Home Maintenance For Dummies
Explore BookSpot cleaning
But what do you do when little Nina spills some sticky red juice in the living room? Give her a big hug, tell her that you love her, and then spot-clean! Most of today’s carpets are made with a factory-applied stain guard. So usually, a small amount of water and a drop of vinegar or club soda will get out a stain. Use a clean, white, dry cloth. Don’t scrub — blot.The most common mistakes people make when they try to spot-clean are over-scrubbing and using too much water. Scrubbing destroys carpet fibers. Excess water gets below the carpet into the pad, which leads to mildew and a funky smell.Carpet cleaning solutions
Sooner or later, your carpet will need to be cleaned. Most do-it-yourself carpet-cleaning machines use the hot-water extraction method: A hot-water-and-detergent solution is sucked out of a reservoir, sprayed on the carpet, and immediately extracted with a powerful vacuum.Here are a few tips that will help you be a carpet-cleaning success:- Before you head off to the hardware store to rent a machine, you need to know what your carpet is made of to select the right cleaning solution.
- Before you start, test the solution on an out-of-the-way spot to make sure it won’t leave a stain of its own or bleach the color out.
- Read the instructions on the machine and on the detergent. Follow them exactly.
- Open the windows (or turn on the air conditioning) and use a powerful fan to help speed the drying process. The quicker you get the moisture out of the carpet, the better.