Your beautiful new carpets looked incredible the moment that they were installed in your home. You took off your shoes and even socks to experience how wonderful they felt. You told your guests, children, and everyone else to take care with these new carpets. You didn’t allow anyone to have food in the room, or drinks, but eventually those rules almost always get broken.
Usually the first time is by the person who paid for the carpeting. When something gets spilled on your brand new (or months old carpet), it can lead to some panic. That’s usually when many homeowners make the biggest mistakes.
Cleaning a spill from carpeting is not like cleaning one off a countertop, or hardwood floor, or any other surface. Do things the wrong way and you could end up making the problem worse in the long run.
Things to avoid doing when you experience a spill on your new carpets:
1. Oversaturating the spill. You want to get that stain up right away and you may have noticed that soaking stains on clothing really works well. However, doing this with your carpets means there will be even more liquid to dry and get out, which won’t happen unless you have the right, powerful cleaning machine.
It doesn’t matter whether you pour water or a cleaning solution over the stain, the problems are going to be clear. Water will dilute the stain, making it difficult to get it all out. Cleaning solution could also stain the carpet as well.
Spritzing the stain is the best course of action.
2. Rubbing too much. When you vigorously rub a stain on carpeting, you’re actually pushing that stain even deeper into the carpet pile which makes it even more difficult to get out.
Instead, dab the stain. In many cases, especially with stain resistant carpeting, stains will not penetrate deep into the carpet, leaving it closer to the surface. When you rub, you will end up pushing it deeper into the fibers.
3. Letting it ‘air’ dry. Once you think you’ve gotten as much of the stain out, you may feel that it’s okay to let it air dry. It’s not. You want to work on drying the carpeting as much as possible.
If you used water or other solutions, they will settle deep into the carpeting and to the foam base and that can lead to mold, mildew, and other problems. Also, a wet carpet looks cleaner than a dry one, and once the stained area dries and you notice the stain still there, it will be that much harder to clean the next time.
