How to clean a carpet at home and when it is time for shampooing

You clean a carpet at home mainly by vacuuming it regularly and slowly, at least once a week and more often in high-traffic areas. Deal with stains straight away: blot them with a dry white cloth, treat them with a weak detergent solution working from the edge towards the centre, and rinse with clean water. Do not over-wet the carpet and let it dry quickly. Deep cleaning is recommended roughly once every 12 to 18 months.

Vacuuming: the foundation that does most of the work

Dirt that gets deep into the pile is much harder to remove than surface dust. In its tips for cleaning carpets at home, the American Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI) therefore recommends, as a starting point, vacuuming once a week, high-traffic areas and areas with pets daily, moderately used areas roughly twice a week, and rarely used rooms once a week.

1. Before you start, empty the container or replace the bag. In its carpet care guidelines, CRI advises changing the bag when it is one-half to two-thirds full.
2. Vacuum slowly and in overlapping strips. Quick back-and-forth strokes only catch the surface.
3. Do not forget corners and the edges along skirting boards, where dust accumulates.
4. On carpets with a higher pile, go over the area in two directions.
5. Do not vacuum fringes with a rotating brush, as they may get wound around it. Simply vacuum them carefully with a nozzle without a brush, or comb them out.

Prevention saves a lot of work. CRI recommends doormats outside and inside, taking shoes off at the entrance and replacing ventilation system filters regularly. If you suffer from a dust allergy, also see our article on cleaning with a dust mite allergy.

Stains: quickly, gently and with little water

The procedure for most stains is the same, and its basis is speed. According to the CRI guidelines, blot up the liquid with a dry white absorbent cloth or plain white paper towels, do not scrub or use a brush, and apply the cleaning product to the cloth, not directly to the carpet.

• white cloths or plain paper towels,
• a spoon with a rounded edge for solid residue,
• a spray bottle with lukewarm water for rinsing,
• liquid hand dishwashing detergent without bleach,
• optionally, a stain remover designed for carpets.

1. Scrape off solid residue with a spoon and blot up the liquid.
2. Test the cleaning product on a hidden spot or an offcut of the carpet to check that it does not change the colour or damage the fibre.
3. Apply a small amount to a white cloth and work gently from the edge of the stain towards the centre.
4. Leave it to work for a few minutes and blot. Repeat for as long as the stain is transferring to the cloth.
5. Rinse the area with clean water and blot until dry.

If you do not have a carpet product, CRI, in its procedure for wine stains, gives a solution of a quarter of a teaspoon of liquid dishwashing detergent to one cup (roughly 240 ml) of lukewarm water, and expressly warns against a stronger concentration. According to the same source, laundry detergents may contain optical brighteners and dishwasher products bleach, so they do not belong on a carpet.

Do not skip rinsing. According to CRI, cleaning product residue left in the carpet attracts dirt, so the cleaned spot would soon become soiled again. A specific procedure for one of the most common stains is described in the article red wine stain.

Pet urine

With urine, it is important to know what not to do. CRI warns that a steam cleaner should not be used on urine stains, because heat sets both the stain and the odour. Blot up the urine with a dry cloth as soon as possible and then proceed gently, without heat, following the instructions of a pet stain product. According to CRI, small portable extractors are fine for quick interventions, but they do not replace regular deep cleaning.

Wool carpets and synthetics

For synthetic carpets, follow the manufacturer's label and the procedure above. Wool requires more care; Woolmark states, among other things, that woollen clothing is washed at lower temperatures than garments made of other fibres. Although in its guide to stains on wool Woolmark writes about clothing and blankets, its principles are also suitable for small woollen rugs: blot stains as soon as possible, work from the edge towards the centre, test every product in an inconspicuous spot, and rinse water-based solutions thoroughly, otherwise a coloured ring may remain after drying. For greasy stains, Woolmark recommends treating them first with a solvent, letting it evaporate and only then using a water-based solution.

For hand-knotted, antique or silk carpets, limit home attempts to blotting and vacuuming, and leave the cleaning to a specialist in the given type of carpet.

Dry and wet cleaning at home

Besides vacuuming, you have two options at home. Dry cleaning uses powders or foams that bind dirt and are then vacuumed up; in its procedure, CRI mentions a dry absorbent cleaning product as a way to shorten the drying time. Wet cleaning means applying a solution, working it in and extracting it again, either by hand or with a home extractor.

The same applies to both: follow the instructions for the product and the machine. CRI sums it up by saying that more product does not mean a better result. Always do a test on a hidden spot before treating a larger area.

Drying and the risk of mould

An over-wet carpet dries for a long time, and the damp beneath it can damage the floor and underlay. In its guide to mould and moisture in your home, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends drying water-damaged areas and items within 24 to 48 hours to prevent mould from starting to grow, and notes that absorbent materials such as carpets may have to be thrown away once mould has set in.

• Use as little water as possible and extract moisture as you go.
• After cleaning, ventilate the room and let the carpet dry without furniture on it.
• You can dry a smaller carpet laid out flat or hung up, not rolled.
• If the carpet still smells musty after two days or it is wet underneath, deal with it immediately. You can read more about the causes of damp in the article mould on walls.

The most common mistakes

• Scrubbing with a brush. It spreads the stain and ruffles or damages the carpet pile.
• Too much product. Whatever remains in the carpet attracts new dirt.
• Missing rinsing. Even a mild detergent has to be removed from the fibre with clean water.
• Over-wetting. Water seeps into the underlay, the carpet takes days to dry and starts to smell.
• Coloured cloths. They may bleed colour, which is why CRI recommends white ones.
• Mixing products. Never combine products containing chlorine with acids or with ammonia; you will find details in the article dangerous combinations of cleaning products.

When it is time for shampooing

CRI recommends having carpets professionally deep cleaned every 12 to 18 months, and in households with pets more often if needed, because regular vacuuming does not remove settled dirt from deep in the pile. It is also time for shampooing when:

• the carpet is visibly darker in the most walked-on areas and vacuuming does not fix it,
• a stain keeps coming back after cleaning,
• an odour comes from the carpet even after airing,
• you are about to move out of the flat or hand it over.

Úklid 1-2-3 offers machine extraction cleaning of carpets as part of the service upholstery, carpet and mattress shampooing; you will find current prices in the price list.