Need advice on cleaning a cream carpet

[keep-it-tidy]

please help i moved into this house a yr ago and there's cream carpet in the sitting room [ dreadful if you ask me] any ways the land lady got it cleaned before i moved in and altough the guy took up the dirt cleaning it 2 weeks later it went dirty looking again, over the last yr the hubby and myself have rented a carpet cleaner costing 60e every 6 weeks to keep it clean and 2 weeks after we do it, it goes back dirty again


i get the feeling its only lifting the surface dirt and not doing a proper clean is there any way we could get it clean lookin nice before we move out/? dont have the money to rent the machine as we need to have a months rent in advance, any help would be greatful :)

[sparkwell]

Hiya Keep it Tidy

My sympathies trying to keep that clean must be dreadful and so impractical in a room used all the time. I have used a white vinegar solution in quite warm water to freshen a darker carpet and it works very well but will take a while to do on your hands and knees if the room is quite big. You could do that on the cleaner areas. Another thing to try is vanish spray foam it is very good for stubborn stains so a combination of both you might get away with spending 10 euros??

Good luck

Sparkwell

[mammasboys]

One thing you could do which is free is to get in the habit of taking your shoes off at the door so you don't walk any muck in from outside. Another would be to use get a carpet or rug second hand and place it in the most troublesome spots or pick up a big blanket in a second hand shop and use it like rug?
Good luck.

[BB2]

I have to agree a cream carpet in a living room sounds very impractical. I have a man who comes to clean my carpet and upholstery- he says never use anything other than hot soapy water to clean stains and he has come across a lot of carpets etc destroyed by cleaning products like vanish (which I did myself!). I know it seems very expensive to have the carpet cleaned but if you go experimenting yourself the landlady may ask you to replace the whole carpet which will be a lot more costly to you. I feel sorry for you it really is silly to have a cream carpet in a high traffic area!

[Fries-With-That]

The easiest way to clean a carpet, and this won't cost you a fortune is with one of the liquid washing machine solutions ( aerial bold persil).

Mix up a solution in a bucket of hand hot water less than 45C.

Use a sponge on the heavy soil areas, don't have the sponge soaking wet, you can also pre treat areas with this solution with a spray bottle.

When you have an area cleaned dry it by rubbing with a towel.

The reason your carpet gets dirty again is that all most of the basic carpet cleaning machines only clean the top layer, some only wash the dirt from the top layer to the bottom.

Walking on the carpet just brings the dirt back to the surface.

[keep-it-tidy]

Originally Posted by Fries-With-That

The reason your carpet gets dirty again is that all most of the basic carpet cleaning machines only clean the top layer, some only wash the dirt from the top layer to the bottom.

Walking on the carpet just brings the dirt back to the surface.

i knew they were not doing a proper job and renting them is a waste of money!! i will be trying this method over the weekend after all the new yr celebrations, i have got into th habit of taking shoes off at the door and guests do as well, have a big rug down but the rest of the carpet on show just gets dirty easy.


sadly im not a big fan of cream carpet on the basis i have a dog and a little boy who loves dragging dirt around pity really iv said it to the landlady about getting laminate floors but she said she cant afford it and tbh i think 150 max would cover the floor.

[sandramcs]

I sympathise, we had the same story in a previous house. It is very frustrating when it is not your own. My own solution to dirty marks is to throw on some baking powder and after a while rub it with a damp cloth. But in the case of a living room carpet, if you can find a rug to cover the lot, let the owner worry about it when your time is up. She would not have grounds for holding back on your deposit if push came to shove, and more than likely she will be reasonable about it. Keep your eye out for a spare carpet on this site! All the best, Sandra