The Importance of Maintaining The Carpets in Your Home And Business
Most European and North American homes have carpets largely due to the weather and the insulation they provide. Good quality carpets can be quite expensive to buy and install, so regular cleaning and maintenance are very important. Every household contains a hoover or something similar to clean the carpets, but if your home or business the foot traffic dirt can quickly accumulate. This may lead you to use the services of a professional carpet cleaning company, they have the equipment and the knowledge to really get all the dirt and dust plus other stains from the fabric.
There are other factors to keeping your carpets clean, the health of the residents, aesthetics, and the long term cost of replacing the carpets. If they are allowed to fall into a dirty and unsightly state then they will need to be discarded at a potentially high cost to the property owner.
Children and Pets Are Not a Carpets Best Friend
Everybody loves children and most people enjoy the pleasure of owning and taking care of pets, whether it is a cat or a dog or something more exotic they can make a serious mess of your carpets. Pets in particular until they are house trained, through no fault of their own can leave some nasty surprises for you which after cleaning can still lead to a foul adore. This may well be a time for a professional carpet cleaning company to help remove what is deeply embedded in the fibers of the carpet or rug.
Children unfortunately at a very young age can be quite messy when it comes to food, usually, a quick response with a damp cloth is sufficient but not always. Stains do require a bit more action and often more resources than you may have at hand.
The Health Implications of Having Unclean Carpets at Home or Work
If carpets are not cleaned regularly then they can add to people already suffering from the likes of asthma. Due to the dust build up in your carpets can worsen the effects for suffers from many different allergies. Regular hoovering and professional cleaning can improve the health of yourself, your family, and your coworkers. It is an unseen problem and one that many people overlook but should be taken seriously.
Also using deep cleaning products without the correct training and knowledge can leave remains deep in the carpet and release vapors that can be harmful to the occupants of the home or business. Another great reason for having a dedicated and well trained team of professionals do the hard work.
Some other health issues can arise from having unclean carpets, including:
- Carpet collects a lot of dust and germs but when they are full the germs have nowhere to go and you directly breathe in the dust and cigarette smoke for example.
- Everybody has done it at some point, dropped some food on the carpet and the mythical 5 second rule comes into play. It is a myth bacteria and viruses can last on your carpet for up to a month, one second is enough to contaminate your food
Dirty Carpets Can Affect The Value of Your Home
One often overlooked thing that can be essential to selling your home a getting the correct price that you want is clean carpets. You have cleaned the kitchen, scrubbed the bathroom, made the bedrooms sparkle, and given the garden a makeover. But are the carpets really that clean? First impressions last and a potential investor is going to see the carpet the moment they walk in to view the property. This can give a negative impression before they have even looked at the rest of the house.
If you are serious about selling or renting it is advisable to have professional carpet cleaners deep clean the whole of the house, which will not only make a great first impression but may remove some of the odors that you have gotten used to without even knowing existed. They may also spot stains such as red wine that you thought were not there anymore, this can give bargaining power to the potential new owner as they will be well aware that they will have to have it cleaned by a private company.
Removing Stains From Your Carpet Yourself
Whilst many stains or spillages can be successfully removed by yourself you need to be quick before they start to dry. Never scrub the carpet, this only spreads out the area which was affected. Try blotting with warm to hot water always starting from the outside of the area. Repeat this as many times as you see needed. There are many types of stains that if acted fast enough can be removed without the need for expert cleaners to do it for you, these include:
- Berries
- Tea
- Fizzy Drinks
- Gravy
- Alcoholic drinks, only red wine may be a bit more difficult
- Milk products
- Mud
- Ink
These are some examples of water-soluble stains that can be an everyday accident waiting to happen. Use for example white vinegar with about 1 quarter teaspoon to 30 or so ounces of water to help remove the stain. The vinegar will help break down the stain and not damage your carpet. If this fails to work it is time to call a professional for their advice or services, most carpet cleaning companies will be happy to give you advice over the phone or send somebody in person to assess the damage caused.
Certain Methods Can Work on Water Soluble Solutions But Not All Stains
There are some solutions that are extremely tricky to remove yourself and unfortunately accidents do happen. Christmas time birthday parties are prime examples of people having a bit too much fun and red wine especially often seems to find itself on your carpet. Blood is similarly hard to remove without damaging the carpet, chocolate often the fault of the younger members of the household can also be a real pain to remove, but there are some solutions that you can try. But in most cases, unless acted on very quickly a stain will develop and it may be time for assistance from a carpet cleaning company.
Oils and fats can be removed by placing some paper towels on the affected area and using an iron on a relatively low heat for a minute or two you should be able to slowly peel the offending stain off.
Conclusion
Most people think by hoovering once or twice a week is going to solve the problem of keeping the carpets clean. There is only so much standard vacuums can do, but getting down to the very low fibers is not one of them. Over time dirt and dust will accumulate and the need for a professional clean should be scheduled for 12 to 18 months unless of course there is a major incident. You buy at hardware stores advanced cleaning equipment but they can be expensive and if you are unsure of how to use them you may do more harm than good.
If you try the do it yourself method then the carpet needs to dry in about 6 to 8 hours usually with the help of a dehumidifier or bacteria can start to grow and all your efforts are wasted. I the job is done correctly you will notice the difference the minute you walk into your home.
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