Pets bring great joy to our world and brighten up our day, but they also require lots of looking after and cleaning up. When you walk into a home you can usually tell if there are pets present, from the lingering smell to the piles of fur on the carpet.
If you live with a pet that regularly sheds her hair, you may have resigned yourself to the fact that you will never have clean carpets. This doesn’t have to be the case however, and in this article you will find out how you can have clean carpets again, without scrubbing for days on end.
Reasons to clean your carpets
There are a number of reasons to keep your carpets clean and looking fresh. Having a clean carpet benefits you and your family, your pets, and also the overall health of your home.
Maintain the appearance of a clean home
One of the first things that you notice when you walk into a house is a dirty carpet. If your carpet is full of crumbs and pet hair and covered in stains, it doesn’t give a very good first impression to visitors. After all, if you can’t keep your carpets clean then what do your kitchen and toilet look like?
Having a clean carpet is the first step to maintaining the appearance of a clean home. If the carpet is clean, then the rest of the mess in the house doesn’t seem as bad.
Deal with the smell
When living with pets, you have to also live with their numerous smells and odours. Whether it’s the smell from an accident they had on the floor, or the dog smell after they come in from the rain, your carpet has to deal with a lot of pet smells.
Bad odours in your carpet can linger throughout the whole house, and the stench will hit you as soon as you walk into the room. Cleaning your carpet is the first step to eliminating odours and having a fresh smelling home.
Good for their health
Having a clean carpet can reduce the chance of bacteria and infections. A fungal yeast infection can occur in cats and dogs, and cleaning your carpets regularly stops the infection from spreading.
Good for your health
Your pets will bring in all sorts of nasty bacteria into the house from outside. Some of these bacteria can make you sick, so it’s a good idea to clean your carpets regularly and remove as much as possible.
If you suffer from pet allergies then you will know how important it is to keep things clean. Most people think it is the hair from pets that cause allergy symptoms, but it is in fact the dander (dead skin). This dander is not visible to the human eye so even if your carpet looks clean, you still need to regularly vacuum to remove as much dander as possible.
How to clean your carpets
As you can see from the above points keeping your carpets clean is important if you live with pets. Cleaning your carpets doesn’t have to be a huge task, and if done regularly you’ll find that it doesn’t take long at all. You will probably already have everything you need to keep your carpets clean and smelling fresh.
Invest in a good vacuum cleaner
There are literally hundreds of vacuum cleaners on the market, and choosing the right one for your needs can be a challenge. Not all vacuum cleaners are made the same, and some are made for a specific purpose.
When dealing with pet hair and odours on your carpet, you need a vacuum cleaner that has been specifically designed for pets. The best vacuums for pet hair should have powerful suction, lots of tools and attachments for dealing with pet hair, and a cleaning head that has a brush bar. You should also look for a vacuum cleaner that has a large dust capacity so you don’t have to empty it after every use.
Most pet hair vacuums will have a motorised attachment; this is good for getting deep into the carpet fibres and lifting any stubborn hair. A crevice tool is also handy for cleaning hard to reach areas where pet hair is likely to accumulate.
You should aim to vacuum your carpets every day to really eliminate the pet hair and dander.
Steam clean your carpet regularly
Vacuuming your carpets every day will help deal with the pet odours, but it won’t completely get rid of them. You need to wash your carpets with a carpet cleaner. If you don’t have a carpet cleaner then you could always rent one for the day, or hire a professional company.
If you are like me and are not keen on using harsh chemicals to clean your carpets, then you could use a steam mop. Steam mops are usually associated with cleaning hard floors, but they work surprisingly well on carpets. The beauty of using a steam mop is that you don’t need to use any chemicals as the steam will kill any bacteria.
Most steam mops come with a carpet attachment that helps the mop glide over carpet. The key to using a steam mop on carpet is not to soak the carpet, as unlike a carpet cleaner, it can’t suck the water back out. Quickly go over the carpet so that the steam can get into the fibres, but don’t allow it to stay in one spot for too long.
If your carpet is really dirty and hasn’t been cleaned for a while, then I’d recommend you use a carpet cleaner first. Steam mops are good for regular maintenance but they are no substitute for a carpet cleaner if there is a lot of dirt.
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