Carpet Cleaning Austin, TX - Easy Carpet Cleaning Tips

Keeping carpets looking great between professional cleanings is easy and inexpensive. Homeowners and renters have the solutions in their kitchen cabinets to keep carpets beautiful. Kiwi Carpet Cleaning has easy tips to stretch the amount of time between Austin carpet cleaning visits.

Carpet Deodorizers
Baking soda and vinegar are two natural deodorizers. They work well to freshen up carpets and are easy on the wallet. Simply sprinkle baking soda over the desired carpeted area and let it sit for 30 minutes, then vacuum. For vinegar, mix it up with water as a 50-50 solution in a spray bottle.Lightly mist the desired area and as vinegar dries, the smell will disappear, leaving your carpets smelling fresh. Baking soda and vinegar are a perfect option for young families with pets or people on a budget as they are inexpensive and safe for use around children and pets.

Stain Removal
Remove any stain from carpet with immediate action and the proper steps. The key is to pick up or scrape up as much of the stain as possible before treating it with solutions. Treat the stain with a cool, mild soapy solution and allow the solution to break down the stain. Cool water is important as hot water can set most stains. Gently blot solution and repeat to remove the stain completely. Once removed, rinse the area with a water and vinegar solution to remove the soapy solution. Rinsing is an important as soap residue attracts dirt and oils easier than the non-residue areas.

Pet Stain Prevention
For pet owners, accidents on the carpet maybe inevitable, but with immediate action, accidents do not have to turn into stains. Use a super absorbent cloth or paper towels to blot up most of the urine.Cover the affected area in baking soda and let it dry. Once the baking soda has dried, usually a few hours, simply vacuum the area. The baking soda absorbs the remaining urine and smell. To get rid of any remaining smells, spray the area with a 50-50 solution of water and vinegar. This stain fighting method works best for first time occurrences and immediate action.

For reappearing and smelly pet stains, use a Carpet Cleaning Austin professional. Reappearing pet stains often reside deep in the carpet pad or subfloor where homemade solutions are unable to treat. A professional cleaning will be able to remove these pet stains and their odor effectively.

Vacuuming Tips and Tricks
Vacuuming is an important part of carpet care as it picks up the dirt that causes the most damage to carpet pile. Carpets need to be vacuumed 1-3 times a week depending on traffic levels. Areas with low traffic can be vacuumed 1-2 times a week while high traffic areas need vacuuming 2-3 times a week. Shoes track in the majority of dirt from outside the home and vacuuming is one of the only ways to remove the dirt. Vacuuming removes the dirt and prevents it from tearing and frying the carpet fibers.

Personalized Tips
One great way to keep carpets looking great is to get personalized tips from your local Austin carpet cleaning company. During your professional carpet cleaning in Austin, the technician can give you tips and tricks to keep your carpets beautiful. Your technician can easily identify heavy traffic patterns and how dirt and oil is spread in your home. With their tips and tricks, you can prevent the spread of dirt and oil.The EPA recommends professional cleanings 1-4 cleanings a year, allowing you to test the tips between cleanings to see what works for you.

Regularly deodorizing and vacuuming is a great way to carpets fresh and clean. Keeping up with potential stains and pet smells is easy with vinegar and baking soda. Follow these easy cleaning tips and you can keep your home looking beautiful between carpet cleanings in Austin, TX.

Five Ways You're Ruining Your Carpets

Chances are you’re ruining your carpets, unintentionally; with little habits that track in and promote the spread of dirt. Learn what habits are tearing up your carpets and how to stop ruining your carpets.

There are no rugs at the doors
Obvious fact: dirt comes from outside and travels inside when there are no rugs to wipe your feet off thereby distributing onto the carpet. As dirt settles into carpet, it grinds against the carpet fibers, slowly tearing and pulling them apart.

Fix it: Place rugs at every entrance/exit to the home to trap the dirt before it spreads to the carpets. Wash or replace the rugs as needed to continue keeping dirt out effectively.

You wear shoes inside

We just established dirt comes inside from the bottoms of your feet, 80% of can be stopped from simply taking your shoes off. Shoes travel where you travel, to public places then back to your home. Public germs, dirt and oils embedding themselves into the carpet once you walk on it, increasing the likelihood of staining and overall dirtiness appearance.

Fix it: Enforce a no shoes rule in your home. Simply taking your shoes off in your home can save you money on maintaining your carpets by reducing the amount of dirt tracked in. This tip can also help keep your home healthier as you track less dirt, oil, and germs into the carpet around your home.

Rarely vacuuming
The EPA recommends that you vacuum your carpets 1-3 times a week depending on how much traffic you get in your home. As dirt comes into the home, it settles into the carpet. Regular vacuuming removes this dirt leaving clean carpets. Without regular vacuuming, dirt builds up, becoming compacted and pushed deeper into the pile. Dirt deep in the pile is hard for vacuums to remove, allowing dirt to accumulate making your carpets appear dirtier and more susceptible to stains.

Fix it: Set up a vacuuming schedule for 2-3 times a week. If there are multiple people in your home, assign a different person for each time that way you only have to worry about vacuuming once a week.

Never getting a professional cleaning
The EPA’s recommendation for a professional Phoenix carpet cleaning is 1-4 times a year depending on certain conditions. New carpets come pretreated with carpet sealant but it wears off after a year or two. Vacuuming can only pick up so much dirt, leaving the deep down dirt that needs to be loosened and extracted from a deep cleaning.

Fix it: Find a Phoenix carpet cleaning company that has a customer loyalty program, like Kiwi Carpet Cleaning, so you can clean your carpets more frequently without making a huge dent in your paycheck. Schedule your carpet cleanings with the seasons so it’s easy to remember the last time you had them cleaned.

Choosing the wrong type of professional cleaning

Steam cleaning is favored by many Phoenix carpet cleaners since it loosens and extracts dirt trapped deep down in the carpet. This method of carpet cleaning is great to use every year or two to remove the deeply embedded dirt. However, if this method is done incorrectly, it can damage your carpets by pushing the dirt further into the pile and moisture into the carpet padding.

Fix it: Bonnet cleaning, as offered by this local Phoenix carpet cleaner, is safe to use to clean your carpets frequently, as bonnet cleaning is a low moisture system that focuses on cleaning the carpet fibers and loosening deeply embedded dirt. After a bonnet cleaning, deeply embedded dirt is easily pick up by vacuuming.

Good habits like taking off your shoes, vacuuming frequently and getting a routine professional carpet cleaning will make maintaining your carpets easier and increase the life of your carpet. Best of all, these good habits will make your carpets look cleaner and brighter.

Easy Carpet Cleaning Tips from a Dallas Carpet Cleaner

Maintaining carpets between professional cleanings can be easy and inexpensive. Often homeowners and renters have the solutions to keep carpets fresh in their kitchen cabinets. By using these easy tips, from Kiwi Carpet Cleaning, you can stretch the amount of time between a Dallas carpet cleaner’s visits.

Natural Carpet Deodorizers
Baking soda and vinegar are great natural deodorizers for carpets as they will easily get rid of the stink and they are inexpensive. To deodorize carpet with baking soda, simply sprinkle it over the desired area and let it sit for 30 minutes, then simply vacuum. To use vinegar as a deodorizer, mix a 50-50 mixture of water and vinegar together in a spray bottle and lightly mist the desired area. The vinegar smell will dissipate as soon as it dries, leaving your carpets naturally fresh. Baking soda and vinegar are safe to use around children and pets making them a perfect option for young families with pets or people on a budget.

Easy Carpet Stain Removal
Any stain can be removed from carpet with immediate action and the proper steps. For food stains, pick up as much of the excess via blotting or gentle scraping. Next, saturate the stain with a cool, mild soapy solution and let it sit for a minute. Hot water can set a stain so cooler water will get the out better. Blot up the soapy solution and repeat as necessary to remove the stain. Once the stain is removed, rinse the area with a 50-50 mixture of water and vinegar to remove any soap residue. Rinsing the area is an important as soap residue can attract dirt and oil causing the area to appear stained.

Pet Stain Prevention
Dogs are man’s best friend, except when they relieve themselves on the carpet. With immediate action, the pet accident does not have to turn into a pet stain. Blot up as much of the urine as possible and then coat the area in baking soda. The baking soda will absorb the rest of the urine and deodorize the area at the same time. Once the baking soda has dried, usually a few hours, simply vacuum the area. If desired, spray the area with a 50-50 mixture of water and vinegar to disinfect the area. This method works best for first time stains and if you get to the area within minutes of it happening.

To get reoccurring pet stains out, using a Dallas Carpet Cleaning professional, like this one, is the best option because as they can remove stains deep in the carpet pad or subfloor. Home solutions cannot get to the carpet pad or subfloor, which causes the stain and smell to reappear.

Vacuuming Tips
Vacuuming is the most important part of maintenance. Vacuuming picks up the dirt that causes the majority of damage to carpets. Low traffic areas need to be vacuumed 1-2 time a week and high traffic areas need to be vacuumed 2-3 times a week. The majority of dirt in homes is tracked in from outside onto those high traffic areas. Keeping up with vacuuming removes dirt particles and prevent carpet fiber from tearing and fraying.

Personalized Tips
One last tip to keep carpets looking great between cleaning is to get tips from your local Dallas carpet cleaning company. The technician can give you personalized tips to as he/she can see the heavy traffic areas in your home as well as areas that spread dirt and oil while they clean your carpets. With the EPA recommendation of 1-4 cleanings a year, you can test the tips between cleanings.

Regularly vacuuming and deodorizing the carpets is a great way to keep your carpets looking and smelling fresh. You can keep up with potential stains and pet smells on a budget with vinegar and baking soda. Following these easy carpet cleaning tips can keep your carpet looking great between professional cleanings.

How to Get More Out of a Professional Marietta Carpet Cleaning

Carpet cleaning is a great way to renew and refresh your carpets and the EPA recommends families to get their carpets professionally cleaned every three to six months. To get the most out of a professional Marietta carpet cleaning, follow these tips to maintain your carpets effectively between cleanings.

Vacuum Properly

Carpet acts as an air filter for the home catching dust from the air and dirt from our shoes. Therefore, carpets need to be vacuumed one to two times a week to remove dust and dirt. High traffic areas in home need vacuumed two to three times a week to effectively remove the excessive amount dirt and dust being tracked in these areas. Quickly running the vacuuming is not enough to pick up as much dirt as possible. Proper vacuuming techniques include slowly passing the vacuum over the carpet going in a North/South direction followed by East/West direction. This allows the vacuum to clean the pile from all sides, sucking up as much dirt as possible.

Leave Shoes at the Door

Dirt causes the most damage to carpets, not foot traffic. The majority of dirt in your home is tracked in on the bottom of your shoes. Dirt deposited into carpet grinds against the carpet fibers, cutting and tearing them apart when walked on. Excessive dirt build-up and heavy traffic speeds up this degenerative process shortening the life of the carpet. To eliminate up to 80% of that dirt, simply leave your shoes at the door and place a mat at your front door.

Place Rugs at Thresholds

The areas of carpet that get the highest traffic and the most dirt and oil deposits are the exits around the home and the kitchen. The entrances to your home see the most dirt tracked in from outside as the carpet quickly scraps off the dirt from your shoes.  As you cook in the kitchen, oils from the food fall to the floor and then end up on the bottom of your shoes or feet. Once you leave the kitchen, you wipe your feet on the nearest carpeted area to "clean off your feet” thereby leaving a concentrated area of oil deposits. Simply placing a rug at a high traffic area threshold like this one will help stop the transfer of dirt and oils from around the home.

Following these tips will help reduce the amount of loose dirt and oils in your carpet. A professional carpet cleaning can now be more effective as the cleaning solutions can soak deeper into the fibers and release embedded dirt. Getting the right cleaning method will also affect how clean your carpets look.

Choose the Right Carpet Cleaning Method

Steam Cleaning
The most common carpet cleaning method is steam cleaning, which is great getting rid of lots of dirt and oil build up in carpets. The local Marietta carpet cleaners that use this method spray a cleaner then use hot water to suspend the dirt and oils so it can be sucked up with a high power extractor. With a dry time of a few hours, steam cleaning leaves carpets more vulnerable to re-soiling. This method is best for annual cleaning every year or two. However, performed incorrectly, this method can damage your carpet and push dirt and oils deeper into your carpet.

Bonnet Cleaning

Bonnet cleaning, offered by Kiwi Carpet Cleaning in Marietta, can be a better method to effectively clean carpets and keep carpets cleaned. The bonnet cleaning method is a low moisture system that works by spraying carpets with a cleaning solution followed by buffer with a super-absorbent microfiber pad that gently scrubs away dirt and picks up moisture. Once clean, the technician grooms the carpet, lifting the pile, loosening left over dirt and allowing moisture to escape. With a quick dry time, the bonnet method leaves carpets less vulnerable to re-soiling. Once the carpet is dry, vacuuming will pick up any remaining dry soil, leaving the carpets completely clean. This method is gentle enough and most effective when performed every few months.

Ask for Personalized Tips
Ask your Marietta carpet cleaner for personalized tips on how you can keep your carpets cleaner. The technician should be able to identify problem areas in your home and provide easy solutions to prevent stains from coming back. Understanding your home's carpet needs will help you take better care of your carpet. 

Maintaining your carpet with proper vacuuming techniques and appropriate carpet cleanings will keep your carpet beautiful and protect it as an investment.