How to Dye Your Carpet

It is very possible for you carpet to get stained and discoloured way before it is actually worn out. You carpet could begin to look a lot older before its time even if you vacuum and clean it regularly. If your carpet is made out of materials like wool or nylon, many Mississauga carpet cleaning professionals say it could be a good idea to consider dyeing it. This will make your carpet look new again, extend it life (that way you don’t have to reinstall new carpet), and could possibly help your carpet better fit your home décor.

However, you do not want to dye your carpet if it is made out of acrylic, polyester or polypropylene. This is due to the fact that the fibers in carpets made out of those materials won’t absorb the dye properly. Also be warned that dyeing your carpet on your own can be very risky, but it is possible. However, if you don’t feel comfortable doing it yourself, call a professional to help.

Before you even think about dyeing your carpet, you want to consider what the cost and the effort will be to do so. You might want to show your carpet to a professional and get a quote about how much I might cost you. You want to use the numerical figure given to you as a judge of what would be more reasonable for you. If dong the job yourself will save you a lot more money than having a professional do it, then you may want to take on the job. If it would cost about the same to have a professional do the job as it would yourself and you’re not completely confident that you can do the job on your own, then you might as well hire the professional.

If you’ve decided to do the job yourself, you’ll want to choose the right fabric dye for your carpet. You also want to make sure you read the packaging of the dye carefully to make sure that it is safe for your carpet’s material. Some of your local fabric, Mississauga carpet cleaning, or home goods stores should carry carpet dye in a variety of different colours. It is also good to keep in mind that generally it is easier to dye your carpet a darker colour than its original colour and if your carpet has a lot of dark stains, you’ll want to use a colour darker than the one of the stains for the best results. It is extremely hard to dye a carpet a lighter colour.

Once you decide on a colour, you’ll want to remove all your furniture from the room in which you’re dyeing so that you can get full coverage of the area. That way you can prevent the dreaded idea of rearranging your room and finding that there are spots on your carpet that didn’t get dye. You also want to do this in order to prevent getting any of the dye on your furniture. You’ll then want to clean your carpet thoroughly with a steam cleaner and allow it to fully dry before dyeing it.

Once you’re ready to dye your carpet, you want to read the instructions on the dye package and mix the dye according to the manufacturer’s instructions. It’s good to note that you don’t want to be wearing nice clothes when dyeing your carpet, but rather an old pair of sweats and an old T-shirt. You will also want to wear eye goggles and gloves to help protect you.

Once you do this you can test an area of you carpet. If the area looks fine, you can proceed to dyeing your carpet. You want to start from the furthest corner of the room and work your way towards the exit. Once you finish the application you’ll want to let it dry completely and keep everyone out of the room while this is happening. Once it’s dry, you can now enjoy your “new” carpet. 

Bonus Tip:

Do you know how to remove makeup stains from your carpet? Check out our previous post written by the North York carpet cleaning crew.

7 Easy Steps on How to Remove Makeup Stains From Carpet

Applying makeup is always fun until you accidently spill some of it on your gorgeous carpet. Unless you’re simply applying makeup for practice, you probably have somewhere to go. In saying that, you may not have the time to clean the makeup up quickly. Although North York carpet cleaning experts advise you to clean any carpet spills up right away, you may be okay if you leave the stain there for a few hours. However, if you have the time to clean up your makeup, you should do it. 

Your Checklist:

Before you attempt to remove makeup stains from your carpet, make sure you have the following items

§  Clean water

§  Carpet stain remover

§  Microfibre cloths

§  A clean towel 

The Steps: 

1.      Spray your carpet stain remover on the stained area. You must ensure that the cleaner in which you are using is indeed for carpets – some cleaners that are not for carpets can cause the colour of your carpet to fade.

2.      Leave the solution on your carpet for as long as it says to on the back of the bottle.

3.      Use your microfibre to blot the stain. Continuously blot the stain until it disappears. You must refrain from scrubbing your carpet as this can damage it.

4.      Once the stains are gone, dip a clean microfibre cloth into some clean water and blot the carpet again.

5.      Place a dry towel over the area and apply pressure to it so that all of the moisture is removed from your carpet.

6.      Allow the entire area to dry. 

Call a North York carpet cleaning expert if the stains will not go away no matter how much you’ve tried. They have high quality machines that are used for the purpose of effectively removing difficult stains. 

What to do if the Texture of Your Carpet Feels Different

Don’t worry! There’s a solution for this. If the texture of your carpet feels different after you have completed the steps above, you must soften the fibres again. You can do this by running your vacuum over the rough area and then gently use your fingers to blend the vacuumed area back in with the rest of your carpet. 

How to Prevent Makeup Stains in Your Carpet

Even though you know how to remove makeup stains, it’s best for you to take preventative steps that will cease them from occurring in the first place. You can avoid makeup stains on your carpet by doing the following:

§  Remove rugs from your bathroom before applying your makeup

§  Try not to do your makeup on carpeted areas

§  Place a blanket or plastic over your carpet before applying your makeup

§  Move slowly and carefully if you have nothing around you that can protect your carpet 

Pets and Carpets

Do you know how deal with having a pet and a carpet at the same time? Our North York carpet cleaning pros will fill you in.

Carpet Stains

Carpet stains are a drag – and often extremely hard to remove. One of the most bothersome carpet stains are left by blood. Do you know how to remove blood stains from your carpet? Our Mississauga carpet cleaning professionals have the answer.

How to Deal With Your Pet and Your Carpet

My first year after graduating University, I bought a beautifully woven Persian rug for my living room. The patterns were vibrant, the fibre was delicate and the texture felt alive. What really sweetened the deal was it did not break the bank. One day I forgot to clean the litter box and my snobbish feline companion chose to punish me by leaving a very pungent message on the centre of my cherished acquisition. In the weeks that followed I tried everything. The smell was gone but the stain had become a part of the rug. The pattern on the rug was perfect, so perfect that one little smudge tipped that precarious perfection in the other direction. I loved that rug but eventually with a heavy heart, I got rid of it and never got a replacement.

In the North York carpet cleaning industry, all experts agree that carpets and pets do not make the best of combinations, so knowing a thing or two about carpet cleaning can really help you stay ahead of the game.

Clean Pets: Dogs and cats love rolling around on the carpet. Good carpets feel nice, sometimes even I like rolling around on something that appeases the soles of my feet. Bathing your dog regularly will keep his odour off of your rug. I know cats look after themselves but being animals, they do develop a smell if you do not give them the occasional rub down. Clean pets mean clean carpets. In addition, vacuum the carpet regularly to remove lingering fur.

Wipe their paws: This little tip allies to the entire house. If you have an outdoor cat make sure you wipe their feet with a wet towel when they come in. Do this every time you bring your dog in from a walk. Not only will your carpet be cleaner, the amount of dirt travelling through the house will take a nose dive.

Remedies: Pet related stains are organic in nature. There are certain stain removers that work well with organic spills. Soak a stain with soda water and absorb it using a wet towel. Do not rub it but blot it, rubbing will make the stain spread. A second tip from many North York carpet cleaning professionals that works better is using borax. After cleaning a stain with a towel, create a mixture that is one part borax and two parts baking soda. Coat what’s left of the stain with the mixture and let it stand for an hour before vacuuming the area. Also when picking your cleaning agent, pick cleaners that use a natural enzyme as its base.

Natural Foods: Give your pets natural food. Animals cannot digest artificial food colour. So god forbid, there is a situation where your friend has an accident, the excretion will not contain food colouring. Colouring will seep into the rug and slip in between the individual fibres, leaving your with a much bigger problem.

Hire a Carpet Cleaner: If it gets that bad, hire a carpet cleaner before you chug the rug. Be very careful though; specify to the cleaner that you have pets. A lot of the industrial grade cleaners have substances that are highly toxic to our furry companions. Unless you are careful you might be dealing with a much bigger accident. 

One final tip, if you really want to buy something expensive, keep it in a room where your pets are not allowed to enter. If you do not want the hassle, just keep your pets away from your carpets. 

Bonus Tip: Carpet Stains 

Carpet stains are a drag – and often extremely hard to remove. One of the most bothersome carpet stains are left by blood. Do you know how to remove blood stains from your carpet? Our Mississauga carpet cleaning professionals have the answer.

How to Remove a Wet Bloodstain from Your Carpet

Removing a blood stain from your carpet could be one of the biggest adult challenges besides having a baby or buying a house. Mississauga carpet cleaning experts know firsthand that blood becomes a lot harder to remove once it has dried and solidified into a material. This is why it’s important to tackle the stain when it’s fresh. So be your best chance at reviving your carpet and keeping it looking new. If the blood has dried, you’ll have to resort to stronger treatments which could damage or discolor your carpet.

When it comes to removing blood stains, the first thing you want to do is blot the area with a clean white cloth or towel. You want to make sure that the cloth is white so that there is no color transfer from the cloth to the carpet. If you use a pattern or colored cloth, there is a larger possibility for color transfer which could ruin your carpet. You want to press down and lift to soak up as much of the wet blood as you can. If it is a larger stain, you will want to start from the edges and work your way to the middle. This method will prevent the blood from spreading.

Once you do this, you will want to spray the area with cold water. Once you do this you should let it sit for a few minutes. It’s a better option to use a spray bottle rather than just pouring water onto the stain. However, if you don’t have a spray bottle you want to pour just enough water to wet the carpet. Is extremely important that this water is cold and not warm or hot because that could help the bloodstain set into the carpet permanently. You also want to be careful of how much water you use because too much can spread the stain or damage the carpet. You want to make sure it is damp and not soaked.

After that, blot up any of the moisture left in the carpet. After this you want to repeat this process over and over with a new dry cloth each time until the stain is gone. Mississauga carpet cleaning experts say this will help to lift the stain, but can take a while. You can even use a wet vac or a handheld carpet extractor to help absorb the moisture in the carpet.

If you have tried doing this a few times and the stain still seems to be there, you can treat it with a salt paste. You should make salt and cold water in a small bowl until it makes thin paste. Then you want to poor little over the stain and let it sit for a few minutes just like you would the cold water. Once you do this you can blot the area dry with a clean cloth or towel and if the stain is still there repeat the steps. You also want to make sure that you pick up any of the salt left over on the carpet with a vacuum. So it can cause a lot of damage to your carpet fibers overtime so it is important to pick it up immediately.

Once you do this you’ll want to encourage your carpet to evaporate the moisture. You can do this by putting a fan at the direction of the stain or using a hair dryer to speed up the drying. You can also use a vacuum to help pick up any moisture left in the carpet. Once you do this it’s a good idea to brush your carpet to help restore it to its original shape.

Other Carpet Issues

Do you know how to remove moisture from your carpet? If not, our Toronto carpet cleaning professionals have some great advice for you.

How to Remove Moisture from Your Carpet

It’s inevitable that sometimes someone will spill a drink or ice or into her carpet or rug. For times like these it’s important to know how to try your carpet. For rugs it’s much easier because you can just remove it from the floor and hang it up or pay it outside and wait for it to dry completely. However, when dealing with carpet it’s not as simple.

Toronto carpet cleaning experts suggest that you move any furniture that could possibly be covering up a portion of the wet spot. You want to lift up any couches or tables that could cover it just so that you could get maximum airflow on the area as well as reach the parts of the wet carpet that couldn’t be reached with the furniture in the way. This way you’ll be able to clean up the entire wet spot and go back to having a nice clean and dry carpet.

The first thing you want to do is spread towels over the wet area. You’ll want to walk up and down the towels just so that they can soak up any of the surface which teacher and you want to do this until the towels are completely saturated in the liquid. Once the towels can absorbency anything else you want to remove them from the wet spot and put dry towels in their place. You’ll want to keep doing this until that area of carpet is completely dry. If it’s possible you should check underneath the carpet and make sure that the padding that it’s on or the floor is it wet as well.

Once you do this, the surface of your carpet will be dry but there will still be some Wister left within the carpet that needs to be dealt with. For this you want to vacuum the wet area. However, you do not want to do this with your regular vacuum that you have at home. You will need to get a vacuum that is made to soak up water and other liquids. He’ll want to vacuum the carpet until you see that no more water or moisture is being soaked up in the vacuum. It’s also pouring to know that the vacuum will remove any water from the carpet itself but will not be able to reach the padding underneath it. It’s also good to note the filling line of the vacuum just so that it doesn’t overflow and he can continue to soak up the water properly.

You could also buy a hot water extraction unit from a Toronto carpet cleaning store. This will help remove the moisture from the carpet. There is plenty of local carpet cleaning companies that you can check with to see if you can rent one of theirs. This machine will help you suck up the water from the carpet. Although its job is meant to pick up moisture you will still want to check underneath your carpet to make sure that there isn’t water being held in the padding or on the floor.

Once you do this you want to add some type of heat or flowing air to encourage the evaporation of the moisture. This is to be used in combination with the previous two methods stated before. You’ll want to turn on the ceiling fan if you have one and use items like a hairdryer or a dehumidifier or even a fan to help the moisture evaporate. You want to make sure to keep these items are in the direction of the wet spot or if possible directly on it. Once again you want to continue to check underneath the carpet if possible to make sure that it’s still not wet. 

Carpet Cleaners

Do you have a carpet cleaner? Do you understand how important they are? If not, our Markham carpet cleaning experts have some vital information for you!

Is it Okay to Wash and Dry Rugs in the Machine?

Without a doubt, adding an area rug to any given area of your home or corporate space will automically intensify the beauty of the space – that is if it’s clean. In saying that, it is most definitely okay to wash and dry you rugs; however, it is imperative for you to know how to properly maintain your rugs so that you can avoid possible damage and discolouration. According to a plethora of Markham carpet cleaning experts, washing your rugs regularly ultimately decreases allergy symptoms and removes grime from the fibres (which is the main case for stains). 

What You Need to do Before Putting Your Rug in the Washing Machine

Unlike most clothing items, you should refrain from simply throwing your rugs into the washing machine, adding bits of laundry detergent and pressing start. Rugs require more attention when compared to other items due to the fact that they absorb more dirt and germs. Before placing your rug in the washing machine, you can do one or all of these two things:

1.      Vacuum your rug

2.      Wet sweep your rug (wet the bristles of your broom and sweep the rug)

3.      Shake your rug

After removing as much dirt as possible from your rug, fill your washing machine up with half the amount of detergent you would use for a regular load, gently place your rug into the machine and set it to the upmost delicate cycle. In order for you to receive great results, you must give your rug a lot of room to move around by ensuring there is plenty of water in the washing machine. Many carpet cleaning experts advise individuals to place their rugs in a mesh laundry bag prior to placing it into the machine if it has any loose threads or feels extremely delicate.

 Always Read the Care Tag

Every professional Markham carpet cleaning company urges their clients to read the care tags on their area rugs prior to proceeding to place them in the washer or dryer. The care tag displays vital steps and information that will precisely inform you of how you should clean your rug or what setting the washer/dryer needs to be on in order to prevent damage. There are easy to read tag symbols in which are clearly imprinted on your care tag. They can be translated as follows:

Symbol	Meaning
“ W “	You may clean your rug with water based cleaners. (Like laundry detergent)
“ X “	You can only vacuum the rug
“ S “	It is recommended that you dry clean your rug
A Water Filled Tub	The washing machine
Square	The Dryer
“ WS “	It is safe to either use water based cleaners or dry clean your rug

 How to Hand Wash Your Rug

If your rug is too large to fit into your washing machine, the option to hand wash it is always made available. After reading the care tag on your rug, effectively remove any excessive dirt from it. As stated above, this can be done by vacuuming, sweeping or shaking your rug. Once that is done, pour some cool water mixed with high quality rug cleaner into a bucket. Using a soft brush, scrub your rug in a circular or up and down motion. Allow your cleaner to sit on your rug for about 10-15 minutes, and then proceed to rinse the cleaner off using cool water. You may hang your rug up one a clothesline so that it effectively dries. We’ll discuss this more in the next paragraph.

How to Avoid Shrinking Your Rug

Some rugs can surely go into the dryer, however, it has been proven by many rug and carpet cleaning experts that rugs ultimately last longer if they are hung by a clothesline as opposed to being placed in the dryer. Hang your rug up away from any direct sunlight as this can lead to bleached fabric. If your rug is quite large, you should lay it flat on a clean surface and flip it around every few hours in order to speed up the drying process. 

Other Rug Issues

Wool rugs are undoubtedly astonishing, however, like everything else; they can come with a bit of issues. One of the main issues associated with rugs is shedding. Does your wool rug shed? Do you know how to stop that from happening? Our Mississauga carpet cleaning experts will discuss this in the next post.

Advice from the Mississauga Carpet Cleaning Experts: How to Stop Your Wool Rug from Shedding

Rugs are a beautiful addition to your home. They add a certain comfort and hominess to a house that can be hard to create without them. When it comes to certain rug types wool rugs have a certain useful beauty. However, no matter how beautiful your wool rug is a content to shed which shortens its life expectancy. As long as you properly take care and treat your wool rug it should stop shedding within 3 to 4 months that’s allowing a lifetime of beauty. 

Purchase High Quality Carpet Padding

When you want to stop your rug from shedding so much you need to take care of it properly. First you want to measure your rugs dimensions and then purchase a high quality carpet padding to place underneath it. This padding is there for the comfort aspect of the rug as well as to protect the rugs fibers from the excessive wear and tear of walking all over it all day. It also protects the rug from any dirt and moisture that could possibly get into it. Although getting the carpet padding for the constant walking over the rug does help to expand the rugs life expectancy removing it from that area and putting it into what Mississauga carpet cleaning professionals would call a light traffic area doesn’t really stop the carpet from shedding. This just helps the carpet to shed at a normal rate. 

Groom Your Rug

You’ll also want to brush rake or groom your rug weekly or possibly more often if your rug tends to shed more. Mississauga carpet cleaning professionals suggest getting a rake specific to rug management. You can find these at specialty carpet outlets. You can even use a pet brush or a clean broom to do this but you’ll want to avoid any product that will be harsh on the rug fibers such as wire bristle brushes.

Trim Your Rug

Although this may sound a bit weird roll rugs are known to have tufts of wool emerge from above its surface. To avoid damaging your rug you want to cut these off with a sharp pair of scissors. Keep in mind that this is a natural experience for wool carpets so don’t panic. On top of trimming your rug you want to vacuum it at least once or twice a week especially within the first few months. Will carpets 10 to shed the most during the first 3 to 4 months of use so this time is crucial when it comes to care and treatment. You’ll want to vacuum with gentle suction and worked in the direction of the pile and not against it. 

Proper Maintenance is Key

Before attempting to wash your rug, you must ensure you know exactly how to do it. Wool rugs are not like your regular clothing items – they are extremely delicate and must be washed with care. Do you know how to wash your wool rugs? The Toronto carpet cleaning pros will discuss this in the next post.