How to clean carpet. It’s a question homeowners and renters alike have been asking for decades. That warm, luxurious material layered upon the floor of the home can be an enigmatic challenge when it comes to proper and effective care and maintenance.
But even more concerning these days is doing so with an eye towards the environment. Eco-friendly carpet cleaning practices have become more important than ever before as the effects of climate change are growing more ominous and threatening each year.
You can do your part to lessen your impact on our ailing environment by adopting more ecologically considerate habits for cleaning the carpets in your home. The good news is that you have a number of green and sustainable options at your disposal for keeping your carpet clean.
Routine Vacuuming
Most carpet manufacturers suggest that you call professional carpet cleaning in bellevue to service your carpets once a year, twice for homes with high levels of foot traffic, pets, and young children. So the cleaning practices that can affect the environment most take place on an annual basis on average.
But in the meantime, you still want to be sure that your beautiful carpet is well-maintained and that starts with routine vacuuming. The dirt and grime found in most carpets (known as “dry soil”) accounts for about 90% of the allergens and contaminants that need to be eliminated.
Your vacuum can pick up this dry soil, especially when it remains towards the top surface of the carpet. Setting a weekly schedule to vacuum your carpet can capture that soil and keep it from settling deeper into the fibers, which will make it harder to eliminate with just a vacuum.
Deeper Cleaning
Going eco-friendly means hiring a cleaning service or doing the work yourself with cleansers that have been certified sustainable by the Carpet and Rug Institute (yes, such a thing actually exists!) These products are green certified as per the Environmental Protection Agency, Ecologo, or Envirodesic. All of these bodies have strict criteria for declaring a cleaner environmentally safe, so you know you are working with a sustainable cleaning option.
Homemade Cleansers
Using chemicals on your carpet is something many of us who are concerned about the environment want to avoid. So turning to homemade alternatives can be effective for both the carpet and the world around you. Three of the most popular ingredients that can do the trick are baking soda, white vinegar and warm water. These are the basis of any good homemade cleaning solution.
Baking soda is excellent for removing odors, white vinegar for lifting those tough stains. Using both can give your carpet that new, replenished look and feel you want without damaging the environment. There are many recipes for homemade carpet cleansers you can find online, each of them good for treating messes when they occur and giving the carpet a much-needed cleaning on an annual basis.
Just be careful that your recipe doesn’t contain other harmful ingredients that all but render the good ingredients null and void.
