Clean carpeting is essential for the cleanliness of your home and for the health and safety of your family. This means cleaning all of the carpeting and floor coverings in your home, not just the wall to wall synthetic carpeting that might make up most of your home’s floors. Furthermore, if your home has hardwood floors and you use area rugs, you aren’t off the hook. A carpet can accumulate up to a pound of dirt per year (not to mention mold and viruses), so making sure they are clean is important. Here are a couple of tips for caring for your rugs, and understanding when it’s time to hire area rug cleaning services.
Vacuum thoroughly.
Regular maintenance of your areas rugs is essential for keeping them clean and for keeping them looking nice. You should have a high quality vacuum that has a good filter to keep dust from merely being stirred up — a single ounce of carpet dust can be a comfortable home for over 2,000 dust mites. Vacuum often, making at least a few passes over the entire carpet and making more passes over high traffic areas. Every now and then flip the carpet over and give the backing a thorough vacuuming as well.
Take care of spots and spills.
Another practice you need to get into the habit of making sure that you take care of any spots or spills as soon as they happen. Carpet stains are almost an inevitability — whether it’s blood, wax, wine, or mud, your area rug isn’t going to really tie the room together anymore if it’s dingy and covered with spots. Never scrub or rub at a stain, since this can damage the carpet fibers. Rather, carefully blot with a clean absorbent towel. You should also always avoid using cleaners designed for synthetic carpets when you’re cleaning area rugs, as this could also cause damage to the carpet. Try spraying stains with water and blotting up the liquid.
Hire area rug cleaning services.
If even with regular vacuuming and paying attention to stains your area rugs are looking less than clean and attractive, it may be time to invest in some area rug cleaning services. Experts recommend that professional carpet cleaning services be hired at least once every year to year and a half anyway, so if you’ve been neglecting your rug now might be the time. It’ll also give you the opportunity to sort of start over with a clean rug and get into good habits.
Do you have any tips for caring for an area rug? Let us know in the comments.
