First of all the best friend of a carpet or rug is your vacuum cleaner. Be sure to choose one that has a lot of power and has wands and attachments. You will have invested a lot of money on that carpeting and on your rugs and you will need a good cleaning tool to maintain them.
Check to find out what kind of carpeting you may have such as natural fibers: wool and cotton or synthetic fibers used today such as nylons, acrylics, polyester and polypropylene olefins.
Most of these synthetic fibers require the same care as wool. Now, polypropylene is one of the most durable and is used mostly for outdoor carpeting and in the kitchen. The nylons and acrylics are also used a lot in the kitchen as they are easily maintained.
The best plan for maintenance of your carpets and rugs is to do a daily pickup by vacuuming all of the surfaces thereby picking up particles that haven’t had time to be tracked down into the carpet fibers. You’ll need to do a thorough job by vacuuming sling, and please do pay attention to the edges, and don’t forget those dark places under your furniture, get out the wand if necessary.
If you have rugs that can be moved, then distribute the wear evenly. Turn the rugs just as you would a mattress in opposite directions at least once a year. When you pick up those rugs, be sure to check to make sure no nails are sticking up and that there are no sharp objects that could harm either the floor or the rug, as for example, a child’s piece of a Lego toy and so on.
Try to use steel guides or carpet casters on those movable chairs, put these under the leg of any piece of furniture in your home to prevent pile from crushing or wearing a hole in the rug or carpet. They are inexpensive but even if they weren’t they are quite a bargain when you look at the expense of repairing or replacing your rugs or carpeting.
Here’s a hint to try about once a month, sometimes stretch it to two months, before vacuuming the rugs and carpets, take a damp sponge mop that has been dipped into a mixture of one pint of water and a half cup of ammonia, then squeezed dry and go over the rugs and carpets, then vacuum. This actually helps to refresh them and adds a sparkle, very little time and very little expense, not like buying cans of carpet spray.
About every three to six months rent a carpet shampoo machine, the cost is minimal, probably less than twenty dollars with the machine, including the necessary cleaning ingredients and do the occasional shampooing to keep the carpet from having deep down dirt that perhaps the vacuum hasn’t been picking up, plus this does clean the fibers of the rugs and carpets.
Remember the more daily, weekly and occasional shampooing and cleaning of the carpet, the more time you will have to enjoy and be proud of these rugs and carpets before replacing them as that can be very expensive. Anything worth having is worth taking the extra effort to take care of by doing your very best.
