No matter who you are or how carefully you tend your carpets, they'll eventually get dirty. In households with high traffic areas, kids, or pets, it happens a lot faster. Traditionally, the way to deal with this problem is to hire a cleaning service, or to rent or buy a carpet cleaning machine. However, the proprietary (and often toxic) chemicals in carpet cleaners are getting a lot more attention, as well as the fact that carpet cleaning machines can waste a lot of water. If you're wondering how to get your carpets clean as new without excess water use or exposing your family to formaldehyde, lye, artificial fragrances and other environmentally damaging, unhealthy chemicals, here's some information to help.
The first step to environmentally friendly carpet cleaning is reducing the amount of dirt that needs to be removed. Sweeping and vacuuming regularly can help keep your carpets tidy. As soon as you see a spill, do your best to keep it from staining. Also don't clean your carpets too often. While it might seem unpleasant at first to let them go a few extra months, it's better in the long run. Just don't let dirt get ground in.
If you're thinking about hiring someone to clean the carpets in your home, ask them about their carpet cleaning machines and the chemicals they use. Try to get in contact with someone who knows what they're talking about and can tell you what kind of impact the cleaning has on the environment. Overly high temperatures (more than about two hundred degrees), excessive chemical treatments, and other unnecessary carpet cleaning techniques should be avoided. Say no to finishing treatments like Scotchgard and similar stain repellents, which contain plastics, toxins, and other hazardous and environmentally unfriendly materials.
Whether you're hiring the work done or doing it yourself, the ideal carpet cleaning machine has a high suction, to get more dirt out and do it more quickly. The primary ingredients of carpet cleaning are heat, pressure, and suction. A machine that can produce these efficiently is better than one that has less power but more consumer features. Some machines filter and reuse their water, or have specific design features to reduce water use. This is better for the environment, especially if you live in a water poor area, and it's handier for you. Lower water requirements mean less over wetting, faster drying carpets, and less need to dump out old water and refill it with new. Look for machines that can use environmentally friendly detergents, so the water you do have to get rid of doesn't make as big an impact on the world around you.
Carpet Cleaning Related Article
Types of Carpet Cleaners
When most people think about keeping their carpets clean, vacuuming is the first thing that comes to mind. It's certainly the best and most effective method of carpet maintenance, since it takes out grit that can cut carpet...
