Understanding carpet cleaning methods is critical when it comes to cleaning your filthy carpet. Doing a little bit of research on some of the best carpet cleaning methods should be done first, if you want to avoid messing up your carpet.
You must know what particular type of carpet you have and what type of cleaning needs to be done. Does it need a regular cleaning or a heavy cleaning? Is my carpet made of man-made fibers? Can I clean this up myself or should I employ a professional cleaner? These are just some of the questions that you should ask yourself when it comes to cleaning your carpet since the intensity of your cleaning will really depend on the type of carpet and on how dirty is.
One of the best things you can do is to react as soon as an accident happens. Do not scrub the carpet since that will further damage your carpet but blot it up as much as you can and use a mild detergent diluted with warm water to blot the stain out. If this doesn't work, you can try using hydrogen peroxide but use it first on a hidden part of the carpet. If all else fails, call a professional since they have more expertise on this matter.
If your carpet is made of non synthetic material fibers, you should follow closely follow the manufacturers? Directions on how it should be cleaned. Hot water and steam together with carpet shampoos are the most common cleaning methods for man-made fibers. You can also use dry compounds, dry foams, and dry chemicals since they are also good carpet cleaning methods when it comes to natural cleaning.
Cleaning the carpet yourself will require you a great amount of time and a lot of patience since the process of cleaning carpets is not an easy task. If the cleaning procedure is just a simple one and all your required materials for cleaning are at hand, then you can probably do it yourself. But if you are not sure about the right way and you are afraid to mess up your carpet, then a good alternative is hiring a professional.
This guide is written to help you maintain your wall to wall wool carpet. It is not meant for wool Oriental rugs. These rugs may have loose dye that will bleed or crock. I reccomend that you have these rugs taken to a rug plant that specializes in wool rugs. Oriental rugs should never be cleaned at your home since the dies may bleed.
If you have recently purchased a wool carpet please go to your pantry which holds all your carpet cleaning spotters and throw them away. Never use a soap or carpet cleaning chemical on wool carpet unless it has a PH between 4.5 and 8.5. To be completely safe you could stay below a PH of 7 (neutral and will not cause the dyes to bleed) or look for your carpet cleaning product at http://www.fernmark.com. Be especially careful of using bleach products near your wool carpet. Bleach will actually dissolve wool carpet and leave you with a giant hole. Bleach is a great way to test your carpet for wool content if your not sure if your carpet has wool in it. Now that we have discussed what not to do, we can establish how to better maintain your wool carpet.
Vacuum as often as you can. This is akin to washing your hair.How many days a week do you skip washing your hair? Only use low PH cleaners. Using over the counter products on wool carpets is like using Tide on your hair!High PH cleaners will break down the cuticle or hard scaly surface that holds the fiber together. Breaking down the cuticle would leave us with a fuzzy mess. When using a wool safe product - blot. Scrubbing will also cause the fiber to fuzz out. I also recommend that you blot up the wool safe spotter with an acidic rinse ( 1 part white vinegar 3 part water). This will remove any residue and leave the wool fiber slightly acidic which will help maintain the wools softness. You also want to speed dry your wool carpet. If the carpet takes too long to dry it can turn yellow or brown. Using too high a PH cleaner on your wool carpet can also turn the fibers brown or yellow. We call this PH browning.
In conclusion vacuum as often as you can. Spot clean with wool safe products. Blot rinse with an acidic rinse and never use bleach (causes wool to dissolve) or products with a high PH. Have your carpets cleaned by a professional at least once a year by a professional carpet cleaner who uses wool safe products. For more information on carpets, carpet cleaning, carpet repair, water damage, allergies please go to http://www.colorado-carpet-masters.com
Keith Wroblewski is an IICRC Master Carpet Cleaner who has been in the cleaning industry for 20 years. He has produced several free help guides and now offers these guides at
Millions of people are injured each year from falls in the home, but you can help prevent them in your home by using carpet stair treads. Protect your family from dangerous falls and slip related injuries. Stair treads are one easy and inexpensive way to keep your family safe.
Stair treads should be a must in your home if you have children or elderly adults living with you, as these two groups have the greatest risk for fall related injuries. For older adults, a fall can have devastating consequences if it breaks a hip bone or creates another injury. Of fall injuries, a significant number happen on a home's stairs and a study on insurance costs found that only car accidents created more insurance costs than fall injuries.
Many people overlook their stairs when they are making their homes safer. They install alarms and locks, buy mats for their bathtub, and put in smoke detectors. While these safety features are all important, protecting your family from falls is also important. We often take for granted that hand railing will keep everyone safe on the stairs, but this just isn't the case.
Stair tread should provide a non-slippery surface on your stairs. Whether your stairs are concrete, wood, or carpet, you can add additional protection to them. You can find stair treads made out of rubber, metal, or braided materials. You can also use carpet treads on wood floors to stop people from slipping on them.
You'll find that buying carpet stair treads is cheaper than installing full carpet on your stairs. The treads will also look attractive next to wood flooring. Look for treads that will not only look great but will also allow you to see the depth and width of the steps. This will also help individuals walk up and down safely.
In addition to the stair treads, encourage your family to turn on the lights when they need to go up or down the stairs. Many people try to navigate in the dark and either slip or they trip on items that have been left on the stairs. Using the lights will help you see any obstacles and help you see where you need to place your feet to safely make it up or down.
Installing carpet stair treads will help you keep your family and guests safe from unintentional falls. They are easy to install and will cost you less than fully carpeting your stairs. Don't forget to make your stairs safer as you add safety items to other parts of your home.
An often overlooked safety feature for your home is carpet stair treads (http://www.myflooringpro.com/protecting-your-floors-with-carpet-stair-treads/). Learn more about discount carpet (http://www.myflooringpro.com/discount-carpet/) ideas and solutions at My Flooring Pro (http://www.myflooringpro.com/).
Flooring in areas surrounding staircases should be practical and hardwearing, be able to shrug off dirt brought into the house, and be safe. But at the same time, flooring also offers a chance to make a statement about the whole house.
A floor particularly in the stairwell positioned in a homes entrance area should be warm, welcoming and in keeping with the style and decoration of the surrounding rooms. Stairways can often have the best floors in the house. The trick is to appreciate them.
Carpeting your staircase and landings reduces the noise and controls the dust. If you have a narrow set of stairs, a carpet runner could be used as an alternative as it still reduces noise, but because it is narrower than the staircase, it helps increase the apparent width. A vertical strip down the carpet runner can also help.
Pale carpets are not always recommended for staircases as they get dirty very quickly and cleaning won't bring out some stains. Carpet may not be a good option if you want to add to the light as carpet trends not to the reflective. If carpet is to be installed in a stairwell where you are required to add light, don't be tempted to carpet a staircase in a shade that is already dirt coloured such as muds and coffees.
The fact that staircases are a high traffic area means to a carpeted staircase requires consideration. The edge of a tread of a carpeted staircase needs to be round to prevent premature wearing of the carpet on the nosing line. Wear and tare is the menace of a carpeted staircase.
Stairs can benefit from changes of pace, colour and texture. Simple or plain carpets are better because wild patterns can be deceptive and cause you to trip, although they can be as decorative and distinctive as a wooden or stone floors. For example, you can put a different coloured strip of carpet from the rest down the middle that follows the direction of the walls or stair. Neutral colours set off brighter colours on the walls.
Flooring and a staircase can be brought together. The floor can be divided into chunks that has width and depth similar to a stair tread. A handrail can divide the stair and similar flooring like an abstract painting. Like wise the gentle curve of a geometric stair and the simplicity of the construction makes it perfect contrast for a very busy, colourful floor - this can be done with tiles, timber or carpet finish.
With multi-patterned flooring such as with encaustic tiles, the simplicity of the stair can be increased by picking just one or two shades from the floor and repeating them on the stair. If the size of a tile in proportion to the floor space is carefully considered the ever popular black and white tile never fails to look elegant.
A floor covering that is a contrast to the staircase helps make to stair safe. Any contrast between the materials or in the case of timber, direction of the grain aids the eye in distinguishing between the steps of the staircase and the staircase entry and exit points.
When considering timber flooring the wealth of choice is endless. A stairwell's floor can be individual design and styled to site a staircase. In the case of parquetry before you start selecting timbers, the possible styles you can consider are Lineal: "straight lines", Herringbone: "angled blocks", Double herringbone: "two blocks next to each other in same pattern as herringbone", Basket Weave or a Square on Square. All these designs can be altered by laying them in 45o angle or 90o angle having a stunning effect. Then you can consider Borders to add a decorative feature to the parquetry floor. The border could also use contrasting timber give greater effect. Often it can be best to keep floor treatments as simple as possible particularly in smaller areas, if a floor gets over complicated, the space will be spoiled. Therefore, if you have natural, good looking floors, don't bother to carpet them unless the noise is too much. If you must have carpet, go for a plain version in a strong wearing weave or in smaller houses a striped runner is good. If you leave the floors relatively plain, you can go crazy on the walls with colour and the stairwells lighting.
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