How Not To Clean Your Carpet

For carpets that are removable, I’ve tried rolling them up and taking them outside to beat them with a stick like a furious granny. I’ve tried spraying small carpets with a garden hose, disinfecting with liquid detergents and spraying with Lysol, only to find they sometimes shrink or don´t dry completely and later have a musty smell. For areas in the house where carpet has been professionally installed and can´t be moved for cleaning, its even a bigger challenge to keep them fresh and toe-snuggable.

So in the quest to have super fluffy, soft and daisy-fresh carpets, I vacuum lots, blot spills so they don’t cause stains and, and have tried a bunch of different carpet deodorizers to keep them smelling nice. Carpet deodorizers consist of granular powder you sprinkle onto the carpet and then vacuum up. The problem is that they leave a powdery residue and if there’s humidity in the air, the carpet soon has a sticky feeling. If there’s no humidity the powder settles into carpet backing and rises when you plop yourself down on the carpet causing a little dust cloud that makes me sneeze.

So I’ve tried to get rid of the dust and deodorizer residue with liquid carpet shampoo only to find its impossible to rinse out completely and often leaves carpet even stickier and sometimes the fibers often have a crunchy feeling. Unsatisfied with all my attempts to clean my carpets, I began researching what I was doing wrong and asking others what they do to care for their carpets.

Removing old Residue before Carpet Shampooing

Everything I read, and everyone I talked to, agreed that the only solution to carpet cleaning was dry carpet shampoo sold from most vacuum cleaning stores. For sure it is a great way to keep new carpets perfect, but what about those of us who have carpets already filled with sticky powders and crunchy fibers from attempts to clean using liquids. How could I remove the residue already built up in the carpet fibers?

Someone recommended a trick and I tried it and it worked. Here’s the secret:

The first step is to get a regular shampoo machine that cleans with water. These machines can be rented at department stores, supermarkets and other vacuum shops. Where normally you would pour the liquid carpet shampoo, use a vinegar solution instead.

The formula is: 1 cup of vinegar for each 2 ½ gallons of water.

Usually these machines use warm water or steam and vapor to penetrate down into the deepest darkest fiber regions of the carpet and suck out all the grime. When you use them with shampoo, the shampoo doesn’t get totally rinsed out, and that causes the crunchy carpet syndrome, but since you’ll be using only vinegar and water, it will act like an astringent removing the powder deodorizer muck and liquid shampoo residue.

After using the vinegar solution over the entire carpet, do it once more with only warm water. The old liquid shampoo that remains in the carpet fibers will probably bubble and become active once again as you pass over the carpet with water, so it may not be enough to do it once or twice but continue using fresh warm water until the dirty water is almost as clean as when you started. Now you can be sure the residue of old products has been removed.

Once the carpets have completely dried, and appear clean from residue, it’s likely they will not feel soft and plush to the touch because you have used water, and the drying process can make them stiff. But now you can use a dry foam carpet shampoo effectively to restore the soft texture and silky smoothness of the fibers.

You may choose to call professionals to perform the final carpet shampooing procedure or you can do it yourself with carpet shampoo machines specifically designed for dry shampoo.

If you also give the carpets a scotchguard treatment after the final carpet shampooing, maintaining them will be easier and stains will not penetrate the fibers so easily.