Carpet on Stairs

Spray resolve (or another carpet spot cleaner) lightly across the stair, then scrub with a hand brush and wipe with a clean cloth. They will be a little damp, but will dry quickly. If you have stains, spray a little directly on them and let sit for about 5 minutes before tackling the whole stair. Good luck.

Got kids? Teach them to vacuum. I'm kidding but I'm not.

The easiest step is the no shoes inside the house rule. ;)

We had snow white carpet in our entire house as a child. What a mistake. My mother never thought so. We vacuumed it daily if not twice. On the stairs she had what we called plastic runners. It was about the width of the stairs and on the back seam where the stair you are on and the next stair begins there were long rods that hooked into these circular holders that the rods went into. She did this only on the stairs from the entry way to the living room. Eventually she did it from the living room to the second floor even.

It worked and looked fine. It was crystal clear and once it wasn't anymore she'd buy new. I know we got it at furniture mart here in Omaha and it came in big rolls. I seem to remember her getting it cut to her length but I'm sure any flooring store has it. But I do remember it came in clear, frosted, and this funny ugly I don't know umber.

But that is what we always did as a child. The only annoying thing is she'd expect us to remove it once a week and vacuum the COVERED stairs! Yeah clean freak to an unreal degree.

put plastic runners on them...

I have cats who scratch the stairs, lately, I've purchased small rugs and taped them to the stairs. Not only does it work, but I can wash the rugs when they are dirty.

R. Magby

No shoes has been mentioned and is very important--all kinds of nasty things are stuck to the bottoms of our shoes.

Also depending on what kind of carpet you have you can sweep them daily--on mine I just start at the top and easily sweep all the way to the bottom and then use the vacuum at the very bottom--it works very well. We're not very good at taking our shoes off either, so sweeping them works well!!

use one of those "rubber" rugs or whatever.
and just make sure that no one wears shoes on them. thats a big one.

We have a Bisell Little Green Machine. It is really easy to use and just the right size for stairs.

I have some friends who have a no shoes worn in the house policy. When they (or friends) come in, they all line up their shoes by the door. If they keep shoes in a closet, they carry them to a door to put them on just before leaving the house. You'd be surprised how much dirt shoes can track all over house.