Carpet Cleaning: A Guide to a Healthier You
When considering the alternatives, a friend said to me that it would make more sense in the long run to just purchase your own carpet steam cleaner and be able to use it over and over. If you do your research and find the best carpet cleaner on the market, it should end up costing less than just one cleaning by a professional carpet cleaner. And the bonus is that you can use it over and over again.
Once you have a carpet cleaner, there are several things you can do to ensure that you are successful in getting it as clean as possible. The first thing that you need to do before cleaning is to vacuum the floor thoroughly. Most carpet cleaners will use water or steam to clean. And I'm sure you can figure out what is created when you mix dirt and water in your carpet. Mud, and lots of it. So by reducing the amount of dirt already trapped in the carpet in advance, you're going to improve the performance of the carpet cleaner.
Second, you should pretreat any heavy spots on the carpet. There are several good pretreatment products on the market that help loosen the dirt and stains from the carpet. Another option would be to use OxiClean and mix that with some hot water to pretreat stubborn stains.
Once you start the process of cleaning the carpet, you're going to have to be very patient and try not to rush things. The equipment works best when you take your time. Most would recommend that you pass over an area twice, by moving the cleaner out away from you and then back over that same area, while holding the button. Then pass back over that same area two to four times to have the cleaner remove as much of the water as possible. You don't want to leave water trapped in the carpet if you can avoid it.
Once you've finished working through your room cleaning, if you have ceiling fans in the room, I would recommend turning them on and letting them run for a period of time. You want to do all you can to promote the drying process. You could even setup floor or oscillating fans to encourage air flow circulation around the room.
Once you've finished the process of cleaning your carpets, you'll find that they look fresh and smell so much better. Having clean carpets can actually make the furniture and the room look completely different. Regularly vacuuming will help to maintain a clean and healthy carpet.