Carpets are invaluable items for every home and place. They make it look better, feel cosy and comfortable. Yet, they seem to gather the most dirt and pollutants and thus need a deeper cleaning. This is very true, especially during times like these with the spread of viruses. Here you will learn the basics of how to clean your rugs and other floor coverings with self-made products. You can apply them for sanitising and stain removal as well as for deodorising.
What to Consider Before You Start Cleaning?
Carpets add a warmer feel to the rooms they are in and without them, every property seems empty and naked. These items, however, need regular and thorough sanitizing and care. It is no secret that they can easily become a source of dust, germs and bacteria.
Before you start to clean the fabrics, you need to take into account many things. These are the materials your floor coverings are made of, are they natural or synthetic. Pay attention to what cleaning products are the most appropriate for your carpets? These and many other questions you must be able to answer to provide the proper sanitising of your carpets without damaging them.
DIY Carpet Cleaning without the Use of Machines
Even if the carpets of your home or commercial property are not visibly stained or dirty, you still need to sanitise them in depth. We recommend you do this at least 3-4 times per year to maintain them and the whole rooms in healthy condition. Simple vacuum cleaning every week won’t do the work of removing the ingrained dirt and pollutants from the carpet and rug fabrics. Here is why you should provide wet cleaning and how to do it if you decide to get occupied with this task yourself.
Cleaning Solution with Soap for Carpets
One of the ways to sanitise your soft floor coverings is with a soapy solution. Apply it on a sponge and use it to spread and rub the carpet with it. There are two ways to do this. These are:
- Dissolve liquid soap in a water bath and mix this with hot water;
- Grate soap and dissolve it in hot water until it becomes an even mixture;
The aim of both these methods is to melt the detergent and make it a thicker liquid. The liquid soap you use must be thicker so that it won’t need rinsing and won’t take too much time to dry after cleaning. Using either of both these methods doesn’t require too hard scrubbing. The reason is that the soap is effective enough and will remove all the dirt. If you have allergies or asthma, choose milder, eco-friendly and suitable liquid or hard soap.
Your carpets and rugs are more polluted or you want better results? If so, use either of the above DIY cleaning solutions by adding a little turpentine to them. If you have a colourful mat and it has plenty of patterns, you can make the soapy solution more powerful with ethyl or denatured alcohol. This will revive its colours and make them as vivid and clear as they were on the day you bought it.
Carpet Cleaning Using Vinegar
One cheap, effective and harmless for your health and the environment ingredient is vinegar. It is suitable for carpet cleaning among other applications. Mix vinegar with water in a 1:1 ratio and add a little baking soda to make the home-made cleaning mixture stronger. Use this solution to apply on a soft brush to spread on the carpet, mat and rugs. This will surely remove dirt and allergens. Leave the area to dry opening the windows or use a fan to speed up the drying time.
One thing you need to be careful about is the material your floor coverings are made of. Undoubtedly, the DIY carpet cleaning solutions we mentioned so far are efficient. But neither of them are appropriate for woollen carpets. These are not suitable even for cleaning with a damp cloth as. The smallest moisture will cause the woollen fibres to stick and not be as fluffy as they were before the procedure.
Be extra careful with woollen floor coverings. Keep in mind that their main body will get damaged and rot if you attempt to wet clean them. Regardless of your good intentions, woollen carpets will gradually tear and become thinner and thinner. They will eventually start to appear unsightly if you clean them inappropriately. So, consider using special cleaning products for them. Another option is to use professional carpet cleaning services for woollen carpets and rugs.
Overall, we tend to skip the deeper cleaning of our carpets. We don’t want to deal with the wetting and drying procedures involved in the work. The more we procrastinate, sooner or later comes a moment when even deeper cleaning and washing won’t restore their pleasant appearance. Still, there are ways to sanitise your carpets with home-made detergents and mixtures. This is possible without you having to possess special equipment and detergents.
Is It Difficult to Wash Your Carpets by Hand?
There is an effective way to remove stains using wet cleaning on your soft floor coverings. First, you need to soak the carpet in a watery cleaning solution made of ammonia and water. The amount of cleaning solution you need depends on the size of your mat, rug and carpet.
Generally, follow this proportion: to 1 litre of water add 1 tablespoon of ammonia. Use this liquid to soak the carpets and other soft floor coverings for about 30 minutes. Then, use detergent or soapy water to rub the carpets, but avoid using hard brushes. They may severely damage the fabrics by taking out individual fibres. The final stage involves rinsing the carpet thoroughly. Make sure to use vinegar to the last water.
Use Baking Soda to Clean Your Carpet
Baking soda is proved as one of the mildest and neutral abrasive products. Just like vinegar, it is very effective in sanitising all kinds of surfaces. Baking soda cleans without scratching the surfaces while keeping them solid and intact.
The best thing about baking soda is that you do not need to scrub the surfaces with it. Simply spread it evenly over the whole area of the carpet. Leave it to stay there for 12 hours or more and use a vacuum cleaner to remove it along with the dirt. This is a simple procedure that can do wonders to your carpets, rugs and mats.
Carpet Odour Removal
After you sanitise the carpets and rugs in your home, you can think about how to make them fragrant. To get rid of the soaked unpleasant odour from your carpets sprinkle their fibres with your favourite essential oil. Spread a small and moderate amount and be careful not to put too much. Besides natural, the smell of essential oils is very strong. If you overdo it, you may accomplish the opposite effect.
We recommend you use fragrant essential oils that you like the smell of after cleaning. Apply it after the fabrics have dried completely. This way you will deodorise the carpets and rugs and they will be clean and fragrant.
DIY or Professional Cleaning for Your Carpets?
If you decide to cope with the carpet cleaning yourself, you must be aware that this is a laborious task. Carpets and rugs last a long time when they are maintained well since they are expensive investments. That’s why you must arm yourself with patience and have several free hours to do the work.
On the other hand, if you don’t feel like doing the carpet cleaning yourself, you can always call professionals. The best companies have the expertise, skills and equipment to do the work. They can sanitise safely, speedily and properly all kinds of rugs and carpets. They can take the weight off your shoulders and save you the time-consuming and exhausting task achieving top results. What you choose depends on yourself, your priorities and your budget.