Preparing for a Family Gathering

There are few things that will make your home feel and smell as clean as having the carpets professionally cleaned. How can you hold on to that fresh, clean look and smell? Here, you'll find a few tips that'll help to protect your carpet between professional cleanings.

Stay Off the Carpet            

It might be difficult to fight the urge to go into the rooms that were just cleaned and begin moving things around and restoring some sort of order. The worst thing that you can do to freshly cleaned carpeting is to walk over it.

When you walk on damp carpeting, the moisture is pressed deeper into the fibers and padding. This can cause the dirt that is deep down to rise to the surface and become a visible mark on the carpeting.

Fortunately, professional carpet cleaning services use some very powerful equipment to get the carpets cleaned. The suction is so powerful that it typically only takes a day or so for the carpet to fully dry. Discuss the drying time with the carpet cleaning professionals before they leave. Drying time varies by equipment and carpet type, as well as the climate at the time of cleaning.

Tip: Wait a few days before putting heavy furniture on the carpeting, if possible. If you can't wait, fold some aluminum foil, wrap it with wax paper, and slide it underneath the feet of the furniture. This will keep the dirt on the feet from transferring onto the carpeting, and it will protect wooden feet from moisture that may remain in the carpeting.

Wait a Week to Vacuum

As pretty as the carpet patterns are after vacuuming, try to avoid vacuuming for about a week after the carpets have been cleaned. This will not only protect the carpeting, but it will also protect your vacuum. Vacuums should never be used on damp surfaces; doing so can cause electrical problems and can cause the dirt to cake up in the hoses and parts.

When you do vacuum, be sure that you're vacuuming in different directions. Some people make the mistake of using the same pattern or path as they vacuum. This doesn't get the fibers in the carpeting shifted around to suck up the dirt that's deep in the carpet. Vacuum in various directions and keep your filters clean so that your vacuum will maintain its full suction power.

Talk with your professional carpet cleaning technicians. They'll answer any questions you may have about caring for your carpet after a cleaning.