Regular vacuuming is very important to your home carpet cleaning routine. Without regular vacuuming, your carpet can become dull and full of allergens in a short time. Even a new carpet contains dust and other foreign particles that need vacuuming soon after it is installed. Of course no one likes dirt on their carpet and vacuuming removes it in most cases just fine. But not vacuuming can do serious damage to your carpet in other not-so-obvious ways.

Vacuuming is important for protecting your carpet fibers from cuts. It’s impossible to avoid the accumulation of dirt and sand on your carpet and especially in high-traffic areas. Consider that sand is used in the making of glass and those tiny particles can be very abrasive causing small tears in the carpet’s fiber. So, as people track dirt and sand in, they ground it in by walking over it and then others who follow ground it in further. This grounding process causes tiny tears in carpet fibers. If you don’t do regular vacuuming, the dirt continues to accumulate making even more of an abrasion threat as people walk over the area. It’s always easier to get the loose dry dirt and sand by vacuuming it early in the game.

Those living in your home with respiratory ailments benefit from vacuuming. People suffering from asthma have an especially difficult time when carpet is not given regular vacuuming. This is mostly due to dust mites that are tiny insects feeding on pet dander and dead human skin cells falling on and residing in your carpet. They can be found in the carpet of any home no matter how clean it might seem. The waste generated from dust mites is the direct cause of respiratory reactions in those susceptible to them. Those with asthma will find their wheezing increases as the problem of dust mites grows. Regular vacuuming does not rid a carpet of all dust mites but it can at least minimize the problem.

Vacuuming does not totally solve the problem of dust mites. This is why it is important to take all the right measures when it comes to carpet vacuuming. The most important measure you can take is making sure your vacuum cleaner bag is changed before it fills to capacity. You might think that vacuuming pulls all foreign matter from your carpet and puts it into the bag but the bag is porous and microscopic particles are thrown back into the home atmosphere eventually resting on the carpet. Dust mites are tiny enough to be able to pass through the bag while vacuuming and the likelihood is even greater when the bag is full. Actually, “vacuum” is a misnomer because these machines depend on air flow through the bag to pull debris from carpet.

Regular vacuuming should be done at least once per week. But if you can manage to do it more often then it is much better. One helpful tool you can use in order to minimize dust and dirt accumulations is a hand-held vacuuming machine. While these hand-held units are not as powerful as their upright and canister counterparts, they can keep your carpets clear on the surface until you get a chance to use your regular vacuuming machine.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Steve_S_Rosen

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Steam cleaning is actually a misnomer. Technically, steam cleaning is really hot water extraction, which is something you can easily do yourself at home. For reasons we’ll soon see, you are actually better off doing it yourself.

Carpet cleaning machines can be rented from a rent-it-center, local hardware stores, or sometimes even your local grocery store. You can also buy a home unit from a department store and many on-line stores. The machines come in both a tank and upright models, and both styles work quite well. It is recommended however, that you avoid the models with rotating brushes, as these tend to cause wear of the carpet fibers.

If you have a lot of carpet in your home, owning a carpet shampoo machine may be the best way to go. By owning your own machine, you won’t be under time pressure to do all of your house at one time. Another advantage is that if you have pets or do a lot of entertaining at your home, you can take care of any unexpected spills and stains right away before they set up in the carpet fibers.

So what is the actual process? First,you should move as much of the furniture out of the room as possible and then vacuum the room thoroughly. Badly soiled areas should be pretreated with “pre-spray” made by mixing an ounce of the carpet shampoo with five ounces of water. Put this mixture in a spray bottle and mist the soiled area.

Next, fill the machine’s reservoir with the hottest water you can get from your sink. After that, add a carpet shampoo that has been formulated to be used with your machine. Initially you will want the shampoo to be low-foaming. By adding the carpet shampoo after the water is in the reservoir, you won’t generate suds. Use no more than one third of the recommended amount of shampoo. In other words, ignore the directions on the bottle so that the amount of foaming is minimized. You want to minimize foaming in order to prevent excess foam residue from becoming lodged in the carpet.

Visually divide the room to be cleaned into grids. For example, a 10′ x 10′ room could be divided into two 5′ x 10′ areas. Starting at one corner, pull the trigger that allows the cleaning solution to flow onto the carpet. Keep the trigger pulled and take long strokes back and forth across the carpet, covering the room in overlapping strokes. Continue this process until the reservoir is empty.

As the cleaning solution flows into the carpet, it is also being suctioned up into the recovery tank along with whatever dirt is hiding between the fibers. The recovery tank will probably need to be emptied often.

After you’ve covered the entire area, you’ll probably think the carpet is shampooed and clean. This is when commercial carpet cleaners will pack up their gear and leave. In a very short period of time, however, you may discover your carpet is dirty again!

Why? It’s because of leftover soap in the carpet which is now attracting more dirt! Think about this for a moment. When you wash your hair, you rinse before toweling dry. When you wash the dishes, you rinse them. Your clothes washer has at least one rinse cycle. The purpose is, of course, to get the soap out!

For similar reasons, you need to rinse your carpet. Rinse the reservoir tank until it contains no more soapy water and then fill it with cold water. Cold water cuts the soap better than hot water. Go over the area that you’ve shampooed, and do it repeatedly until the recovery tank is no longer picking up soap. Then do it one more time using just the extraction mode. That way you will pick up almost all of the water that’s been left in the carpet.

Let the carpet dry thoroughly before walking on it. If you must place furniture on it, put a piece of plastic wrap under the legs of the furniture. Following these steps will keep your carpet cleaner for a much longer period of time.

Every few years a different way of cleaning carpet seems to appear on the market. Most of these methods involve sprinkling a chemically treated sawdust-like material over the carpet and using an applicator to work it into the fibers. After allowing it to penetrate for a specified amount of time, you simply vacuum it up.

Institutional and commercial property owners often use the “bonnet” method. The “bonnet” is a loosely woven yarn pad with an elastic band around the edge. This pad is soaked in a shampoo solution and thoroughly wrung out. It is then placed on the bottom of a buffer machine which moves it in a circular motion over the area to be cleaned. It’s an effective quick-fix remedy because it easily removes the surface dirt.

Using carpet shampoo is not something you need to do very often. By vacuuming regularly, you will pull up a lot of the dirt and minimize the need to use shampoo. Shampooing and rinsing using the extraction method is really accomplishing the same thing as vacuuming.

Using carpet shampoo and hot water extraction will not hurt your carpet. On the contrary, it will keep your carpet looking new longer.

Carpeting a room or a whole house is a major investment. Give it the care it deserves.

Not everyone agrees on the value of using

More extensive information on carpet shampoo and carpet cleaners is available at Carpet Shampoo World.

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The worst thing you can do is grab spotter and try to clean up the mud stain right away. All this does is spread the stain and allow it to penetrate deep into your carpeting. So resist the urge to go straight for the spotter. So what should you do?

First you should get a dull instrument like a spoon. Go to the spot and gently scrape as much of the mud off of the carpet as you can. Be careful not to push the mud into the carpet. Instead gently scrape what you can off of the surface.

Next is perhaps the hardest part. Walk away from the spot and don’t do anything else. You need to leave the spot alone so that the mud can dry. Once it is dry it will be easily removed with simple vacuuming. So leave the spot along and come back the next day.

After the spot is completely dry you can vacuum the carpet and most of the mud (which is now just dirt) should come out easily. If it doesn’t want to detach from the carpet you can gently brush the dirt to loosen it. After you have thoroughly vacuumed and brushed the area and no more dirt will come out you can use your spotter and remove the rest of the stain.

That is all there is to it. As you can see it is a simple stain to remove that just requires a little patience. So don’t panic and you and your carpet will be just fine.

The author’s website has information on carpet cleaning companies in Houston. Learn about carpeting, carpets, rugs, upholstery and textile care.

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