The holiday season is a busy time. Amid the decorations and buying gifts, you can easily forget carpet cleaning. However, a dirty carpet can ruin all your efforts for the perfect holiday. It can make your home smell bad and feel unhealthy. Many homeowners have a regular carpet maintenance routine. Pre-holiday cleaning may not be that difficult for them. It’s a different case for those who have neglected carpet cleaning in the past few months. Your carpet likely has deep stains which aren’t readily removable. There might be allergens that you can’t get rid of with simple cleaning methods. Therefore it’s important to invest time and effort in pre-holiday carpet cleaning.
Why You Should Clean Your Carpet Before And After The Holidays?
Routine carpet cleaning might not always be possible with your busy schedule. The bare minimum for such individuals is the pre-and post-holiday cleaning. This is the most effective plan for those who believe in cleaning the carpet only once a year.
Making an Impression
The holiday traffic brings in more guests than any other time of the year. So, this is the perfect opportunity to make a good impression on your home. A clean carpet immediately tells your friends and family you live well.
Meanwhile, a dirty carpet speaks of your negligence and laziness. It also ruins the holiday mood. Many would be disgusted by a dirty carpet and not want to spend time in your home. So, all your decoration means nothing if the carpet is unclean and stinks.
So, keep carpet cleaning at the top of your pre-holiday preparations. That way you don’t have to rush it at the last moment. It takes 4-6 hours to thoroughly clean a carpet. You might need more time for deep-seated dirt and grime removal.
Get Rid of Stains
Many people don’t deal with carpet stains the whole year. Pre-holiday cleaning is your chance to deal with long-standing carpet stains. You can try DIY techniques to remove stains. However, you’ll need professional deep cleaning if the DIY methods fail.
The newly cleaned carpet can again get stains during the holiday. This might happen due to food and drink spills when you entertain your guests. Do a spot treatment for those stains as soon as possible during the after-holiday cleaning. Otherwise, they would become permanent stains. These stain removal tips can be helpful –
- Use baking soda and vinegar for spot treatment
- Blot stains when cleaning. Don’t rub it since that will spread it more.
- Apply stain guard during pre-holiday cleaning to minimise stains during the celebrations. This kind of protection makes the liquid bead up instead of seeping into the fibres. Thus, making it easier to spot clean.
- Moisture control is essential to prevent mould. So, ensure the carpet dries properly after cleaning.
- To avoid damaging the carpet during stain removal, get help from professional carpet cleaners.
Remove Odours
A dirty carpet stinks up your home. You might not notice it since you become accustomed to the smell. However, it will hit your guests hard as soon as they enter the home. Deep cleaning and similar carpet sanitisation can be effective for odour neutralisation before the holiday.
Carpet odour is an issue after the holiday too. Cooking and gatherings during the celebration can leave a lingering smell. Guests who smoke inside the home will also stink up the carpet. Post-holiday carpet cleaning in Brisbane Northside can help get rid of these odours. Here are some odour-removal tips-
- Use enzyme-based cleaner for pet odour removal. You must be careful while using them on natural fibre carpets like wool, silk or cotton. Enzyme-based cleaners can weaken or discolour these fibres.
- Baking soda is a natural odour neutraliser. Sprinkle it on the carpet and let it stay for 15 minutes. Vacuum thoroughly afterwards.
- You can use a commercial carpet freshener. Or, you can mix 10 drops of essential oil per cup of baking soda to make your own.
- Steam cleaning can help rid odour from natural carpet fibres. It would also kill bacteria and germs.
Allergen Removal
Australians suffer the most from allergen-related asthma. Around 20 per cent of the population suffers from allergies at some point in their life. Allergens in your carpet can trigger a reaction in one of your guests and ruin the celebrations. These include dust mites, pollen, pet dander, etc. Pre-holiday cleaning can help with allergy prevention.
Meanwhile, the holiday traffic can introduce new allergens to your home. So, post-holiday cleaning can ensure continued family health.
- Vacuuming tips- Use a HEPA filter for effective allergen control.
- Apply carpet protection (mats or rugs) in high-traffic areas (hallway or living room) to prevent dirt accumulation. This will minimise your post-holiday clean-up efforts. High-traffic protection also reduces wear and increases carpet lifespan.
- Increase vacuuming frequency before and during the holidays.
Final Words
The above holiday cleaning tips are helpful when your carpet is moderately dirty. For severe cases, professional help is the smart option. The difference between DIY vs. Professional cleaning is in the results. Amateur cleaning takes more time and effort. Still, the carpet is only superficially cleaned. It might also get damaged during the process. On the other hand, professionals ensure damage-free deep cleaning. Eco Cleaning Brisbane is such a service. They’ve been providing cleaning services to the Brisbane area for the last 20 years. Their experts are fully licensed and practise eco-friendly cleaning. Contact them today to get the cheapest upholstery cleaning.
