Soft carpet or rugs can feel great under your feet, especially after a long day of running around. There’s nothing like a beautiful rug or new carpet to really tie a room together and add value to your home. They can be great statement pieces, but what they end up saying about your home can be the wrong thing if they’re not properly maintained. Stains, wear and tear, or just poor quality materials can all have a negative impact on what you might be trying to accomplish by adding carpet or rugs to your home unless they’re properly maintained. Below are some tips that might help you with rug and carpet maintenance to make sure you're doing all you can to keep your home looking great.
Consider a Shoe Ban
Shoes can be quite destructive to carpet and area rugs. The tread on the bottom of a shoe can get caught on the fibers, and the extra weight that shoes add tends to help grind dirt deep into your carpet or rug. Therefore, to protect your carpet, it may make more sense to just put a shoe ban in place in your home. You can designate a specific area by the front door for everyone to put their shoes to help keep your entryway tidy and your carpets looking great.
Vacuum at the Correct Height
Vacuums are a great ally in keeping your carpet and area rugs clean. However, you need to use your vacuum correctly to protect your carpet while you're cleaning it. Pay close attention to the height selection on the vacuum so that you don't set it too low. It should be at a height that fluffs up the pile of the carpet without digging so deep as to damage the base of the fibers.
Deep Clean Regularly
For many people, deep cleaning their carpets is an afterthought at best. Some people might never even get around to it since it’s recommended you deep clean annually. It’s easy to forget it needs to be done at all, or becomes difficult to find a time to get it done. This is a shame because removing ground-in dirt from your carpet and area rugs will help prolong their life and beauty in your home. Since deep cleaning can be a large job, it's best to have cleaning services, ones like ServiceMaster Restore, on hand to take care of the job for you so that you remain motivated to stay on a consistent cleaning schedule.
Respond to Spills Quickly
Even if you're careful with liquids on your carpet and area rugs, there's still bound to be a spill or two at some point. The key to taking care of spills properly is to respond quickly and use the correct cleaning chemicals. The longer you let a spill sit on the fibers in your carpet, the more difficult it will be to remove the remnants of that spill. You may want to keep a reference guide in your utility area so that you know exactly which cleaners to grab when responding to various types of spills.
Start With Quality
Even the best maintenance regimens won't do much to prolong the life of low-quality carpet. If you're replacing your carpet or area rug, make sure to go with the best option that you can afford. This will help provide lasting beauty and make normal maintenance tasks easier.
There are a lot of things you can do to help keep the rugs and carpets in your home nice. The most important tactic is to try and keep them as clean as possible, whether that means banning shoes on your carpets and rugs or scheduling deep cleans to get at the ground in dirt. You want to make sure you take proper care of your carpets and rugs by vacuuming at the correct height so as to avoid damaging the fibers, and responding to spills as quickly as you can so they don’t have time to set. In practice, it should be incredibly easy to keep your carpets as clean as you can, with the occasional mishap or deeply in-set dirt being the only thing to worry about.
