Christmas Decorations for the Interior Home

Tips For Cleaning And Maintaining Your Dark-Colored Carpet

by Russell Lowe

Many people choose dark-colored carpet over lighter carpet because they assume it will be easier to keep clean. While this may be true, dark carpeting comes with its own set of challenges when it comes to vacuuming, removing stains and shampooing. Follow these tips to keep it looking as good as possible.

Vacuum more often.

Dust will make your dark-colored carpet look dull and dingy, but since this happens slowly as the dust accumulates, you often won't realize how dirty your carpet was until you vacuum it and it looks so much brighter. To keep it from getting too dingy, vacuum it more often. Twice a week is a good starting point, though you may want to vacuum three or more times per week if you have an older, dusty home.

Always spot-test stain removers.

Some carpet stain removers might remove some of the color from your dark carpet and leave lighter spots behind. To ensure this does not happen to you, obtain an extra scrap of your carpet when you have it installed. Before you use any stain remover or cleaner on your carpet, spot-test it on this swatch before you use it on your actual carpet. If you already have dark carpet and can't obtain a swatch of it, you can spot-test in an inconspicuous place like under the sofa.

When shampooing, go over the carpet an extra time on suction-only mode.

Any carpet shampoo left behind on a dark carpet may give it a dull, white-coated appearance. To ensure you get all of the shampoo out when using a home carpet shampooer, you'll need to take an extra step. Once you're cleaned the whole carpet, go over it again with your shampooer on suction-only mode (in this mode, it does not deposit any new water on the carpet – it only sucks up shampoo and water that's still lingering in the carpet.) If your shampooer leaves behind a lot of water and shampoo, you may want to consider getting a new one or hiring a professional to clean your carpets.

Don't use deodorizing sprays.

If you need to deodorize your dark-colored carpet, use a baking soda-based powder product rather than a spray. Some of the sprays may bleach or discolor dark-colored carpets.

If you have any questions about cleaning and maintaining your dark-colored carpet, talk to a carpet cleaning professional in your area. They can let you know which products are the best to use based on your carpet's specific color and material composition.

Visit a website like http://www.logancarpetcleaners.com to learn more.

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