The carpets in your home are more often than not, not your pet’s best friend.
This is because with pets around, there is most certainly a lot more cleaning required. From “little accidents” around the house to dirty paw prints running and treading through your carpets, and don’t get us started on the pet hair lying around!
As much as you try to keep your pet’s feet clean, or you strategically place rugs around you home, the one place that suffers the most (as well as your patience) is your carpets.
Below, we’ve provided some of our top carpet cleaning tips when you have pets who rule the roost.
Tips and Advice
With all pet mess and “accidents”, the most important thing to remember is that speed is of the essence!
Having a prepared cleaning toolkit is the key. Not letting your pet’s mess spend too much time on the carpet helps to stop it from seeping into the fibres and causing a permanent stain.
Top Tip: Don’t rub spills or urine! This only pushes the stains and the mess further into the carpet. And for the solid mess, don’t even think about using towels or cloths….no one wants that kind of mess smeared into carpets – read on to find the best way to deal with this type of mess.
For wet messes
We recommend that you have to hand, water, white vinegar, baking soda, a spray bottle, clean cloth, and your vacuum.
In your spray bottle, mix one cup of water and a cup of vinegar together, and instead of rubbing, simply press your newly created cleaning solution onto your carpet. Using a clean towel or cloth to then absorb the mess and cleaning solution.
After this, sprinkle two tablespoons of baking soda onto the spot and leave for around 15 minutes. Using a clean cloth to absorb any access powder, you can then vacuum up the remains.
Handheld extractors are also great for the wet mess, sucking the liquid straight from the carpet. Extractors help avoid carpet fibres absorbing any of the mess, and it turns into a nasty stain.
For solid messes
Have close to hand a putty knife, baking soda (two tablespoons), and a vacuum cleaner.
Now, this isn’t what everyone wants to think about, however…using a putty knife is much more effective than picking up the mess with a towel or cloth, as there is less chance of smudging the mess further into your carpet.
Sinking the putty knife into the carpet, you can easily scoop the mess/dirt up with ease and dispose of it appropriately.
To help with any smells, you can use either baking soda or any bio-enzymatic cleaners which are recommended to help neutralise the odour once and for all — air–drying the area and vacuuming over the top for extra results.
Top Tip: Always treat a larger area than the original stain/mess – it helps neutralise the surrounding area just in case and keep everything clean and free from bacteria spreading. Oh, and avoid using steam cleaners on stains, as the heat can set the stain making it almost impossible to remove.
For pet hair
You will most certainly need a good vacuum, possibly some masking tape, a paint roller, broom handle, or carpet rake!
All sounds a bit dramatic we know, but pet hair can be a nightmare on carpets and quite easily clog your vacuum up.
Using the tools mentioned above, wrap the masking tape around an old paint roller (preferably clean) and by attaching the broom handle, you now have a giant lint roller!
Picking up as much pet hair as possible before you vacuum.
In the same sense, carpet rakes are also available, letting you rake the carpet and picking up any hair by hand.
Top Tip: For those households with pets that shed hair frequently, it’s advised that you should vacuum three times a week to keep on top of everything! As well as keep on top of your pet’s grooming!
If cleaning carpets isn’t something that gets you out of bed in the morning, then why not take advantage of professional carpet cleaning services?
With the recommendation that you have your carpets cleaned professionally every six months, look for a team who knows what they’re doing and a team that can really get down to the nitty-gritty.
Look for a carpet cleaning company in Leeds, who also offer commercial carpet cleaning too.
A cleaning company like Clear Choice Ltd, who can help you with all your carpet cleaning needs and more.
For regular or one–off deep cleans, call us today on 01132 711 432.
Read the next article: Carpet Cleaning pros vs. do it yourself – which one wins?
