Cleaning Outside Dirt From Your Carpet

If the endless days of summer have meant family, friends and pets traipsing in and out of your home, you might notice your carpets are looking a little grubbier than a few months ago. This might be most noticeable in rooms with direct access to the garden or outdoor area or in rooms with lighter carpets. Luckily, you can refresh your carpets and help them to look almost as good as new once more, so let’s take a look at how to give your carpets an end-of-summer deep clean.

• 1. Vacuum. This will remove surface dirt and debris in addition to picking up dust and other small particles. This means you will be ready for the next step and won’t run the risk of rubbing loose dirt into your carpet.
• 2. Identify any areas that are looking grubby. Perhaps there is a section of carpet by an external door that looks dirty from the constant stream of feet or a patch of mud or grass stains that appeared a few weeks ago and you didn’t get round to dealing with.
• 3. Fill a spray bottle with lukewarm water and spray the affected areas generously until they are damp. Use a clean light-coloured towel – kitchen towel is fine, if easier – to blot the area. You should see the dirt coming up with the water. Keep repeating – spray, blot, spray, blot – until no more dirt appears on your towel.
  If the stains have now disappeared, you are done; if not, it is time to add detergent into the mix.
• 4. If you have a carpet cleaning solution, use this; if not, washing up liquid is a good substitute, but check with your carpet manufacturer before using and test it on an inconspicuous section of carpet first.
• 5. Dissolve a small amount of cleaning solution/washing up liquid in a bucket of lukewarm water. Take a clean cloth, dip it in the solution, and wring it out. Work the stain with the cloth until the stained area is saturated. If you are using a carpet cleaning solution, check the instructions to see whether it should be left on to work its magic; if not, take a clean towel or paper towel and begin to blot the stain, as you did in step three. Repeat this process until the stain is removed, working the stain with a damp cloth and then blotting it until the stain has gone.
• 6. Take your spray bottle with clean water once more and repeat step three, blotting to remove any remaining dirty water and detergent from the carpet.