out completely, which in turn may lead to mould and mildew. This is even more valid for wool carpets, which have delicate fibres. Make sure you control the level of moisture you use during your carpet cleaning sessions.

A carpet cleaning mistake is scrubbing stains instead of blotting them

When a stain occurs, your first instinct might be to grab a sponge or a wet cloth and start scrubbing at it. But such action will only set the stain deeper into the fibres. What you should be doing instead is blotting.

This means applying gentle pressure onto the stain, whether it be to remove excess moisture from the area with a clean cloth or a paper towel, or to apply a cleaning solution onto the rough stain. Blotting allows you to work from the outside of the stain towards its centre, thus reducing the way it spreads.

Using a stain remover without testing is a carpet cleaning mistake

Understandably, you want to remove rough stains from the carpet. But the way to do this is not by applying any cleaning solution directly onto the fibres without testing it first. Depending on the type of carpet you have at home, it may not tolerate certain products that well. The way to go about this is to test a very small amount of the product on a concealed area of the carpet. That way you will know it tolerates the cleaner and that no damage will come from it. Whenever you want to use a new product, you must do a spot test.

Using too much carpet deodoriser

A carpet deodoriser can freshen up the room and is a nice touch to a carpet cleaning session. However, you can have too much of a good thing when you start adding too much deodoriser powder. This will lead to a build-up within the fibres, leaving the carpet too tacky and dull. Also consider that when you do a good job at cleaning the carpet, it will not need a deodoriser. If there is any bad smell, it is a good idea to check for mould or some other issue if the bad smell persists. Use any deodoriser sparingly for best results.

Using too much of chemical cleaners

Carpet cleaning doesn’t always require loads of cleaning solutions to work well. Moderation is key when it comes to getting a good outcome when cleaning the carpet. That is because when cleaning product residue builds up within the carpet, it ends up doing the exact opposite of cleaning. The sticky material attracts more dirt and makes further cleaning efforts more difficult. If you are using specialised carpet cleaning equipment that works with chemical cleaners, make sure to follow instructions on what amount to use.

Carpet cleaning mistake requires special attention to detail if you want to do it right. Many of the mistakes you can make can cost you extra effort, or they can even lead to some problems for your carpet. You have to be careful and expand your knowledge of cleaning procedures and products, to stay on top of good carpet cleaning.

Featured Photo by Crystal de Passillé-Chabot on Unsplash