Spring Clean Carpet Runners And Area Rugs

During the winter season, dust and debris enter the home no different from the spring and summer months. Many of us lay down runners, throw rugs, accent rugs, and area rugs, to provide a barrier between our dirty shoes and the floor below. They also provide a more inviting space and can highlight a truly incredible piece of art. It's essential to take care of your rugs and clean them to remove pet dander, stains, and dirt. Some rugs are considered family heirlooms passed down from one generation to the next. Others are there to just serve a purpose to cover the floor. Powerizer Complete Pods are effective at providing the cleanest carpets without leaving soap residue. Powerizer Complete offers the best carpet cleaning solution available since Powerizer is a high efficient detergent.  

How to Clean All Types of Rugs at Home:

1. First, remove dirt and debris, prep the rug with a thorough sweep and vacuum to remove as much dust, debris, and hair as possible. Flip the carpet and vacuum the back fibers as well.  
2. Test fabric for bleeding by dipping only a small corner into a dye soak solution to ensure the mixture will work. If immediately the color bleeds as a result, stop there and you should either take it to a professional rug cleaner or dye set your rug.  Use a Dye Setting Solution for your rug before you decide to wash it, reference our recent blog, which provides an DIY dye fixative. Make a mixture in the bathtub. 
3. To dye set the rug, Wool and nylon, use Vinegar and for Cotton fibers, use Salt. For Silk fibers, be cautious. Powerizer does contain natural plant-based enzymes that are known to neutralize the dye set in silk fabrics. Test before washing with Powerizer and make a 1/2 less mixture instead. To prevent future dye cast off, consider drying the rug horizontally on a flat surface.

We recommend brushing off debris and hair from your bathmats and hang them to dry after each use. You can brush them with a dish scrubber into the bathtub to see just how much stuff falls off of them. You will be amazed at what falls out of them. Bathmats are much smaller in size than a runner or an area rug which are not so easy to lift, especially when wet. You must rely on a broom or a vacuum to remove as much dust and debris before starting your cleaning process. Nine times out of ten, these types of rugs are not small enough to wash in a home or commercial washing machine, so other protocols must come into play. 

Tips for Cleaning Area Rugs 

1. Always wash with lukewarm or cold water. Hot water is the number one catalyst for causing colors to bleed, even more so than detergent. If you make a soak or a concentrated mixture, wait for the water to cool down to room temperature before applying it to the fabric.
2. How to make a pretreat solution using a Powerizer Complete Pod - If the opening of a squeeze bottle is to small for the pod. Dissolve the pod in a glass of water and once it has dissolved completely pour it into the bottle. 
3. How to make a pretreat solution using Powerizer Complete Powder - Pour one (1) scoop into a Powerizer Squeeze Bottle or any 16 oz. or a bottle with a breath tip.
4. Saturate the area using the concentrated mixture.
5. Use a Commercial Washer & Dryer when the rugs are small enough.
6. Do not wash more than one rug at a time.
7. Consider using a Car Wash bay to spray down your rugs after pretreating them. The high-pressure spray gun comes in s handy. The wall clamps are also helpful to lift the carpet off the floor when spraying the carpet. Once the process is complete bringing the rug home will be a wet mess. Take precautions by throwing it inside a tarp or a large bucket, or consider transporting it in the back of a pick-up truck instead.
8. If you have access to an outdoor water hose, attach a high-pressure nozzle to the end, it can be just as effective as the spray gun at the car wash.
9. Scrub brushes and quality microfiber cloths for carpet cleaning are helpful in pretreating or spot cleaning stains on rugs.
10. Multiple options for allowing the rugs to dry.  Always make sure to secure the rugs to a vertical surface using heavy-duty clamps.

• Toss the wet rug over a fence, set of stairs, or a deck railing. 
• Another option is the back of a truck bed.
• Attach it to the bottom of an open garage door. Clamp it to the bottom of the fully opened garage door. 
• Lay it over the top of a garment drying rack. Place the drying rack inside the bathtub or out on the drive way so that the water run-off doesn't become an issue. If it's too cold to dry the rug outdoors, move the carpet into the garage to dry instead.

We DO NOT recommend using Powerizer Complete in a carpet cleaning machine. Not because the detergent will not clean effectively. It will clean better than most industrial carpet cleaners. However, since Sodium Percarbonate is the active ingredient in Powerizer Complete when mixed with water, it creates Hydrogen Peroxide, which expands and builds pressure in an airtight container. Without a breath hole, the bottle expands and can even tip over. Pressure can build inside the reservoir chamber of a machine. The expansion can cause the seals to crack or split, affecting the mechanical functioning of the carpet machine. So we will always stand on the safer side of things and not recommend it for your carpet cleaner.

If you decide not to read our warning and use it in your carpet cleaning machine anyway, be diligent in emptying the solution after each use. An essential precaution is never to leave a mixture of Powerizer in the machine. Release all the solution onto the carpet to empty the reservoir so that no solution remains. Pass through the entire rug a second time with plain water to rinse the detergent from the carpet. This water must also be dumped immediately before stowing away your machine. If the liquid pulled out of the rug is still pretty dirty, rinse the carpet a third time. If you decide to use a shop vac, the same precautions apply.

 

Tips To Clean and Maintain your Carpets to Last Longer 

• If possible give them a shaking.
• Vacuum your rugs at least once a week.
• Spot Clean and Remove Stains - When a spill happens, remove as much as the spill as you can with a microfiber cloth immediately. Then pretreat the stain, letting it sit to give it time to work. Rinse the rug thoroughly. Simply pour clean water and absorb it with a microfiber cloth. Repeat until the water absorbed is just as clean as the water poured onto it.
• Invest in quality padding. 
• Rotate rugs or furniture periodically. 
• Deep clean rugs when needed. 

Make Powerizer Complete is your go to Spot and Stain Carpet Cleaner. Give Powerizer a try and share with us your comments on how well it cleans your rugs. We're always excited to hear new miraculous cleaning stories. Check out our Powerizer reviews.