You've found the famous Dave's Garden website! Join this friendly global community that shares tips and ideas for home and gardens, along with seeds and plants!
Check out the DG homepage for a brief overview of what you'll find in this gardening mega-site.
Login
If you don't have an account yet, visit the registration page to sign up.
When washing area rugs and carpets in your home, eliminate the carpet detergent once in awhile and instead fill the tank with hot/warm water and 1 cup of white vinegar. Carpets tend to build up a lot of soap residue which should be removed occasionally as it actually attracts dust and dirt which sticks to it. Vinegar helps remove it and also works to reduce carpet odors.
We had a cleaning business for about 10 years and left over soap after cleaning the carpets were a huge issue we always had to deal with when working with new clients.
Another way is to simply clean rinse after you steam your rugs. If you do a clean water rinse after, you have a much longer success with keeping your carpets clean.
Some people will say dry methods work better, but they really don't. If you have anything spilled past the first 1/2" of the fiber, dry cleaning will not get to that and in no way does it help with imbedded odors caused by stuff lower down into the fibers or pad underneath.
If you have your carpets properly steam cleaned, all the problems should come up, without wicking and no damage to the floor underneath.
The vinegar smell will dissipate quickly. Hospitals often use vinegar in patients' rooms to wipe windowsills and bedside tables because of its "clean" aroma.
