In between having your carpet professionally steam cleaned you will need to care for it appropriately to keep it looking nice and help to prevent stains and damage. The very first step to take is to keep grit and dirt right out of the home and this can best be done by providing mats to wipe shoes on at each doorway that gives entry. Otherwise, much of the dirt that is tracked in will end up in the carpet.

Many people use the vacuum cleaner to keep the dirt and dust out of their carpet and this is a good choice, so long as the suction is a strong one. If it isn’t then no amount of vacuuming will remove the dirt and dust. However, there is a proper way to vacuum the carpet that will get more grime out of it. Using a carpet accessory is good, but even that will not work well if you fly over the carpet in a hurry.

Do it slowly

The best way to vacuum is to do it slowly. This allows time for the dirt to work loose from the fibres and be sucked up into the cleaner. One quick pass over will leave behind a great deal of embedded grime.  Once you have cleaned from one direction – slowly – change direction by 90% and do it again. This helps the fibres to move in another direction and most of the dirt particles still trapped in them will be released.

You may think doing it over twice will wear the fibres out more quickly, but it is the abrasion of the tiny, sharp pieces of grit against the fibres that does the damage, not the suction of the vacuum cleaner.  Once this damage is done, that is when the fibres tend to break off and be sucked into the vacuum cleaner.

The pile is important

The deeper pile a carpet has, the more likely it is to have dirt deeply ingrained in it, because those fibres bend and twist more easily, trapping the dirt underneath them. So if you have shag carpet or deep pile carpet or rugs, be sure to follow the above tip for getting dirt out.

Deep pile carpet is soft, warm and luxurious and it looks terrific, at least when it is new, but it may not be the best choice for high traffic areas. Low pile or looped pile carpet will last longer as the dirt is easier to get out. Looped pile does offer a hiding place for dirt under those wide loops, but because they are wider much of the dirt remains on top of them.

No matter what type of carpet you have, you will find it lasts longer if you clean it the right way.