Preparing your House for Professional Carpet Cleaning
There are few maintenance investments that one can make into their house that can have as quick an impression as getting the carpets professionally cleaned. Carpets generally take a lot of abuse, and a regular cleaning keeps the carpet looking fresh and extends the life of the carpet and underlay. Below we’ll discuss a few quick tips to help you prepare your house for a professional carpet cleaning.
First - a quick word of advice. Many individuals try to save on the cost of having their carpets cleaned by renting a carpet shampoo machine or other similar machine. It’s important to note that these machines are relatively ineffective, and can actually make your carpets dirtier. The reason for this is that they lack the suction power that a professional carpet cleaner’s truck mounted unit can generate; because of this, much of the shampoo that goes into the carpet ends up staying in the carpet. Deep down, your carpet is loaded with sticky soap, which ends up attracting more dirt than you would have had if you hadn’t used the rented machine in the first place. It’s best to avoid renting a carpet shampooing machine and trusting the professionals with your carpets.
The first thing you’ll want to do to prepare your home for carpet cleaning is to vacuum the carpets with a regular vacuum cleaner. It’s not required, but running the vacuum over your high-traffic areas will help spruce the carpet up a bit and prepare it for cleaning. Spending ten minutes or so to give your carpets a vacuum the night before the carpet cleaners arrive is sufficient.
Having said that, ensure that you stay away from carpet stain removers and other chemicals in the days leading up to your carpet cleaning. Similar to the shampoo issue above, these chemicals may leave residue in the carpets that can interact with the pre-cleaning enzymes or dry-foam that the carpet cleaner will use to treat your carpets prior to cleaning. If there are stains, the carpet cleaning professional can remove them while he is there. Ignore them for the time being.
Next, you’ll want to move your lamps, plants and other breakables off of coffee and end tables so that the carpet cleaners can move the furniture with ease. This will speed the job up for the carpet cleaners and also prevent you from suffering any accidental breakage that may occur while moving furniture or due to a stray cleaning hose. The carpet cleaners will handle moving your furniture to clean behind and underneath of it, and will replace it on foam blocks or foil pads to prevent any damage to the carpet while it is drying (if you get your carpets steam cleaned) or while the dry foam chemicals are working on the carpet.
Finally, ensure that you roll up and store any area rugs that are on top of your carpeting - especially if you don’t want them cleaned. Many area rugs are fragile and don’t handle steam cleaning or dry foam chemical cleaning all that well, so if you’re curious about whether or not your area rug can handle the cleaning it’s best to ask the carpet cleaner professional while he’s there to do your job. Otherwise, tuck them out of sight.
After your carpet cleaning is finished, it’s best to let each room air out a bit and allow the carpets to dry. Your carpet cleaner will inform you as to how long you should wait before having a high amount of traffic back on your carpets. If you have a pair of clean slippers, simply throw those on and you should be fine to walk through the house and inspect the job. Everything should be nice and clean - and you can start replacing everything you moved. All done!
