Winter and Carpet Cleaning
The winter has been pretty easy on most of us so far. Little snow, but we need to be prepared for when a snowstorm comes. Most of us will immediately go out to remove it either by plowing, snow blowing, or will shovel it. Some will put down ice melt to ensure safety.
There are several different ice melt products available to choose from. Each one has its advantages and disadvantages. Some of these differences include costs while other factors are, under what temperatures will these products still function as an ice melt? Those temperatures range from 25 degrees down to -15. Another consideration is whether it is child or pet-safe. All these are things you as a consumer should look into and make the decision as to what product is best suited for your needs.
No matter how good a job you do cleaning the entranceway to your home, people usually wear shoes or boots with deep treads in the winter that is designed to give them better traction in snow but they will hold snow, sand, and of course that ice melt that you put down outside. All of this can play havoc on your home's interior floors. Sand can cause obvious scratches on your wood floors and destroy their finish. It will cause cuts in the fibers of your carpet resulting in fiber loss and premature wear. Ice melts can also leave a film on your carpets that will cause a sticky surface and discoloration.
This sticky residual needs a special procedure and rinsing to remove it from your carpet before them being cleaned. This is a procedure that should be done by a professional carpet cleaner that has the experience and knowledge in this procedure. The unfortunate part is it could snow every week and without the proper steps taken, you would have to have your carpets professionally cleaned each time. That’s just ridiculous! It makes so much more sense to just take a few steps to prevent all this from coming into your home in the first place.
I recommend two suggestions. Outside each entrance, you should have some type of mat that should be made of some type of material designed for outdoor use. The purpose of this mat is to remove the heavy particles from your shoes or boots. Once inside, you should have an entrance rug that will absorb any moisture and remaining debris from your shoes. My personal choice is a darker cotton rug or bath mat. Darker, so it doesn't show the dirt after wiping one's shoes. And cotton, since it will absorb more moisture than a synthetic fiber. As soon as the interior rug gets soiled, you should wash, dry, and replace it. Keeping this clean will prevent anything else from being tracked throughout your house.
Even in the winter with foul weather outside many home entrances will have top-quality custom-made rugs or Oriental rugs being used that help decorate their home. The problem is, no one wants to wipe their dirty shoes on these rugs and often step lightly or step over those rugs. My suggestion; in bad weather, as long as your walkway is wet, put a temporary rug in place of or on top of your interior rug. If we are called to come and service your carpets, all of our technicians have booties in their trucks at all times, so when we enter your home in the winter and the weather is bad we will first put down our entrance rug upon entering to wipe our feet on, we will then put on clean booties before walking around your house. Not all companies do this but we are as concerned about your home as you are.
Enjoy the snow, but be prepared.
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