Carpets are a useful and beautiful furnishing accessory but they have a sore point: cleanliness. Let’s see how to ensure correct washing and perfect disinfection.
Color, atmosphere, decoration: these are just some of the qualities for which you decide to place rugs at home. However, whether it is in the living room, bedroom, kitchen or bathroom, in any case, we will have to pay attention to proper hygiene, because in a short time they can turn into a receptacle for pathogenic microorganisms. The carpet cleaning becomes necessary when you have at home pets and kids who love to play on this description. The texture that is sometimes rough, sometimes softer, is precisely the most appreciated characterizing element.
There are several methods for washing carpets: from natural ones to other artificial ones, from do-it-yourself to professional service. In short, to improve the quality of life and ensure the healthiness of the environments in which we live and work, it is also important to remember this piece of furniture that is sometimes overlooked. Even more so if you have a white carpet, which gets dirty even just a few minutes after its placement.
But now let’s stop chattering and let’s find out how to make the surface of this component of your furniture perfectly clean and disinfected.
Do-it-yourself method
Large and small rugs are not always easy to transport to specialized stores for thorough cleaning. For this reason, we want to first offer you an idea on how to make a type of detergent at home, using ingredients within everyone’s reach. The first thing to do is to get bicarbonate and Marseille soap, as well as essential oils of verbena and eucalyptus which will also give a particular scent. Then, reduce the dough into very thin flakes, filling a cup.
Now you will have to pour all the soap obtained in a double quantity of bicarbonate, adding ten drops of eucalyptus essential oil and eight of that of verbena. Put everything aside, because before proceeding with washing or anything else you will have to eliminate the most superficial dirt using, for example, a Hobart Clean Masters.
After making sure that you have removed any layer of dust, it is time to sprinkle the carpet with this mixture, putting a little more on the stubborn stains. Separately, combine water and white vinegar in equal parts in a bowl (so make 500 ml each for 1 L), dip a sponge and wipe it over the entire surface. In this case, the secret will be to use circular and continuous movements, as if you were shampooing in the shower.
Cleaning the carpet with bicarbonate is not as difficult as you think, you just need to be patient, because you will have to let everything dry in the open air for a few days, and then vacuum again with the vacuum cleaner. The mixture will bring all the dirt with it, even the stains of our four-legged friends.
You may have already understood that not all products are suitable for washing the carpet some are more useful than others. For example, bicarbonate is a natural antiseptic and disinfectant, but also a germicide; in addition, it is biodegradable and unlike chemicals, it is healthy and gentle on the skin, so it is ideal for those who do not know how to wash carpets.
How to clean Persian carpets
Arriving this far you may be wondering how the Persian carpets are washed instead. Well, even in this case you can adopt the same technique illustrated above, but there is another one that is not always considered: the one with ammonia. When it comes to cleaning precious carpets, this product can be easily diluted with water.
Then, using a cloth moistened in this mixture, you can gently rub on the surface to be cleaned, already freed from dust and coarser dirt.
The only fundamental precaution to have is to never pour the detergent directly on the carpet, otherwise, it could be ruined and inevitably discoloured. To disinfect you can use special sprays that are easily found on the market, to be sprayed on the surface, or dissolve the bicarbonate in a little white wine vinegar by vaporizing the mixture with the aid of a nebulizer.
Another tip is to use brushes with soft bristles, which allow you not to scratch the carpet and quickly revive the colour without necessarily taking it to a shop. Clearly, in exceptional cases, it is better to seek help from a professional and avoid doing irreversible damage.
Machine wash: can it be?
It is not always easy and pleasant to clean by hand for everyone many want to understand how to wash carpets in the washing machine. To ensure that no damage is caused, before proceeding with any operation, it is advisable to consult the label on the back of the product. The manufacturer will have entered all the information necessary to wash your carpet in the washing machine.
For example, the important data are certainly the water temperature, and also the need to use delicate treatments. But keep in mind one thing: some rugs such as those for the kitchen, which generally have an inflexible plastic base, will need to be cleaned by hand.
Drying phase
We know that when cleaning and disinfecting the carpet, one of the first things we would like to do is put it in its place in the centre of the room. However, we advise you not to do this, because even if you have only removed a stain, it needs to be dried completely.
Especially the long-pile carpet: if it is still damp, the risk that bacterial proliferation increases are practically around the corner.
For this reason, it is good to pay attention to drying, which will be done either through special appliances or with a lot of patience. In the first case, you can go to the laundry and with a few euros use their devices; in the second, however, you can use a vacuum cleaner to suck away all the water, always following the direction of the hair.
