How to Clean Your Own Carpet With a Wet Extraction Household Cleaner

When cleaning a carpet we must follow 4 principles:

1. Chemical.

Your chemical should be a carpet cleaning solution and choose the correct one for the fiber construction of your carpet, wool rugs should be no more than 5.5 ph, use up to 10.5 on heavily soiled polypropylene rugs.

2. Restlessness.

Helps distribute cleaning agents for maximum soil suspension and removal. To use a cleaning solution without agitation, an increase in the temperature of the cleaning solution, a stronger cleaning chemical, or more time would be needed.

3. Temperature.

Using a cold cleaning solution would require increased agitation, chemical action, or time.

4.Time

To minimize the time needed to perform a cleaning task, an increase in cleaning solution temperature, more agitation, and/or a stronger cleaning product would be required. When using this method there are a few points to follow, don’t over-wet, don’t keep going over the same spot as all you will do is soak the carpet and cause the wick to come back (where an underlying stain comes back through the wick) .

necessary items

• garden brush

• Solutions for carpets

• White vinegar

• A carpet cleaning machine, ie; Vax, Carpet Doctor, Bissell

The vinegar acts as a deodorizer and helps draw out all the detergent residue and organic dirt. It also softens the fibers while neutralizing and rinsing all detergent from the carpet, leaving it cleaner and smelling fresher for longer.

Steps to follow:

1. Vacuum your carpet thoroughly, from north to south then west to east slowly, as up to 80% of the dirt is dry organic soil.

2. Spray your chosen carpet cleaning chemical onto the carpet at the recommended dilution rate. It should be enough to moisten the carpet fibers. Don’t be tempted to put in more than the recommended amount, as this can cause quick fix issues.

3. Thoroughly agitate the chemical into the carpet with a clean, stiff garden brush. rub well, but not too hard, as this can damage the fibers of the wool rugs.

4. Let it act for 15 to 25 minutes depending on the dirt, but do not let it dry.

5. Put hot (not boiling) water in your machine. Add a splash of white vinegar about 10ml per litre. Do NOT put any cleaning chemicals in your machine, just vinegar and hot water. The vinegar smell will go away in 10 to 15 minutes.

6. Extract using the machine.

7. Open the windows and turn on the heat if it’s a cold or humid day. Carpets should be dry in 2-4 hours.

You can further aid the drying process by towel drying the rug; this works great on stair carpets as it stops wicking caused by very heavy dirt on the bottom 3 steps.

Nb we use non-detergent based products.