Mistakes To Avoid During Carpet Cleaning
Investing in new carpets for your home or office can transform the look of your floors, giving them a rejuvenated and classy feel. However, you will have to take great care of your carpets so as to keep them looking bright and avoid damaging them prematurely.
When cleaning your carpets, you cannot rely on faulty information, as using the wrong carpet cleaning agents or processes could lead to irreversible damage. Read on to learn costly mistakes you could be making while cleaning your carpets.
Using bleach
Harsh chemicals such as bleach may seem ideal for removing all sorts of stains and killing bacteria in your carpet fibers. In fact, many homeowners tend to resort to bleach for removing anything from red wine stains to motor oil on their carpets. However, as effective as bleach may seem at removing stains, it can actually fade your carpets, making them look unsightly. Bleach also weakens and thins your carpet fibers, making them tear off much faster.
If you need to remove a stain on your carpet, leave bleach in the cleaning cupboard and use a proper carpet cleaner instead. For heavily stained carpets, call in a professional carpet cleaner to steam clean the carpet.
Vacuuming aggressively
Vacuums work by sucking up dust and other debris from your carpets, which helps keep them looking clean and bright. Typically, vacuuming your carpets regularly won't harm them, as long as you don't do it too aggressively.You should also limit the number of times you vacuum your carpets. Using a high power setting on your vacuum cleaner will actually intensify the sucking action, which could potentially loosen carpet fibers.
The above tips can help your carpets stay clean and attractive while limiting damage to the fibers during cleaning.
Using too much soap and water
Over-shampooing your carpets may seem like a quick way to get them cleaner, but it could actually do more harm than good. This is because excessive soap could be extremely difficult to rinse off, leaving behind residue that attracts dirt and damages carpet fibers. Using a light touch on the soap will often make the cleaning and rinsing task much easier and help your carpets last longer.
Similarly, over-wetting your carpets could lead to severe damage, especially if too much moisture soaks into the carpet pad and backing. Excessive moisture could prolong drying times, bringing about mold concerns. The excessive moisture could also discolor your carpets or cause them to shrink.