Cleaning a home has never been easy. A carpet is one of those items that can be more difficult to clean and even after all the hard work, you still need to watch where you step with your shoes and try to avoid stains. The fact that it is on the floor is proof enough that carpets need regular and thorough maintenance.
Who better to talk to about that than cleaning professionals at Sun Life Maids, who showed me some tips and tricks on how to better take care of my carpets and why it is important to hire a cleaning company. Here’s are some useful tips:
Blot The Stains, Never Rub
You shouldn’t rub a stain because that would only cause it to spread down and into the fibers causing only additional damage. What you need to do is just touch it with a piece of cloth or a sponge and let it soak as much as possible. You should also determine how much pressure is needed to prevent the stain from spreading.
Beer and Wine Stains
These stains can be removed with club soda. You can pour some soda over the affected area, spread it to cover the stain completely and let it rest for about 20 minutes. Use a sponge to soak the remains.
Don’t worry if you weren’t able to remove it completely. You can repeat the process until it is gone. After that, you should wash the area with warm water, brush it, put a towel on it and press with something heavy to nicely soak in all the liquid from the carpet. Let it sit like that for the next 24 hours.
Use Shaving Cream
You may not think that shaving cream would be good for cleaning, and particularly not for carpets, but it is true. Shaving cream is a go-to DIY stain remover.
The application process is pretty simple. All you need to do is apply it onto the stain and let it rest for about half an hour. Wipe the area after that and pour a mixture of water and vinegar and do one final wipe.
Chewing Gum Mess
Just imagine how tough this stain can be, especially on a hairy carpet. There is a solution though. You can simply use ice from the fridge. Pour some ice over the gum and leave it for about a minute, the gum will freeze and then use a spoon or a knife to lift as much as you can. Some parts will still remain stuck to the carpet but you can carefully cut that with scissors.
Grease and Oil Stains
These can be tough, but you can use a simple detergent for dishes. Pour some detergent into a cup of water and then apply that onto the stain. Put a cloth over the stain and let it soak everything. Similar to wine and beer stains, you might need to do this a few times.
Wax Stains
Wax can be problematic if it falls on a carpet and dries. A simple solution is to use a towel and an iron. Put the towel over the stain and warm it with the iron. This will allow the wax to melt and then it can be easily removed with a knife. If some parts of the wax still remain on the carpet you can use a napkin and repeat the process. The rest of the wax will stick to the paper. You are free to repeat this until the wax is gone.
Be careful not to burn the carpet with the iron. Try to lift the iron from the carpet after about 30 seconds of heating to let the carpet cool off.
