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Steam It Kleen
Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning Carpet Tips!
How do you get candle wax off carpet?
Place a plastic bag with ice over the wax until the wax hardens.
Remove the ice and use a dull knife to scrape away the excess wax.
Cut a piece of brown-paper bag to place over the wax. Use the part
of the bag that doesn’t have writing on it. Using an iron set to
medium, press on the area, moving the paper as it absorbs the wax so
that you don’t spread the wax to other areas of the carpet. Continue
until no more wax comes up on the paper bag. Use a stain remover for
carpets to remove any leftover greasy residue. Look for products
that contain dry-cleaning solvents (petroleum distillates), such as
Goo Gone and Goof Off. Use the liquid sparingly, so as not to soak
the carpet. Solvents can destroy the carpet’s backing and foam
padding. Pay careful attention to the warning labels on these
products. They must be used in areas with adequate ventilation, and
you should never wear rubber gloves. If dye remains (which happens
frequently), contact a professional carpet cleaner.
Our carpet got wet during a storm and
smells terrible now. Will the smell eventually go away or will we
have to replace the carpet even though it looks fine?
The odor is unlikely to go away on its own. If the odor remains
after the carpet is dry, there may be mildew on the back or in the
padding. You can try to get rid of the odor by sprinkling some
baking soda underneath (if you can pull up the carpet without
damaging it) and on top. Wait a day, then vacuum. There are also
some commercial carpet cleaners on the market that will take care of
mildew odor.
You can also use Steam-It-Kleen to clean the carpet.
Wet wall-to-wall carpet is no fun to deal with, but it is a problem
many of us have faced in spring.
If the carpet is not glued down and is small enough to carry
outside, the homeowner can put it and the padding in the sun to dry
or take it to a rug cleaner’s shop. If the padding is soaked, the
homeowner may want to replace it.
If the carpet cannot be taken outside, a concerted effort should be
made to remove as much water as possible. Vacuums and
carpet-cleaning equipment capable of removing water can be used.
When all the water possible is removed, Steam It Kleen will lift up
the carpet and put it on something such as sawhorses and then blow
air under it (using fans) to dry the backing, padding, and floor.
Again, soaked padding may have to be replaced. If the carpet can’t
be lifted up, Steam It Kleen should try to blow air under it to dry
the padding and floor.
Turning up the heat, opening the windows and/or using fans will help
the drying process. A dehumidifier in a closed room will pull out
water.
Wet carpet may shrink. Homeowners should hire professionals to dry
and clean the carpet and evaluate the padding.
How can I get a pet stain out of a carpet?
For urine stains, “white vinegar will clean it up and neutralize the
smell,” said JoAnne Falls of the Cooperative Extension Service.
The recommended mixture is one-half cup white vinegar and one-half
cup water. “Dip a sponge in there, wring it out and wipe the area,”
Falls said.
Then, blot the area with a towel rinsed out in clean water. “You
have to be careful and make sure you do not leave a lot of moisture
there, because it can mildew,” Falls said.
For other pet stains, you can try the vinegar solution, but you may
have to resort to a cleaning product such as Out, which is sold in
pet stores and hardware stores.
I used a spot remover to clean a stain off
my carpet. My neighbor told me that I shouldn’t put the cleaning
towels in the dryer. There was nothing on the label about this. Do
you know why?
Any material that has been soaked with a flammable substance
should not be put in a dryer, even if the material has first been
washed. Spot removers often contain flammable ingredients. This
information should be on the label.
Other flammable substances are cooking oil, dry-cleaning solvents
and gasoline. These products can ignite if the temperature gets too
hot, and a dryer can be a hot place.
The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers recommends that
items soiled wit flammable substances be dried outdoors, away from
sources of heat.
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