Carpet Care

Now that your new carpet has been professionally installed in your home, you'll want to make sure it is always looking its best. A comprehensive carpet care program consists of four elements: prevention, vacuuming, spot cleaning and steam cleaning.
Prevention
- A good quality underlay will add to the life of your carpet.
- Use outdoor mats to prevent soil and moisture being tracked into the home and clean them on a regular basis.
- Use indoor mats or rugs in high traffic areas such as inside the front door or in front of chairs used for TV viewing, computer use and under tables.
- Remember to regularly remove and clean rugs and clean and restore the carpet pile underneath.
- Move heavy furniture occasionally to avoid excessive pile crushing. Prevent damage when moving furniture with heavy cardboard or similar between the furniture and the carpet.
- Use coasters under the legs of tables, chairs and other furniture to distribute the weight and prevent crushing the pile.
- In rooms that are subjected to direct sunlight, window tinting, curtains, blinds or awnings will protect your carpet from the effects of ultra violet light.
Vacuuming
- Frequent and thorough vacuuming is the most important step in caring for your carpet, particularly in high-traffic areas.
- A good quality vacuum cleaner is essential to prolonging the beauty and life of your carpet.
- For low cut pile carpet, Feltex recommends the use of either an upright or quality barrel vacuum cleaner, fitted with a power driven rotating brush or combination eater/brush bar. For thicker carpet and carpets with a higher pile, the height of the beaters may be raised to make vacuuming easier.
- To prevent excess fuzzing turn the brush off or change the head when vacuuming loop pile, cut loop pile or berber carpet.
-
For luxuriously thick, soft pile carpet, look for the following attributes when selecting a vacuum:
Adjustable height – use the highest setting where appropriate.
Adjustable suction – use a suction level which allows the vacuum to move easily while lifting the dirt and other foreign matter.
Large wheels – the vacuum should glide easily across the carpet.
Efficient airflow – avoid vacuums with very concentrated or sealed suction. - Thoroughly vacuum your carpet at least weekly, with three vacuum passes for lightly soiled areas and five to seven passes for heavily soiled areas..
Spot Cleaning
- Remove as much of the spill as possible using a blunt knife or spoon for solids, blotting up liquids or using a wet/dry vacuum for large spills.
- Never scrub or rub the carpet during the stain removal.
- Always work from the outside of the stain in towards the middle.
- Determine the appropriate method of carpet stain removal with our easy-to-follow steps on Spot Carpet Cleaning.
Steam Cleaning
- Carpet should be professionally steam cleaned approximately every 12 - 18 months.
- Steam cleaning should be done in accordance with Australian and New Zealand carpet cleaning and maintenance standard AS/NZS3733. Reputable carpet cleaners are aware of and abide by this standard.
- Shampooing, DIY steam cleaning or dry carpet cleaning is not recommended.
- Steam cleaning should be performed by a reputable professional carpet steam cleaner. Ask your Feltex carpet retailer to recommend one in your area.