Hey moms,
Well I have had it, come what may, I am cleaning this place up!!!! My carpet is the bane of my existence, it is so beyond gross. When we moved in they changed out the carpet but put in super cheap crappy carpet. I have lived in many apartments and never had carpet look like this, and of course I had kids in this house and you know how that goes.... So is there anything I can do to treat my carpet after I wash it? Also, I was thinking of just renting a shampooer up at the grocery store, anyone used one? Did it do pretty well? I had the carpet done about four months ago professionally and seriously, you can't tell. So if I am going to go to the trouble I would like to do something to keep the carpet from getting so stained up. Like can you do something to make it stain resistant? Last thing, I have a micro fiber couch and I just HATE that I have to take the covers off and wash them and then re-stuff them, it is a pain. Can you scotch guard micro fiber and how do you go about it? Thanks so much ladies:)
No shoes in the house and no food/drink on the carpet. We used to wear shoes in the house and the mop water would come out black after weekly moppings. Now we don't wear shoes. I mop once a month (bathrooms more often) and my mop water comes out clear!
no shoes in the house and food/drinks only allowed at the kitchen or dining room table will help keep your carpet from staining.
No shoes in house. Food only AT kitchen table.
I rented a cleaner from the grocery store. It had been used on dog urine, I assume. It was nasty.
Once a carpet cleaner used can scotch guard after doing my carpets.
It smelled badly for several hours, but once it dried there was no odor. I don't know that it helped because we had carpet in the kitchen which is very nasty.
I once got a company to do my house for $75 if I referred the neighbors.
I bought a carpet rake at lowes for $16. It is what fluffs carpet and makes it look new. I have no carpet in my house now. I hated cleaning it, but now I miss it.
2 things to seriously consider:
what is on the carpet that gets it so dirty?
what is on the furniture that you need to clean the upholestery or scotch guard it?
We do not wear shoes in the house. Shoes stay in the garage or we take them off once in the door and carry them to the closets. If feet are cold, we were slippers or socks, but the slippers and socks never go outdoors as footwear!
You would be amazed how much this helps.
Also, food & drink stays in the kitchen. No exceptions. OK, one exception, sick people are allowed to take water bottles to the bedroom.
We had cheap carpeting for years too. We upgraded and replaced all the carpeting 3 years ago. Better quality carpeting makes a big difference.....but you still have to keep the shoes and the food / drink off it or it will look trashed out, too.
My carpet is also usually pretty dirty, but I just have to vacuum it several times a week. We have a cat and in our apartment you step onto carpet when you walk in. Our dining table is also right next to the carpeted area, so most of it is cat hair, Cheerios (or whatever else the kids dribble behind them), and dirt/grass/gunk from outside. I only allow water away from the table, so food messes stay mostly on the linoleum (we break that rule when the kids are asleep, but we use plates and napkins), we take our shoes off right when we come in, and the cat never stains things, just sheds. What kind of stains are you dealing with? Is your table on the carpet? (Our "dining" area is a carpeted section between the living room and kitchen, we just use that as an extension of our small living area.) I have never tried anything to prevent stains, just limiting where stain-makers are allowed. I have a Bissel steam cleaner (borrowed long-term) that works for pulling extra dirt/dust/wet stains out of the carpet once in a while. I bought a solution for it but usually use white vinegar since I feel better using it with kids and a cat. We have really ratty furniture and I just keep large fleece blankets tucked over the back and seats, so if someone does make a mess it is easy to toss it in the laundry and put it back on. If you're really bothered by the carpet quality, sometimes you can find area rugs that look nice even over a carpeted area. I've thought of that but since my house is so uncoordinated and garage sale/dorm looking, I'm not sure what the point would be.
I do think that Resolve is an excellent cleaner to keep on hand--just make sure everything is cleaned when it is fresh so the stain doesn't have time to go deep into the carpet fibers and dry. With the steamer, sometimes I actually massage hot water with dish soap into the carpet really well and then use the steamer to pull it all out and rinse it. That sometimes helps with stubborn stains.
i have a shampooer,id invest in one, they are super useful, also i dont allow shoes in the house
I have rented a shampooer twice. You have to buy products to use with it. One is for stained carpet. They work if you take your time and overlap each time you go down a path on the carpet. You clean only one direction. Make sure you plan ahead what path you are taking to do the entire room since it will be quite wet (especially if you have to go over an area multiple times) and it won't be obvious which areas are done and which aren't. If you don't get all the areas done evenly, you will notice stripes when the carpet dries of which paths you did better than others. You will need to do it on a warm day and use lots of fans to dry the carpet.
