How To Deep Clean Your Carpets Without Chemicals
Getting your carpet clean might feel like a stressful, expensive task. You don’t want to have to spend your life going back and forth to the cleaners, especially if you have a full household and a rug that tends to get dirty quickly. If you’re looking for a way of deep cleaning carpet at home without having to frantically Google “carpet cleaning near me” every few weeks, you’re in luck. Getting a spotless carpet is easier than ever thanks to only a few simple home solutions. If you want to achieve a dirt-free, pristine finish for your rug, here’s what you should do.
Have the Right Tools on Hand
You may imagine that having the right cleaning supplies is key to making this mission a success. That’s partly true, but you should never underestimate the importance of a few trusty tools that will make cleaning that much easier. If you have an old toothbrush, some microfiber cloth, and a stain remover with a scrubbing device built in, you’ll be able to tackle stains more easily and aggressively. This is especially important if you’re spot treating a fresh stain before undergoing an entire deep cleaning.
Vacuum First
Before you tackle your rug, you’ll want to make sure you’ve gotten all the grit and grime off the surface. That means taking the time to do a quick vacuum of the area first. Before getting your rug wet, it’s important to have a clean, dust and crumb-free surface. Otherwise, you could end up making your rug even worse. After you’ve vacuumed, do a quick sweep or dust to make sure there aren’t any stragglers staying put on your rug.
Apply Treatment
Now that you’re dealing with a fresh, clean surface, it’s time to attack smaller stains before applying the rest of your treatment. Target any older stains first by treating them with a concentrated stain cleaner, preferably a combination of vinegar, baking soda, and lemon. If you need your treatment to set overnight, do so. You can clean your rug the next morning without worrying about any pesky stains getting in the way. After you’ve treated smaller stained areas, apply your vinegar and baking soda solutions over the dirtier-looking areas of your rug and use your cloth or toothbrush to scrub and activate the solution. Once the baking soda solution begins to bubble, gently start scrubbing and washing the dirt away with warm water. Be careful not to over-wet your rug. Use only what you need to lift the stains.
Ventilate
After you’ve treated your rug, it’s important to let it breathe. Because you want to keep your carpet free of any mold or mildew, it’s important to ventilate the space so that your rug’s damp patches can fully dry overnight. You never want to saturate your rug with water, and you never want to leave a damp rug in a closed, unventilated area. If you can bring your rug outside to air dry, all the better. If not, leave some windows open and put some fans around to circulate the breeze.