Most of the time, carpet stains don’t happen in places where they’re easily to cover up. Tracked in dirt, spills and grime buildup tend to occur in very visible areas. Therefore, proper carpet cleaning is extremely important to assure the life of your carpet, and make your home look fresh and clean. Steam cleaning is considered to be the best way to clean a carpet.
Unfortunately, while steam cleaning a carpet, it can be very easy to make a mistake. A lot of things can go wrong. Some of these may even lead to permanent damage to your carpet. Therefore, it is important to get an idea about the most common carpet cleaning mistakes. This knowledge will help you avoid cleaning mistakes, and allow you to focus on appropriate cleaning materials, techniques and other aspects.
Trying to Avoid the Problem
One of the most common mistakes made by homeowners is that they wait for too long. Avoiding the problem will only make it worse, and you will be unable to find an appropriate solution. It is extremely important to attend to carpet stains immediately. If you wait for too long, it may lead to some sort of permanent damage.
Failure to tackle the problem effectively can make it permanent. Thus, it would become much harder to remove stains later. Over time, stains tend to sink into your carpet’s pile or padding. Some stains, like beverages or soda, contain acids. Acidic solutions can eat away at your carpet’s fibers.
Using the Wrong Technique
A lot of carpet cleaners still use traditional and outdated techniques to clean carpets. However, this can cause a major problem, and prove to be expensive. Steam cleaning is always the most effective way to remove carpet stains and tackle other problems.
In fact, there are many laundry detergents and surface cleaners which contain bleach and many other harsh chemicals. These chemicals can permanently discolor your carpeting. There are some strains which can be easily treated with everyday products like baking soda. However, most stains require professional cleaning techniques to be completely removed.
It is very important to conduct an extensive research about the kind of carpet you’re using, and how much experience cleaners have with them.You should also make sure that you take necessary maintenance steps after steam cleaning your carpet.
Using Deodorizing Powders Incorrectly
It is very important to understand that deodorizing powders do not aim to clean away dirt from your carpet. In fact, they can not even eliminate stains. Moreover, most of the vacuum cleaners aren’t powerful enough to properly remove them from your carpet.
As a result, deodorizing powders buildup on the surface of your carpet, and make it even dirtier over time. You need to understand that deodorizing powders only aim to improve the smell of your carpet, and need to be used accordingly. You should never use them as cleaning agents. You also need to use an appropriate quantity of deodorizing powders to make sure they don’t accumulate on your carpet.
Depending on Rented Machines
Renting a carpet cleaning steamer from a discount chain or standard grocery store may seem a good idea to save some of your money. However, these machines can easily bring some other home’s dirt into your home. Such a machine may also have damage or clogs which prevent it from working properly. In the end, it would just be a waste of your hard earned money. It won’t be able to clean your carpet properly. In fact, it may even damage smooth fibers on your carpet.
Avoiding Professional Cleaners
Most carpet manufacturers available in the market recommend using professional services for carpet cleaning. It is important to hire a service for regular repair, cleaning and maintenance at least once every year.
In fact, if you have children or pets, you may require steam cleaning more frequently. Professional and experienced carpet cleaners are trained with various modern equipment and techniques to properly clean your carpet. They have the right kind of experience to remove all kinds of difficult stains. Professional cleaners make sure your carpet looks brand new.
Although not every stain requires immediate attention from a professional cleaning service, failure to treat a stain properly may lead to permanent damage. Next time you notice a stain on your carpet, you should avoid the mistakes explained above.