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Despite our best efforts at cleanliness, your carpet will eventually become the victim spills, drops, and whatever on the bottom of your shoes. Dirt is like thousands of small blades that cut carpet fibers. It indeed dulls the sheen when dirt scratches against the fibers. Over time, grinding dirt wears away the fibers too, which mats them down and makes them stain more easily. You can follow some tips to keep your carpet as dirt-free as possible. -Vacuum often Vacuum your entrance and other high-traffic areas twice a week and the rest of the carpeting at least weekly. Frequent vacuuming will reduce soil buildup. It is also advisable to make use of a professional carpet cleaning service once in a while for far better results. You can cut vacuum's suction power in half by using a dirty bag, dirt cup or filter. The reason why bagless vacuum stop working is that the filters aren't changed often enough. If possible, replace or wash the filters on bagless vacuums every three months. Replace the vacuum bags when they are three-quarters full. -Use a professional Most carpet manufacturers recommend professional hot water extraction as the primary cleaning method for synthetic carpets. In this process, the carpet is pretreated with a detergent solution, and then a very hot rinse solution under high pressure is forced into your carpet and vacuumed out. It doesn’t leave behind a soap residue when done correctly. A quality professional will charge $300 to $500 to deep clean 1,000 sq. ft. of carpet. You may be tempted to skip professional cleanings altogether and just rent a machine to clean the carpet yourself at this price. Please don't or at least don’t do only that. It can only remove the surface dirt. But deep cleaning to remove dust and greasy residues and requires training of a professional and specialized equipment. The best strategy is to use our DIY cleaning tips most of the time and hire a professional every 3 to 4 months. -DIY Sometimes hiring a professional service can be expensive. so the next best approach is DIY. 1) Clean the carpet when the colors start looking dull. It will be much more difficult, take much longer and cost more if you wait until the carpet gets filthy. 2) Vacuum the carpet before and after cleaning to remove large particles of soil. 3) Mix a few drops of detergent with hot water in a spray bottle and lightly mist the dirtiest areas. Leave it for 5 to 10 minutes before starting the general cleaning. 4) Don't over wet the carpet as most DIY machines put a lot of moisture into the carpet, and most don’t have strong enough suction to extract it thoroughly. Just make only one pass with the soap and water solution. Another single pass is enough with the neutralizing rinse solution. Then make two or three drying passes with the water off. 5) After cleaning the carpets, use fans and a dehumidifier, open the windows or put the AC on a moderate setting (preferably 72 to 78 degrees) to remove excess moisture from the air. Don’t replace the furniture or walk on the carpet until it’s completely dry. This can take up to 12 hours, though six to eight hours are typical.
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