Your Ultimate Carpet Care Guide

Posted on by Susan

YOUR ULTIMATE CARPET CARE GUIDE

Here at Forest Flooring, we just love carpets; which is handy, since we sell a great many of them. In our opinion, you just can’t beat a carpet in your home. Not only do they add beauty and style, they’re a great way to personalise your living space – offering either a neutral supporting act for your furniture or even a vibrant focal point, with strong colours and patterns.

Did you know that a good quality carpet is also super-practical?

Your carpet offers you warmth and comfort, it can lessen the impact of trips and falls, and if you have a big screen TV or a mega sound system, it’s a great absorber of sound, creating a barrier between floors and walls. This is a handy way to keep your neighbours happy if you decide to dance around your room on a Saturday morning. Worth knowing.

Today’s carpets are increasingly environmentally friendly, too; they retain warm air for longer when it’s chilly outside, enabling you to turn your heating down a notch or two. What’s more, their durable manufacturing process makes for a long-lasting investment, even with considerable traffic in key areas in your home. Value for money all-round, we think.

Talking of which, you’ll want to keep your carpets in great condition, so we’ve put together this handy guide. Forest Flooring’s philosophy is simple: we want you to buy the best and for it to spark joy every single day. The good news is that keeping it in tip-top condition is relatively easy, but there are a few things to be aware of just in case.

Basic Carpet Care Guide

Woollen and Wool Mix Carpets

Woollen and wool mix carpets are a stunning choice for your home. They offer wonderful comfort underfoot, as well as superb performance. As wool is a natural substance, it’s easy to care for. Mostly, all you need to do is vacuum on a regular basis to keep it looking at its best (although of course see below for some of the main “oops” moments and how to deal with them).

Check out our carpets in this range here.

Man-Made Carpets

At Forest Flooring, we’re really proud of our collection of affordable man-made carpets. They look and feel so much like the real thing, you simply wouldn’t notice the difference. Affordable and resilient, we offer high-quality carpets by Cormar, Hugh Mackay, and Furlong.

Find out more about our man-made carpet range here.

Did you know that should you spill anything on a man-made carpet, you can simply use a 50:50 bleach/water combination in a plastic bottle to remove the stain? Just cover the stain for about half an hour, and rinse thoroughly with water. You will not damage the carpet at all. Important: do not even think about cleaning a wool or wool mix carpet with bleach; it will remove its colour and you will not be happy.

For more direct advice, let’s start with everyone’s nightmare:

How to Remove Red Wine from a Carpet

You will need to act fast, so don’t sit there in despair looking at your spilt glass of wine and having a panic.  Use a light-coloured cloth (so that you can see what you’re doing), and blot the stain. Do not rub it, as you will make things much worse. No rubbing, OK? Pour some cold water directly onto the stain, and this will start to dilute it.
Then, make up a paste of 3 parts baking soda to one part water and apply to the stain. Once everything is dry, vacuum the stain and it should have gone.
Removing Wax from a Carpet
Again, don’t hang around.
Fill a bag with ice and apply to the wax; this will start to freeze it, so leave it for a couple of minutes to do its job.  Then, we’re doing the opposite:
Heat your iron to warm (not hot), and lay a cloth or fairly thick brown paper bag directly over the wax. Next, gently press the iron on top of the paper or cloth, and the material will start to absorb the wax, thus lifting it away from the carpet. Move the iron to different parts of the paper in order to get up as much as you can. Voila.
Getting Rid of Mud Stains
This time, you will have to wait a while – for the mud to dry completely. Vacuum the area thoroughly, then you can use carpet shampoo on a piece of white cloth and carefully blot the mark. Repeat with clean water until the cloth is no longer picking up the stain.
Pet Stains
Here, the best substance to use is an enzyme-based solution that’s appropriate to your carpet type. However, don’t forget to test it on a small, discreet area just in case.  Avoid starting near the door, as you don’t want to find yourself trapped in a corner! If you can, once the solution has done its thing, open the windows as this will help the drying process.
Coffee Stains
Use the classic blotting method to remove as much of the coffee stain as you can with a white cloth. Wielding a spot remover, apply this to the offending splodge and carefully blot the area until the cloth is no longer picking up any marks. Then, remove any excess water and allow to dry.
Everyday Care for Your Carpet
  • Just a quick repeat: vacuuming at least once a week is highly recommended to keep everything spick and span.
  • Avoid direct sunlight as this can cause the beautiful colour of your carpet to fade; blinds and curtains can do a great job for you here.
  • Try using furniture cups under the chair legs of your furniture to avoid indentations, and do move your pieces around for more even wear and tear.
  • Think about putting doormats near your doors (the clue’s in the title!) as this helps in heavy traffic areas when people come in and out in dirty shoes.
  • Don’t pull at loose bits on your carpet – you could end up with bald flooring.
  • New carpets may deliver some loose fibres to the surface, so your handy hoover will deal with these.
  • Consider investing in a domestic carpet cleaner. You will be amazed at how much dirt can come out, and the results will be impressive, to say the least.
  • If all else fails, commercial carpet cleaning companies can work their professional best to restore your much-loved carpet back to its best.
Your busy family home is your castle. It’s somewhere to rest and relax at the end of the day, so you’ll want to keep it looking and feeling great. We hope you’ve found our care guide useful. Get in touch if you need any more information from the friendly folks here at Forest Flooring. We’re here to help.

 

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