Having the cleanest carpet you can get is a very important task for lots of homeowners. The combinations of dust and oils lead to dirty traffic areas. When you walk on carpet barefoot, body oil transfers into the carpet fibers. The oil from a pet’s feet end up in your carpet. Your carpet will become dirtier over time because oils attract more dirt.
Hot water extraction is the best method as it remove soils by rinsing with hot water. Make sure you use only hot water to mix your traffic lane cleaner and leave it on your carpet for a good time of 15 minutes and then wash it off. If you do the cleaning yourself, make sure you use the warmest water possible as this will yield better results.
In any case, use a machine with strong enough vacuum power to extract the water and dirt. In order to leave your carpet in a PH balanced state, a mild acid rinse is sometimes necessary if your traffic lane cleaner has high alkalinity. When your all done cleaning, apply a fabric protection and turn on your ceiling fans. Set your heat to 80 degrees as this will hold more moisture than cold air. Open a window or door if the air outside has low humidity. Otherwise your air conditioner is best..
Also make sure that you get a professional cleaning done at least every year for better health of your carpets and better traffic lane appearance. It’s vital you have your traffic areas cleaned long before it ever shows dirt.. You may have damage done to your carpet if you wait until it looks dirty.
Consider reapplying fabric protection every other year to protect high traveled areas. Often, 3M fabric protection is applied at the mill when new carpet is made. High traffic lanes get less protected as time goes by due to abrasion.
If you go by these rules, your traffic areas will appear much better for a lot longer.
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