Where to begin?

First, you will have received (or purchased) the necessary carpet cleaner shampoo and the pre-treatment stain remover. So begin by inspecting your carpet and finding all the nasty little stains that will be the hardest to remove. Spray these areas with a pre-treatment carpet cleaning solution and let them soak while you prepare your supplies. You’ll need a small brush, a sponge and a pail with warm water.

Now go back and work the stains free with your brush and blot with the sponge and try to remove as much of the stain as possible without damaging the fiber. Do not leave excess water to rest on the stains; try to do it with as little water as possible. You may give the worst stains an extra spray of cleaner and then move on to the next step.

Using The Carpet Cleaning Machine

The carpet shampoo machine you have just rented has a water container. Remove it and begin filling with it hot water, but don’t ill beyond the line indicated.

Now you can add the carpet shampoo you have been recommended to buy or given with the machine. Do not just use any other kind of soap or detergent because these machines may create lather or too much foam that you will not be able to remove later. (If it is your own machine you can experiment, but not with a rental.) Usually you don’t need very much carpet shampoo per gallon of water. Do not use more than recommended because this will cause a film or residue that will make your carpets become dirty faster.

You may also decide to use only hot water with no carpet shampoo, or you may want to use a hot water and vinegar solution, which is a good idea if you’re using a carpet steam cleaner to remove previous shampoo build-up.

Now reinsert the water tank into the carpet shampoo machine.

You’re almost ready to begin, but if you haven’t just vacuumed with an ordinary vacuum cleaner, then you should do so now. This will pick up the loose bits and dirt so the steam can focus on the heavy duty deep grime.

If it hasn’t been about half an hour since you treated the stains, sit down and take a break or go and have a look at the stains to see if most have vanished before you proceed. If they are still very visible, give them a little longer to soak or give them another pre-treatment with the spray carpet cleaner.

Not much will change if they are still visible after 30 minutes so go ahead and move on to the next step because the steam will probably help to lift them out.

Switch on the carpet shampoo machine and using the hose with the brush work on small sections of the room. Here is how: use two strokes, one that is forward and the other backward. When you move forward release water into the carpet and on the backward motion scrub and remove the water.

When the carpet has been cleaned in this manner, section by section, do not go back and repeat what you’ve done and do not walk on the carpet. It will be wet and will leave track marks and dirt as it dries. Leave it alone and do not permit anyone to walk on the wet carpet.

Open the windows, place fans nearby or do whatever you think may help the carpet to dry faster.

Clean the water tank immediately so it does not have time to leave a scummy film that will be difficult to remove. You must return the machine clean.
When the carpet is dry to may want to fluff up the pile and give it a nice nap by vacuuming with your normal vacuum cleaner. Go over it in many directions to restore the fibers to their softest possible selves. Finish up with a protective spray so it will become soiled too quickly. Allow the scotchguard to dry and you’re done!

…My husband and I moved into a rustic country house in Spain. It was exquisite because it came furnished with Spanish antiques and carpets that were perfectly suited to the region.

We were both delighted until we couldn’t stop scratching the little red bumps that seemed to appear like magic every time we sat on the beautiful antique rug in the salon. After mush speculation we determined that the carpet was infested with fleas!

No more fleas please!

My husband’s first instinct was to toss the rug into the garage and forget about it, but the rug was so lovely that I decided to attempt cleaning it. There had to be a carpet rug shampoo available somewhere that killed fleas. Since it was a rural mountain area, this proved harder than expected.

Carpet shampooing was almost unheard-of in the south of Spain and most people either did not own carpets or only had small area rugs that could be easily washed or shaken. So, I applied a variety of flea sprays that did absolutely nothing and finally decided to do some research on carpet shampoo. Since everything is available by online, I set to work.

Here’s what I discovered:

Carpet shampoo for flea control is not only available but highly effective if used several times and if the carpets are regularly cleaned and if pets are also regularly treated for fleas. Hot water steam cleaning, along with a carpet shampoo usually destroys fleas. I also discovered that flea control carpet shampoo on the market today is not laden with toxic chemicals as I had supposed.

Okay, so I made a makeshift carpet shampoo machine by heating water and adding the carpet shampoo I had bought online. I then drenched the rug with this solution and used a wet- dry-vacuum to suck out all the water and fleas.

I used this odd carpet shampooing technique several times over the course of two months and vacuumed the rug daily with my Electrolux. The carpet fibers were starting to get a little stiff from all the water and I was wondering if I hadn’t ruined the carpet while eliminating the fleas.

Then I found that there was a dry foam carpet shampoo available in the UK, so I ordered some and gave it a try.

Since I didn’t have the compressor to make the foam I had to improvise, but I eventually had lots of foam which I spread over the rug. Since dry foam carpet shampoo crystallizes, it didn’t stay wet and I was able to vacuum up the granules. The rug regained its soft texture after doing this only twice.

The rug now rests in the salon in front of the fireplace, flea free!