Carpet Only

The first thing every homeowner needs to know about carpet cleaning is that it is a necessity. If you have carpets in your home they need to be periodically cleaned. Depending on the traffic in your home and whether you have pets or small children the time between cleanings should be anywhere from 1 to 2 years. If you have been keeping this kind of cleaning schedule great if not then you should really read the next paragraph to understand the reasons behind having our carpets frequently cleaned… aside from wanting them to look good.

 

Carpets are a wonderful luxury to have. The provide a warm, soft environment in your home. There is nothing like the feeling of running your toes through a fluffy clean carpet. Because of their physical characteristics, carpets also attract dust, soil and anything else that was previously on the bottom of your shoes. It is this soil that causes the carpets to look dull and worn. Frequent vacuuming will take care of most of these soils and it is the best thing that you can do for your carpet. If you take nothing else away from this article please understand the necessity of vacuuming your carpet at least once a week. When these soils are sitting trapped in your carpet fibers, they can do a lot of damage. Think of a piece of dirt or a grain of sand. It has many, many sharp edges. These sharp edges cut into the fibers of your carpet whenever you walk across them. You might be thinking that you are going to take my advice and start vacuuming at least once a week so you have nothing to worry about. Unfortunately when oily residues find there way onto your carpet from food stains, spills, foot traffic, etc. these loose soils that would normally be vacuumed up are now stuck in the mess. The only way to get them up is by cleaning your carpet.

 

So now you have to decide how your carpets are going to get cleaned. Many homeowners have purchased the vacuum-style carpet cleaners such as the Bissell steamers to get the work done while others rent systems like the Rug Doctor from the hardware store. These options are better than not having your carpets cleaned but before you spend the time and money on one of these machines please read the pros and cons of DIY carpet cleaning below.

 

Do it Yourself Carpet Cleaning

 

Pros

 

Less expensive than professional cleaning services.

 

It is a convenient method as you can so it when ever you want (especially for the ones that are in your closets).

 

Cons

 

Difficulty - although the vacuum style cleaners are fairly easy to operate. Getting all of the stains out can be difficult a homeowner.

 

Over-wetting - This is a huge problem with the home and rental methods. The vacuum power of these systems are not strong enough to get most of the water and cleaning solution back out of your carpet. This results in a carpet that is wet for over 24 hours. Also if the systems are not getting all of the water out then they certainly are not getting all of the soil out either.

 

Time consuming - It takes quite a bit of time and energy to get carpets cleaned. I have been doing it for over 15 years and it takes me a while to get carpets truly clean.

 

So think about the pros and cons of DIY carpet cleaning before you head down to the hardware store to rent a cleaning unit. There are many qualified carpet cleaning companies in your area that would love the opportunity to serve you. For many of you it will come down to cost and in that case you may decide to try cleaning it yourself. If you do make sure you ask plenty of questions before renting the unit and make sure that the cleaning chemicals that you buy are right for the type of carpeting you are trying to clean. The salesperson should be able to help. For the rest of you who decide that it is too much work or that your time and energy is worth more than the difference in the price, make sure you ask a lot of questions of your local carpet cleaning companies. There are many different cleaning and pricing methods out there.

 

Thank you for taking the time to read this article. I hope it has been informative and look for my next article regarding the top ten questions that you should ask before hiring a professional carpet cleaner.

 

Author: Kevin Walsh

 

About the Author:

Kevin Walsh

Owner of Clean Health Carpet Care

Serving Greater Lowell and the Merrimack Valley

http://www.cleanhealthcarpetcare.com

 

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