5 Common Carpet Cleaning Mistakes that Can Cost You

Posted on 12/10/2015

Biggest Carpet Cleaning Mistakes Homeowners Should Avoid

People do not usually have a schedule for cleaning their carpets and mainly take care of them once their dirty state becomes obvious. Most people do not even bother with maintenance and prefer to wait until they feel like home cleaning before the carpet gets any attention at all. People without families do it even more so as they do not have kids who roll and play on the carpets and therefore do not feel the need to constantly keep a watchful eye for problems on the carpet surface.

The point is not to watch the carpet for issues, but to provide constant maintenance so that issues do not appear. Most carpet problems arise from people neglecting their floors, or simply not knowing how to handle their carpet cleaning. And here are some of the most common mistakes people do and that eventually cost them.

1. Wait before dirt becomes visible and then clean it. 
Wrong. If you do that, the carpet cleaning becomes much harder and sometimes the stains get nigh impossible to remove. The more you tread on your carpet, the more the dirt on it lodges into the fibres and at a certain point it pretty much becomes virtually impossible to completely clean out. That is exactly why you should exercise regular vacuuming, to remove all the specks of dust and dirt before such problems arise. Also, you bring in germs, bacteria, and fungus every time you come from outside, so you are creating your very own harmful environment.

2. Any detergent works for the carpet.
Wrong. Depending on the stain, there is a variety of wrong choices and only a few right ones when you are trying to clean your carpet. Using just about anything will probably result in you using a certain chemical-filled detergent on a type of stain that will trigger a chemical reaction and discolour your carpet. You need to be careful with every type of cleaning agent you use on the carpet, you need to have tested it beforehand on a small part of the carpet, and you need to read the ingredients and see whether they can cause discolouration or any other damage to the fibres of your carpet.

3. Scotchgard will keep my carpet easy to clean.
Wrong. Well, technically, yes, but only for a while. Scotchgard does not make your carpet impervious to any kind of stain all day long, it only temporarily prevents stains from penetrating the carpet’s fibres. Leave the stains long enough and they will do damage nonetheless. So once you have an accident and there is a spill, you should react to it as soon as possible and start cleaning before the stain becomes permanent.

4. Vinegar will always do the trick.
Wrong. While in most cases vinegar is a proper tool and definitely a good cleaner and disinfectant, there are some carpets that do not react well to vinegar substance touching their surface. Vinegar makes its own stains on such carpets and then it has to be thoroughly washed and cleaned in order to have it in proper shape again.

5. Any cleaning company will do for my carpet.
Wrong. Never hire the most expensive one, or the cheapest one, or the first to be recommended, or the first one you spot. You should pick a company that actually specialises in carpet cleaning and whose cleaners have experience in all kinds of stains. Ask around to see if any acquaintance has received such a service and then act, or properly research a company before you hire one. Some companies will just bring over a steam cleaner that might very well further ruin a carpet as some carpets bleed dye under hot steam.

Try avoiding these mistakes and give your carpet a good and regular maintenance to keep it clean and in proper shape to add to the scenery of your floors and in order to keep bacteria away from the home.