When you own a house with carpets, you know that every season brings a new challenge in keeping that carpet clean and spotless. Summer sees an endless trail of dust. Spring and Fall bring mud from falling rain. And Winter? Winter brings holiday parties and dirty slush that stains the carpet. So with the coldest months of the year upon us, what can you do for winter carpet care?
Winter Carpet Care Starts with Prevention
The first step in winter carpet care is prevention. During the holiday parties, keep food out of carpeted areas. While plastic sheeting might solve all your problems, it’s not the most decorative. So, instead, consider using mats underneath your buffet table or on the highly trafficked areas.
To keep family members and guests from tracking in snow and road chemicals, you can place a bin near the front door. When they come in, they can remove their shoes and put them in the bin. Make sure the bottom is plastic so melting snow does not spread across your floor.
Of course, welcome mats allow guests to wipe their feet before they enter your house.
Spot Cleaning Your Carpet
Alright, so in spite of your best efforts, your carpet has gotten dirty. Maybe there was a gravy spill, or Uncle Bill knocked over a wine glass, or someone just plain ignored the shoe bin. Whatever the cause, there’s no reason to clean a whole carpet when a spot clean will do. How to approach that spot clean depends largely on what caused the stain.
Protein stains should be approached with salt, baking soda, seltzer water, and an absorbing agent (like a rag or paper towel). Don’t scrub; it’ll just push in the stain further, instead dab the stain and draw out what caused it.
If it’s a dirt stain, start with letting it dry and vacuuming up what you can. After that take a detergent solution, preferably dish-washing detergent in lukewarm water, and then blot it onto the carpet. You may be noticing a theme here, do not scrub. Scrubbing just pushes the staining agent deeper into the carpet. Draw it out with a white cloth until the liquid doesn’t stain the cloth anymore.
Stubborn stains require professional intervention. Carpet cleaning companies can either give advice or make a quick house call. They have ways of extracting stains that go beyond what you are able to do on your own. Don’t leave the stain. The longer it has to set into your carpet, the harder it will be to remove.
Professional Winter Carpet Care
If your carpets do get stained or they start to look dingy, don’t put off calling a carpet cleaning company. With water extraction and detergents made especially for the job, they can remove even the most stubborn winter grime.
Spectrum Carpet Cleaning has been cleaning carpets and removing stains for 30 years. Whether its spot cleaning or carpet cleaning for the whole house, we offer fast, friendly, and professional service. Call today for a free quote on your winter carpet care.
