Floor Care

Carpets

Basic Cleaning Steps For Food & Beverage Spills

  • Scoop up as much of the spill as possible, with a towel or a spoon.
  • Blot the spot, don't rub or scrub. Gently press clean cloths into the stained area to remove moisture. Scrubbing can damage the fiber and set the stain into the carpet.
  • Apply warm, not hot, water to the stained area and blot until the stain stops transferring to the cloth.
  • If you can still see the stain, make a Detergent Solution by adding 1/4 teaspoon dishwashing liquid to one cup warm water. Don't use too much soap, because it's difficult to rinse out of the carpet.
  • Apply the detergent solution, let sit five minutes, then rinse with clear warm water. Repeat until all the detergent is removed.
  • Place layers of white paper towels on the spill to absorb the liquid. Weight down the towels with a non-staining glass or ceramic object. You can let them sit overnight.
  • When the carpet is dry, vacuum to restore the texture.

Vacuuming Tips

If you can see the stain after all this, repeat steps 3 through 7. It means the stain penetrated deep into the pile and has wicked up to the surface.

The most important step in caring for your carpet is vacuuming. Vacuum thoroughly and frequently, particularly in high-traffic areas. Bear in mind that walking on soiled carpet permits the soil particles to work their way below the surface of the pile where they are far more difficult to remove and can damage the fibers. Frequent vacuuming removes these particles from the surface before this happens.

For rooms with light traffic, vacuum the traffic lanes twice weekly and the entire area once weekly. Those areas with heavier traffic require that the traffic lanes be vacuumed daily and the entire area twice weekly. Up to three passes of the machine will suffice for light soiling, but five to seven passes are necessary for heavily soiled areas. Change the vacuum.