BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Cleaning Steam Cleaning the Carpet

Spring is here which means I can finally steam clean the carpet and have it dry quickly. The windows being open helps SO much with drying time!

I'm off to do two passes - one with detergent, then a water rinse. We'll see how long this takes!

Over an hour to steam clean the living room carpet. It's clean! Plus I cleaned up the wine fridge top, while listening to Transformation CD. OK, progress.

Next, the bathroom floor. I'm running out of time now, guests arrive at 6 2.5 hrs!

I can't wait until it's warm enough here to do the exact same thing, Lisa. With all of the extra people in my house, my wall to wall is totally depressing to look at. It's so funny that you would post this today. I did break out my little handheld earlier and at least did the stairs. Another couple of months and I should be able to do a serious steam clean!!!

I haven't done the stairs in YEARS, so you are ahead of me. I should try to do that sometime in the coming week. That and my office which is now COVERED in piles of paper and books. Everything that was in the living room has come into here.

Gosh, you are fast at steam cleaning your living room carpet. I always steam clean my whole house right before Thanksgiving. Time to do it again in a couple of weeks unless your available. LOL I just love clean carpet, mostly since I have all white carpet throughout the house.

There are a few things to know when you steam clean a carpet. First, be sure you are steam cleaning and not wet cleaning. There is a difference. If water--hot or cold--is being sprayed onto your carpet, it is wet cleaning.

Both wet and steam cleaning should not be done more than three times a year as water, heat and cleaners break down the fibers and backing of the carpet. And when you do clean it, rinse well or dirt will stick to the residual cleansers and cause stain spots.

Also, do keep your carpets cleaned and vacuumed to get a long life from them, not to mention better appearance! Dirt rubs and breaks down carpet fibers when people walk on it. And then, it can settle underneath and no amount of vacuuming will pick it up. So spot clean often and vacuum more than once a week.

One last tip: Do as the Japanese do! Take off your shoes when you are indoors. That is good for your feet AND your carpet. But try your best not to go barefoot. The oils from your feet, as well as the smelly odor and possible foot fungi, transfer to the carpet and will attract dirt. Dirt will stick to all that muck and not vacuum up. So the key is to wear houseshoes or socks!

If you don't like to wear houseshoes or socks, or if guests come along, it is better to keep outdoor shoes on. Just brush them well before entering and be sure to vacuum your carpet often.

Some types of carpet suppliers will Scotch Guard your carpet or some other type of protection. That is well worth the added cost.

Oh, and those dry spray on carpet cleaners work but you must vacuum super well because tiny particles left behind can be hard on those with asthma or little babies who crawl on carpet. In fact, if you have babies, I would refrain from using those.

Sorry for the long post but I couldn't resist putting in my two cents.

Chi, I think you have great suggestions. i try to do have house shoes in the RV we live in, but it's not really realistic. So we ripped out anything resembling carpet and just use a squeegee-like floor sweeper several times a day.

I have a habit of ripping up carpet every place i live. Sometimes I get in trouble for it. I hate carpet. To me, carpet is like having a petri dish for a floor.

The times i have been forced to have carpet, I use a steam cleaner with no soap a few times a month, just to suck up the grossness.

I also don't use sponges. LOL. Honestly, sponges and carpets are SO appealing to microorganisms. And solid flooring is so much prettier.

Obviously I am a flooring person.

I agree about solid flooring! But there is something so comforting about wriggling your toes into plush CLEAN carpet! It's nice to have carpet in the bedroom at least! Otherwise, the room feels so cold.

I do use sponges but I either 1. zap them wet in a microwave oven; 2. run them in the dishwasher; or 3. rinse with a touch of bleach in order to disinfect them. My sponges don't last long when I bleach them, but on well.

What you posted makes a lot of sense. I'm glad you put in your two cents. I clean my carpt twice a year and do minor spot cleaning when needed. I make it a habit to remove the shoes before entering the house. With white carpet throughout the house, I can imagine what it would look like without taking off the shoes. Thanks for the great advice, and I'm sure people are taking it to heart.

I also did that work on my carpet because my parrot bird did a poop on it. I dried it in front of my window and though the wind are strong, I easily dried it.