Even though the best option for keeping your home carpet in great shape is to hire a professional carpet cleaning service, you may be tempted to rent or even purchase a carpet cleaning machine and do it yourself. There are number of problems at this can bring up and we will touch on a couple of them here.
For those who want to cleaning their own carpet, we will offer you a couple of tips to keep in mind that will help you protect your carpets in the best manner possible.
First, though, it is important to understand what risks you are taking on when you rent a carpet cleaning machine. Any time that you rent a carpet cleaning machine you are also likely renting whatever the person before you cleaned. Some companies will rent machines to clean hazardous materials and even bodily fluids. We’ve even heard of a situation where someone had passed away in their home, and a carpet cleaning machine may have been used to clean the house.
Chemical spills and other issues may also be resolved for some people by renting these machines. They rent them, drain them, and return them, but they don’t clean them out. That means your carpet will be exposed to the same chemicals or fluids, although in a diluted form, that had just been cleaned by the person before you. If that doesn’t sound appealing to you and you don’t want to put your family at risk, do not rent a carpet cleaning machine to do your home’s carpeting.
Buying a machine will have its own limitations. Most of the time the carpet cleaning machines that you can purchase in a store are not powerful enough to reach deep down into the carpet pile. It may appear that they clean thoroughly, but they will leave behind a tremendous amount of dirt, bacteria, and allergens.
Still, if you are intent on cleaning your own carpets, here are some tips to keep in mind.
1. Move all furniture out of the way. The last thing you want to do is have to move furniture continually while you clean a single room. Aside from large couches and entertainment centers, you should move all other furniture including nightstands and tables, and recliners or other chairs out of the room when you are getting ready to clean.
2. Test any potential chemicals you plan on using on an out-of-the-way part of the carpet. You should spot test any chemical on a section of carpeting that you will not see on a regular basis. This would be ideal to test behind an entertainment center or under a couch, as long as you don’t have a habit of moving the couch all that often. If you don’t notice any staining occurring because of the chemical, then it should be safe to use.
3. Make sure that you allow the carpet to dry thoroughly before returning the furniture. You should use fans to blow on the carpet to help it dry faster.
These tips will help you clean your own carpeting, but always keep in mind that hiring a professional carpet cleaning service will do a much thorough job than anything you can do with the machines you have access to.
