How can you keep your carpets clean after a professional cleaning?

Carpets can be an excellent choice for covering your floors. Carpeted rooms feel warmer under your feet and can create a welcoming space. With the wide variety of textures and colors available, this floor covering also easily complements any decor style and can help you achieve your goals for your space. However, many people wonder how they can keep their carpets clean and beautiful for extended periods of time. 

To protect carpets, many homeowners see the value of calling professional carpet cleaners. These cleaners can lift the dirt and dust that gets deep into the carpet, helping you get your carpets cleaner than would be possible with just a typical vacuum. This treatment can help your carpets look new and even extend the life of the carpet.

After you have carpet cleaners visit, your carpets look beautifully fresh and welcoming. You want to keep them looking this wonderful for as long as possible. Fortunately, there are strategies you can use to keep your carpet clean after the professional cleaners leave. We will walk you through a few key steps you can take to maintain your carpets.

Steps to take as a part of your regular routine

The first part of keeping your carpets looking wonderful comes down to your regular household routine. Reworking a few key steps in your daily and weekly behavior can help you keep your carpets fresher. Here are the three important areas to focus on.

Vacuum

You will want to make sure you vacuum regularly, even if you do not see visible dirt. All sorts of dust and debris can still end up embedded between your carpet fibers, and the longer it sits there, the more it can get ground into the carpet and become harder to get out. The dirt and dust on your carpet can also wear out the carpet faster, aging your carpet.

How often you vacuum will depend on a few factors. 

1. How often is this particular space in your home used? A carpet at your entrance that gets used throughout the day will need more vacuuming than a carpet in a sitting room you only venture into a few times a month.
2. Do you have any pets? Pets will also increase the frequency with which you want to vacuum. Pets leave oils and hair all over the home, so anywhere your pets go will need to be vacuumed regularly with greater frequency.

Generally speaking, spaces that receive greater amounts of traffic ideally should be vacuumed daily. If you cannot manage daily, vacuum at least every other day. You can aim to vacuum the lesser-used spaces weekly.

Use area rugs and doormats

You can also protect your carpets by using area rugs and doormats. These simple covers help to protect sensitive areas of your carpet, particularly areas that people trample over as you enter or leave the living space. These areas see a lot of traffic as well as dirt coming in from outside the house. 

If you have an area of the home where everyone seems to walk, such as the main hallway, adding an area rug can extend the lifespan of your carpet. Without these protective covers, you will find that these areas of the rug get worn out significantly faster than the others, which leads to certain areas of your carpet looking older than others.

Remove shoes before coming inside

The best way to walk on your carpets is to have slippers or socks. Outside shoes will bring in all sorts of mud and debris from outside, even if you wipe your shoes on an entry mat before you come inside. The oils and dirt will wear down your carpet and can quickly lead to staining. 

On the other hand, bare feet also contribute oils to carpets, which can wear them out and stain them. Having a basic covering of socks or slippers will give your rugs the best possible protection.

Steps to take as needed

In addition to the regular habits we listed above, you also want to be mindful of a few key tasks that you will need to do as needed.

Clean up any spills

Whenever you notice any spills, you want to clean them up immediately. Allowing spilled liquids to sit on your rugs will increase the risk of staining and damage. It also increases the risk that someone will step in the spill and then track the mess even further.

Remember the importance of blotting and not wiping to lift the liquid out of your rugs. The more carefully you clean your rug, the longer its lifespan will be.

Vacuum any crumbs

It can be tempting to ignore messes from crumbs and similar spills, but try to vacuum it up as quickly as possible. Oils from food crumbs can damage your carpet, and the crumbs can get worn down deeper into your carpets, aging them and making it harder to clean up the mess later on. Make addressing these problems a priority as soon as you notice this type of mess.

Steps to take once per year

As you follow these criteria to keep your rugs clean, there are also yearly tasks that you need to oversee to make sure your rugs stay in peak condition.

Have professional carpet cleaners come back

About once a year– or every six months if you have pets– you want to bring back your professional cleaners. Giving your rugs a deep clean to get out any dirt, dust, and debris that you cannot get out with a typical vacuum will help to extend the life of your carpets and keep them looking beautiful. 

Your carpets help to create the look and feel of your home. They add warmth under your feet while the colors complement the rest of your decor. Taking the time to learn how to take care of the carpets throughout your home can help you extend their lifespan so that your space looks great for years to come. Following the advice described above can help you protect your rugs in between professional cleanings.