Right now in Fayetteville and other parts of Northwest Arkansas, there’s a dusting of snow on the ground that’s quickly turning to slush. If people walk into your house today, they’re likely to bring mud with them. Your pets? Even more so!
How can you keep your carpet clean?
You can’t really keep your carpet clean. You’ll need professional cleaning once or twice a year no matter how hard you try to keep your wall-to-wall pristine. But there are definitely things that will keep your carpet cleaner, longer.
The first tip might surprise you: don’t use a DIY rug cleaner. Whether you rent a machine at the grocery or choose a spray-and-vacuum type of cleaner, DIY carpet cleaning actually makes your carpet dirtier.
That rental machine can’t pull all the shampoo out of your carpet. Your vacuum cleaner absolutely can’t. So your carpet sits there attracting dirt. The normal dust and dirt of life combines with the leftover shampoo to create a nasty sludge that makes your carpet look dingy.
Should we talk about smell? The dirty shampoo won’t smell great. Plus, if your carpet stays damp long enough, mildew can develop. That’s a smell that’s very hard to get rid of.
At the end of the day, you’ve spent lots of time (probably a lot more than you expect) and money to get a bad result. There’s plenty of useful DIY cleaning you can do at home, but carpet cleaning isn’t part of it.
Once your carpet is clean
Do yourself a favor and have your carpet professionally cleaned. Now, how do you keep more of the dirt and grime off your floor?
- Get your family in the habit of leaving shoes at the door. A shelf to hold shoes and maybe a basket of slippers to change into, and you’ll keep a lot of dirt out of the house. What’s more, this is a healthy habit. A 2017 study found that shoes carried in three times as much diarrhea-causing microbes as are found on kitchen or bathroom surfaces.
- Greet your pets with a towel. Let dogs and cats in through the mud room, and keep a special towel there to rub them down with. They’ll love the attention, and you’ll love the reduction in muddy paw prints.
- Use mats in entrance doorways. Have a good, rough mat outside the door for guests to wipe their shoes on. Consider having another mat inside the door to catch what the first didn’t.
- Catch spills right away. Blot that spilled juice or tracked-in mud up as soon as you can, and vacuum regularly. You’ll have fewer ground-in stains to cope with when you’re ready to clean your carpets.
When you’re ready to clean those carpets, give us a call! Advanced Carpet & Janitorial provides complete, expert cleaning services with the newest technology and good old-fashioned excellent customer service. Call or fill out our contact form today and give your carpet a fresh start.
