Carpets are used in almost every modern home to enhance the beauty of the living room. This increased beauty brings along an additional duty of carpet cleaning. As carpets are quite big in size, they cannot be put into machines for cleaning. Besides, vacuum cleaning provides only a temporary cleaning and does not ensure adequate cleaning of the house. That is how the idea of steam cleaning has come into being.
WHAT IS STEAM CLEANING?
Carpet Steam Cleaning not cleaning with water produced steam. It is cleaning through detergents activated by steam or hot water. It is a form of dry cleaning though not exactly the same. In this, the amount of water utilization is quite less and the equipment required for the same are the steam cleaning machine, detergent, and water.
WHEN TO DO STEAM CLEANING?
It is very essential to know the right time of doing steam cleaning. Steam cleaning should be done at a time when it is sure that the number of people visiting the house is going to be very less. Besides, it is also important to know the right weather for cleaning the carpet. It is more fruitful to steam clean the carpet during summers as the weather is hot which makes it easier to dry the carpet and fans can be used to dry the carpet. In addition, the windows can be opened to ensure more air and quick drying.
HOW TO DO STEAM CLEANING?
The carpet steam cleaning process can be divided into three broad categories which are discussed below:
PART 1
- Making the room free: it is important to remove all the furniture from the room to safeguard the furniture. Additionally, removing furniture from the room makes more space for better cleaning of carpets. If it is not possible to totally vacate the room, it should be tried to push the push the furniture to a corner as much as possible and the legs of the furniture are to be covered with aluminum squares to protect them from water damage.
- Removing the dust from corners and ceiling: while the cleaning process is going on, the carpet can get dirty soon if the cleanliness of the room is not ensured. Therefore, all the corners, as well as ceiling and ceiling fans, must be cleaned prior to the beginning of carpet cleaning.
- Vacuum cleaning of room and carpet: the floor of the room also carries a lot of dust and dust particles. Similarly, the carpet also carries hair and other particles. All these are warded off better with the help of vacuum cleaner as steam cleaning removes fine dust particles and debris from the carpet. It is advisable to vacuum clean the room twice. While cleaning it for the second time, it should be done in the opposite direction of the first time.
- Stain remover: there are some stubborn spots that may not go off with steam cleaning. Thus, using stain removers can help to get rid of those stains.
PART 2
- Filling the steam cleaning machine with hot water: take as much hot water as possible, but it should not be boiled. The required quantity of water is mentioned on the machine.
- Detergent: the next step is to add detergent specifically designed for this purpose. Either, there is a specific location for putting detergent or it can be mixed with water in the required quantity.
- Vinegar over detergent: as mentioned earlier, it is not the steam which is responsible for cleaning the carpet but the detergent is. If someone is allergic to detergents or prefers organic cleaning, vinegar can be used. The ratio of vinegar to water is 50:50.
PART 3
- Start cleaning the carpet from a corner: It is advisable to start cleaning of the carpet from a corner which generally rests diagonally along the door. While moving for the cleaning, one can finally step out of the room once it is done.
- Move the machine as per directions: Some carpet cleaning machines come along with both push and pull options and thus should be used accordingly. Whereas, there are some which have only pull option or only push option. As the machine directs, the same way it should be used.
It is also important to not to step on the part of the carpet being cleaned over. If at all, it is necessary, it should be done barefoot.
- Clean in a linear fashion: Carpet cleaning should be done in lines. While moving to the second line, the first line should be slightly overlapped so that no area is left unclean.
- Slow movement of machine: The carpet cleaning machines should be moved at moderate speeds to ensure better cleaning.
- Drying the carpet: the carpets take one day to dry generally. The windows can be opened and the fans can be switched on for quick drying. Along with this, there should not be any stepping on the carpet until it dries up.
All in all, steam carpet cleaning increases the longevity of the carpet and also increases its beauty with its cleanliness.
