Carpet Tips

Thank you for shopping with us at Simmons Floor Covering, your home town carpet store! Now that your new carpet is in your home and you’re loving the new look and warmth the carpet brings to your space, it’s time to provide care for your carpet that ensures your warranty remains intact and your carpet looks and feels beautiful for many years. Today’s carpets are made from resilient fibers and stain resistant finishes, like Mohawk’s SmartStrand carpet and PET Polyester or Shaw’s R2X carpet with ClearTouch, so the carpets are made to withstand heavy wear and traffic, color saturated staining like wine or blood, oil based stains like makeup, and even pet urine! Your new carpet is tough and made to last, but needs specific care and maintenance to get many long years of comfort, warmth, beauty and durability!

Maintenance:

Whether you’ve chosen the supple Mohawk SmartStrand Silk carpet, Shaw’s cozy ClearTouch carpet, or any other of the number of stylish and resilient carpets in our store, you’ll need to care for your carpet to ensure its long life in your home. In this section, we’ll talk about how to maintain your carpet not only for cosmetic purposes, but also to make sure you keep the warranty associated with your carpet.

Follow these guidelines to ensure your warranty and the long lasting beauty of your carpet:

Mandatory maintenance for manufacturer’s warranty:

The most important thing you can do for your carpet is regular vacuuming. This keeps dirt and grime from embedding in your carpet fibers and also prevents any abrasive material from harming your carpet or the backing. Choose a vacuum with adjustable height, so regardless of whether your carpet is a thick, plush, pile, or a sleek, low loop, the vacuum will be able to compensate and perform well. Also, choose a machine with an adjustable fan speed so you don’t always have to use the highest setting if your carpet only needs a minor cleaning, and large wheels make navigating carpet much easier so you can get to all the nooks and crannies! Many vacuums also come with great attachments for getting into hard to reach places; use these to reach all the areas of your carpet so your entire floor remains beautiful and in great shape.

In order to maintain your warranty, get a professional carpet cleaning every 12-18 months. If your carpet only experiences minimal traffic, staining, or soiling, once every 18 months is ideal. If you live in a home where your carpet is subject to heavy traffic, frequent pet soiling, or other staining or wear, contact a professional every 12 months for cleaning. You can call us here at Simmons Floor Covering and we can recommend a great carpet cleaning company!

A great idea to keep track of the care you’re putting into your carpet is to keep a folder of all your invoices and receipts relating to the purchase and care of your carpet. When we hand you your final invoice from Simmons Floor Covering, look at the date and use it as an anniversary! Every year on your carpet’s anniversary date, call a professional to clean your carpet and keep the receipts in your folder! If there’s ever a claim on your carpet’s warranty, you’ll be able to pull out your folder, show what good care you’ve taken of your carpet and your warranty will be good to go! Otherwise, you risk voiding your carpet’s warranty and having a future claim denied simply because there’s no copy of your cleaning receipts!

Other Maintenance tips and suggestions:

If you see a place in your carpet where the fiber has sprouted or snagged, do NOT pull on it! Simply take scissors and carefully trim the area of the snag or sprout so that it’s level with the remainder of your carpet.

If you have burned your carpet in any way, very carefully trim the burned places. If there’s more than a few fibers burned, call Simmons Floor Covering or a professional carpet cleaner to repair the damage.

If flooding occurs from an overflowing sink, dish or clothes washer, burst pipe, or any other source, do not try to repair the water damage yourself. Contact a professional carpet cleaner and your insurance company right away.

Tips for Removing Common Stains

Stain removal from your carpet should begin immediately upon discovery of a stain or soiled area, and a wet/dry vacuum cleaner is the best way to effectively remove stains from your carpet. First, remove any large solids from your carpet carefully and without pushing any stain or soil further into the fibers, and then use the appropriate attachment to vacuum as much of the stain as possible, adding water to the stain as you go. Hot water extraction is the method most recommended by carpet manufacturers to remove stains and soiling; avoid using harsh chemical products that aren’t expressly directed for use by the manufacturer of your carpet product.

If the spot on your carpet requires use of a removal solvent, use a low residue carpet spot remover that has been approved by The Carpet and Rug Institute of America, linked below. To use, apply several drops to a clean white cloth and blot the carpet gently in an area of your carpet that isn’t conspicuous. If the solvent damages the carpet in any way, such as discoloration or delaminating, contact a professional carpet cleaner immediately.

There are some stains, such as acid cleaners for bathroom usage, acne medication, chlorine bleach, iodine, foods such as mustard that contain turmeric, drain cleaners, hair dyes, other permanent fabric dyes, etc…that cannot be removed because they change your carpet’s color… If any of these materials stain your carpet, contact a professional carpet cleaner immediately. Remember, to maintain your warranty, a professional carpet cleaning is required every 12-18 months.

Additional Stain Tips

Household white vinegar is a great tool for removing stains on your carpet! If you spill something like beer, wine, tea, or coffee, simply blot the stain with a mixture of 1:4 water to white vinegar and then using a Carpet-Rug Institute approved detergent, blot the stain until it is totally removed from your carpet. Spray a little tap water on your carpet to rinse the spot and use some paper towels weighted down with something like a paper weight to completely remove excess moisture. In addition to helping neutralize the stain on your carpet, vinegar also works to remove any smells that linger in the air around the stain on your carpet!

If there’s a blood based stain on your carpet, remember that your first line of defense is cold! The cold temperature starts to break down the enzymes in the blood, making easier to remove from your carpet product. For a blood based stain, immediately blot the stain with a mixture of very cold water and ammonia (1/4 cup ammonia to 1 gallon of water, be careful and always use less ammonia than you think you need!). This method also works for getting out chocolate, soda, ketchup, toothpaste, and other stains with a low acid content.

To remove mud or dirt from your carpet, let the stain or soil dry completely and then using a dull edge, like a butter knife, crack the dried mud or dirt and gently scrape up. Then, using a Carpet-Rug Institute approved detergent, blot the stain or soil until it’s gone. Then spray some tap water on to rinse, and weigh down paper towels on the carpet’s stain to soak up all residual moisture.

For any stains on your carpet that are large, or you’re unable to get them out of your carpet using the methods listed, or your carpet discolors in any way, contact a professional immediately!

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