Your home's carpet plays a big role in the overall clean feel that you experience when you walk through the doors. Dirty or stained carpet instantly creates an unsightly appearance that can also contribute to higher allergens in your home. While being fastidious about cleaning can help to keep carpets fresh, you can also destroy the fibers with too much love. Be sure to check your current carpet cleaning and care regimen for these common mistakes that can easily be remedied by working with a professional in carpet care.
You Always Take Off Your Shoes
Your shoes are exposed to a whole lot of dirt from the moment that you step outside. While you should definitely remove your shoes when you get home, you need to know that there is a right way to do it. Many people take off their shoes and choose to walk barefoot or in socks on the carpet. Unfortunately, this often contributes to dirty carpet fibers because the sweat from your feet transfers to the surface.
Walking barefoot in the morning or evening is also potentially damaging if you use lotions or other creams on your feet that can also work their way into the carpet and leave stains. Once you take off your normal shoes, switch to a pair of house slippers that you reserve specifically for walking on the carpet. If you have been walking on bare feet, then a professional carpet cleaning service can help to lift oils and bacteria from your feet that were left in the fibers.
You Do Your Own Steam Cleaning
Most steam cleaners designed for home use are not as effective at cleaning the carpet as commercial equipment. Sadly, you are more likely to leave behind water and soap residue that sets up the perfect environment for bacteria and mold to grow. Soap that is left behind can also turn into small crystals that grind away at the fibers when you walk across the carpet. Ideally, you should vacuum in between professional cleanings, but leave anything with water and soap to the pros.
You Use Powdered Deodorizers
Those over the counter powders may make your home special like a beautiful ocean breeze is wafting through it, or you may use deodorizers to try to mask pet smells. These have similar effects on carpet as leaving soap in the fibers. Most powders never vacuum all of the way up. This leaves a residue that can get packed down and pick up stains easier. With regular carpet cleanings, you shouldn't have to worry about odors, and a professional can use their equipment to lift up powder that you might have used in the past.
