Dry carpet powders work on the principle of magnetism. You sprinkle the powder over a large area. You can but you do not have to work the powder into the carpet with a medium bristled brush and then you wait ten to twenty minutes. That waiting period gives the dirt particles in your carpet time to migrate toward the magnetic powder. The final step is to vacuum away the powder along with all the dirt it attracted.

One advantage of this type of carpet shampoo is that you can clean large areas of carpet very quickly. Running a carpet shampooer over the carpet several times and waiting for the wet carpet to dry can take up to twenty four hours. You can finish fifty square feet of carpet with dry carpet shampoo in thirty minutes. Another advantage is that you never introduce water into your carpet or carpet pad. Anytime you let fabrics and fibers like these get wet, you run the risk of growing mold, mildew, or other bacteria. If you never get the carpet wet then this is less of a concern.

One disadvantage is that the dry powders do not always work as well as the liquid carpet shampoos. Powder cleaners are meant mostly to attract and remove loose dirt particle. You need the foam and scrubbing action of a liquid carpet shampooer to work on stains and dirt that is compacted into the carpet fibers. Another disadvantage is that this kind of shampoo is more expensive when you compare how many square feet are cleaned per ounce of shampoo. You are paying for the convenience with dry carpet cleaners so they come at a premium.

Dry foam carpet shampoos work on the principle of encapsulation. They are similar to the dry powders in that you spray them over a large area of carpet and then wait for ten to twenty minutes. The last step is still to vacuum up the shampoo and the dirt that it has attracted. The difference is in how they attract the dirt. The foam particles grab the dirt and then surround the particles or encapsulate them. As the foam dries into a crystalline powder the dirt is trapped in the middle of the crystal lattice structure.

The advantages and disadvantages of foams are similar to the ones for powders. Overall, the foam might work a little better, but still not as well as liquid carpet shampoos.

You may be surprised at how easy it is to make a perfectly serviceable carpet shampoo. Many people find that they like the homemade shampoo even better than any they can buy in the store. One of the most common homemade carpet cleaning solutions is simply a one to one mixture of water and vinegar. Vinegar is one of those magic household materials that can clean almost anything. The slightly acidic nature of vinegar allows it to break down dirt, oils, and other contaminates. This solution works best if you use hot water or if your carpet shampooer has a heater built in. You might be concerned about the vinegar smell, but do not worry. The smell dissipates quickly and you do not have the lingering smell of vinegar on your carpets.

You can also make a very effective stain cleaning paste that works well to get out tough stains. You do not use this carpet shampoo in a machine, but you can use it with a small brush to target particularly hard to get out stains. A mixture of baking soda and peroxide makes a very powerful oxygen bleach type product. Make sure to test the paste on a small and inconspicuous piece of your carpet to make sure there will be no adverse affects on your carpet. I like to use this paste before I run my carpet shampooer as a first step. Baking soda is also a good carpet cleaning agent because it is an odor neutralizer. You can use the baking soda paste on urine stains and get both the stain and the odor out of your carpet.

There are many other home remedies for stains out there. For example, if you add a small drop of dish detergent to your vinegar cleaning mixture then you get more foaming action which helps to get a better clean. In addition, club soda is an excellent home remedy for red stains like red wine.

• Most carpet shampoos have some kind of stain protector in them so that after you finish your cleaning, the carpet will be somewhat protected from future stains. I think that this additive is crucial. Spills are going to happen no matter how careful you are so it is good to have a line of defense in place to protect your carpet.
• Some shampoos have special anti allergen ingredients for families that struggle with indoor allergies. An example would be benzyl alcohol, which professionals have proven can combat dust mites and other common allergies.
• Orange extract is a cleaning additive that is especially good at cutting grease. You find orange in many different kinds of household cleaners and carpet shampoos are no exception. Carpet cleaner with orange extract is a good choice if you are trying to clean a carpet in a garage or that is particularly dirty.
• Some carpet shampoos claim to be able to eliminate urine and other unpleasant odors from soiled carpets. The likely scenario is that they contain some kind of ingredient that kills the bacteria that causes odor. An alternative is that the formulation contains a pH stabilizer. If a molecule has an odor it most likely is either basic or acidic. The pH stabilizer chemically alters the odor causing molecules so that they are pH neutral.

All of the above conversation has been about cleaners for full size upright carpet shampoo machines. There is another variety of carpet cleaner that is used for spot cleaning and small stain removal. These smaller portable machines use different types of cleaners at times. One example, is that some handheld carpet machine cleaners have oxygen bleach in them. Oxygen bleach is great for fighting stains on carpet because it is extremely effective without being harmful to the carpet.

The most common mistake that people make when they are shampooing their carpets is that they use too much carpet shampoo. If you leave any soap residue behind when you are finished, you could experience a problem called wicking. Wicking is when any dirt that was left behind deep in the carpet or any dirt that is underneath the carpet in the pad is attracted to the soap residue and then that mixture of dirt and soap rises to the surface. It is possible for your carpets to look even dirtier than they were when they started if you have severe enough wicking.

Leaving behind soap residue happens most often when there is too much shampoo is the cleaning mixture. When there is excess shampoo you get lots of foaming. Foaming can not only be bad in terms of the wicking potential, but also, the foam is not necessarily the best cleaning agent. You want a good mixture of shampoo and hot water to best clean your carpets. Some machines have reservoirs available for antifoaming agents. These additives are added to the carpet shampoo mixture to minimize the amount of foaming, but they do not eliminate wicking. Even if you get rid of most of the excess foam, there still could be too much soap in your cleaning agent.

Your best bet is to read the instructions on your carpet shampoo carefully and then use about half of what they recommend. You might not get as much foaming, but you will clean the carpet well. It might be necessary to run the shampooer over the carpets a second time since there will not be as much active ingredient in the cleaning mixture the first time. Then, you will need to go over the carpets a third time with nothing but water in the cleaning reservoir. This rinsing is necessary to get rid of any excess soap residue left behind. Keep rinsing until the waste water comes out clear and free of soap and bubbles. Even though this multi-pass method is slightly more work, it will be worth it when your carpet is beautifully clean and stays that way when you are done.

There are a few homemade carpet shampoo recipes can help with odor elimination. If you want to try to make your own carpet shampoo odor killer then the best product to start with is baking soda. Baking soda is commonly marketed as an odor neutralizer and people have been using it to kill odors in their refrigerators and freezers for years. The method of odor neutralizing employed by baking soda is pH buffering. Odors are typically acidic or basic in nature. Whenever odor particles encounter baking soda it neutralizes the extreme pH and as a result eliminates the odor. Another common home remedy for odor neutralizing is hydrogen peroxide. Hydrogen peroxide works by killing the bacteria that causes odor. A combination of hydrogen peroxide and baking soda makes a paste that works extremely well against urine stains and mildew odors. That is why it is a good cleaner for large bathroom rugs.

Some commercial carpet shampoos utilize encapsulation as a means of odor neutralization. Febreze for example, is made of molecules that have inner pockets that are very attractive to odor molecule s. The odor molecules find their way into these pockets and then are encapsulated by the Febreze molecules. Then, the odor molecule is released when the Febreze molecule is engulfed with water. This is why Febreze is so good for clothing that you can put into a washing machine. However, it is not a good choice for carpet cleaning. Another choice is dry foam carpet shampoo that works on this same principle and is then vacuumed away. One thing you want to be careful of with odor neutralizing carpet shampoo is shampoos that contain perfumes. Sometimes these perfumes will just cover up an offending scent instead of actually negating it. In addition, the perfumes could react with the existing odors in unattractive ways and you might end up with an odor worse than what you started with.

Pre-treating stains is universal to all carpet shampoo projects, but with car carpet shampoo, there are a few tips to keep in mind due to the nature of carpet stains you find in a car. You might be amazed to find that some of the best car carpet shampoo might be homemade carpet shampoo products you already have in your house. Gasoline stains are of particular concern in your car since you may step in gasoline when at a gas station and then transfer it to your car carpet. A combination of vinegar and detergent works well on gasoline stains. No matter what anyone tells you, almost everybody eats and drinks in their cars. As a result, food stains are quite common. One household remedy that works well on food marks is toothpaste. If mold is a problem for your car carpet or car upholstery then citrus cleaners and peroxide detergents are a possible solution.

Once you have pretreated stains, you need to think about cleaning your entire car carpet. Car carpet shampoo is different from carpet shampoo used indoors because you do not want to introduce any water and as little moisture as possible to your car interior. Auto carpet shampoos are typically foam based like the dry foam carpet shampoos you can use in your house. You will spray the car foam carpet shampoo on your floor carpets and let the foam sit for a period indicated on the product instructions. Then you want to use a hard bristled brush to vigorously work the foam into the carpet. After the foam carpet shampoo dries, you can vacuum up the dirt and dried foam with a vacuum cleaner. If you are wondering how shampoo car carpet works, then you should think of a magnet. The foam attracts dirt and grime to it like a magnet and then the dirt dries with the foam next to it. Then it is easy to vacuum up the dirt. You need to work the foam deep into the carpet to attract the grime that has worked its way deep down.

First, there are many things you can use around your home for spot and stain removal. A baking soda paste is good for neutralizing odor and hydrogen peroxide kills the bacteria that causes odor and will remove organic stains. A combination of these two ingredients is a fantastic way to get rid of pet urine stains. Not only does it get rid of the stain, it gets rid of the lingering odor. Hydrogen peroxide alone is a great aid in removing bloodstains. Another common household item that can be applied to carpet cleaning is alcohol. The isopropyl alcohol that you have in your medicine cabinet is great for removing some particularly tough stains like ink. Of course, there is the tried and true method of using club soda to get out tough stains. Always blot when working with stain removers, never wipe or scrub.

For cleaning larger areas of your carpet, you will need a homemade carpet shampoo recipe. One very popular recipe is to use equal parts vinegar and water with just a small amount of dish detergent. Some people might say that they do not want to smell of vinegar throughout their entire home, but you would be surprised by how fast the vinegar smell fades. Typically, you cannot even tell you used vinegar once the carpets are completely dry. The small amount of dish detergent, usually about a tablespoon in two gallons is just enough to give the solution some foaming action. Foaming is considered a desirable trait in carpet shampoos. This is definitely a more economical solution. Keep in mind that the bottle of vinegar shown on the right only costs a little over a dollar while a comparable amount of carpet shampoo would cost ten times that. Another popular homemade carpet shampoo solution is one made of Windex and water. The Windex brings its own foaming capabilities to the table.

You may be wondering if it is safe to use these homemade concoctions in your carpet shampoo machines because they always recommend you use the brand name products. There are countless testimonials that any of the homemade carpet cleaning recipes mentioned above will work fine in commercial carpet shampooers. However, they are not recommended by the manufacturer and it is possible that you could void the warranty on your machine if you use homemade shampoos. For more information about other homemade cleaning products, visit All About Cleaners.

Your carpet shampooer choice depends on many things. First, how dirty is your carpet and over how large of an area. For example, if your carpet is covered with stains over a large area then it might be advisable to shampoo the entire area and then later go back with a targeted stain remover on the spots that were not cleaned by an overall shampoo. On the other hand, if your carpet has one or two new stains, you might be able to get away with targeted stain removers. The type of cleaner you use on the large area depends on how stained it is. Deeper stains that have been allowed to settle for longer periods might require the use of a liquid carpet shampoo. However, if the stains have not been present very long you might get away with a dry carpet shampoo powder.

Another thing you need to consider is what kind of carpet shampoo machines or carpet shampoo service you have at your disposal. If you do not own your own carpet cleaning machine, then you might want to consider dry carpet shampoos that only require the use of a vacuum cleaner. Alternatively, you could look into carpet shampoo rental. There are several different machines available for rent at hardware stores or even your local grocery store like a Rug Doctor. The type of machine that you rent will dictate what kind of shampoo you need to use. Of course, there is always the option of hiring a professional carpet shampooer to do the work for you. In this case, the professionals will decide what type of cleaner will be used. You do have some say over the matter by deciding what kind of company you hire. There are carpet cleaning companies that use only green methods with little or no chemicals. These professionals will likely use a carpet steamer. On the other hand, you can choose a carpet shampoo company that uses foaming shampoos to really clean your carpet grime.

One final thing to consider when choosing a carpet shampoo is whether odors are a problem. If you have pets then you probably want to find a carpet shampoo with odor neutralizers. Be careful though, some carpet cleaners will merely have a perfume in them that tries to mask odors. You want to make sure there are the appropriate chemicals to neutralize odors or kill the bacteria that causes odor. You can even use some homemade carpet shampoo to help with odors. A baking soda paste will work well to neutralize odors the same way it works in your refrigerator or freezer. Another home remedy would be peroxide. Peroxide will kill bacteria that cause odor. Be careful to test the peroxide on a small piece of your carpet that is not easily seen in case the peroxide bleaches or harms your carpet. Because of their odor killing properties, a peroxide and baking soda solution is an excellent choice for urine stains. Another home carpet shampoo remedy is club soda, which is especially helpful on red stains like red wine.

In addition to homemade carpet stain removers; there are also concentrated stain removers that you can buy in the store. Like the homemade kind an advantage of these kinds of carpet cleaners is that y do not need a carpet shampoo machine of any kind. Another similarity between the store bought carpet stain removers and the homemade carpet shampoos is the fact that they work best when used immediately after the spill occurs. If you let a stain set in, it takes a lot more effort to remove it. One advantage of commercial carpet stain shampoo is that it comes in aerosol or spray bottles for easy application.

Once you address stains, you need to choose a carpet shampoo to clean large areas of carpet. There are many different brands and types of carpet shampoos to choose from and the task could be a little daunting. The two major types are dry carpet shampoo and liquid carpet shampoo. There are pros and cons to both and methods of use that are important. However, the consensus among carpet experts is that it is better to use dry foams and other dry carpet shampoos rather than liquid ones that are activated by hot water. The reason for this is that introducing water into your carpet and the pad underneath invites mold, mildew, and other problems that can be avoided with the use of dry carpet cleaner.

Dry carpet cleaners come in one of two varieties including dry powders and dry foams. Both of these methods require the use of a vacuum cleaner. With the dry powders, you sprinkle the powder over a large area of carpet, perhaps five feet by ten feet. The powders are magnetized so that the dirt in the carpet is attracted to the carpet cleaning powder. You let the carpet cleaning aid sit for ten to twenty minutes and then vacuum it up. Theoretically, the dirt in your carpet should be vacuumed up with the cleaner. Some advantages of this type of cleaner are that you can clean large areas quickly. You can finish working on a fifty square foot area in less than thirty minutes, where a carpet shampooer would need much more time to go back and forth over that square footage and then many more hours to dry. Another advantage is that the dry powders also come with deodorizers or perfumes added. This can help with pet smells or other offending odors in your carpet. However, this can also be a disadvantage because sometimes the perfumes just mask the odors and do nothing to eradicate them. Another possible disadvantage is that they are not as effective as liquid carpet shampoos. It is hard to get out set in grime or stains with this method. It works best for loose dirt that has worked its way down into the carpet.

Dry foams are slightly different from dry powders, but they operate under the same basic procedure. The dry foam carpet shampoos are sprayed onto a large area and dry into a powder that you vacuum up. The difference is in how they attract or trap the dirt. Powder use magnetism while foams use encapsulation. When you spray the wet foam onto the carpet, it encapsulates dirt particles to suspend them in the foam. Then, as the foam dries into a crystal, the dirt is trapped and can be easily vacuumed away. This carpet shampooing method is one of the best carpet shampoo options for loop carpets like Berber.

The second type of carpet shampoo is a liquid carpet shampoo with foaming action. These types of carpet shampoos work in conjunction with a carpet shampoo machine. You can purchase these machines or you rent. If you do not often use carpet shampoo, rent is probably the better choice because these machines can be expensive and they take up a good deal of storage space. The main reason you use a liquid carpet shampoo is the foaming action. The foam helps to scrub your carpets and gets a lot of the dirt out. Nevertheless, you need to prepare your carpet shampoo solution properly to make sure that there is not excess foaming, which could actually be a problem.

First, you should pre-treat any tough stains with a solution of one ounce of carpet shampoo and five ounces of water. You can mix this solution in a spray bottle and then spray the affected areas of your carpet. Let the stains sit with the shampoo on them for several minutes and then blot the stains. Blotting is preferred to scrubbing since you do not want to make the stain migrate to additional areas of the carpet. Once the pre-treating is done, you need to prepare the carpet shampoo solution for the carpet shampooer. As I said before, you do not want too much foam so there are a few things you can do to prevent that. First, fill the reservoir on the carpet shampoo machine with very hot water and then add the shampoo to it; rather than measuring your carpet shampoo into a bucket and then adding water. Adding water to the shampoo will make suds, but adding the shampoo to the water will not. Second, you can use less shampoo than the instructions suggest. Some people recommend that you use as little as one-third what the instructions say. A third thing you can do is add defoamers to the carpet shampoo solution. Some machines even have special defoamer dispensers.

One problem that some people notice with liquid carpet shampoos is that the carpet actually looks dirtier after you shampoo it than before. This phenomenon is caused by excess soap left in the carpet. Soap residue is sticky and it attracts dirt, so if some extra soap is left behind after you use a carpet shampoo machine, then the dirt will migrate toward it and then move toward the top of the carpet causing things to look worse. One solution for this problem is to rinse your carpets thoroughly after you shampoo. You should fill your carpet shampoo machine reservoir with cold water and run over the entire carpet until you stop noticing soapy water in the discharge. Cold water is better than hot because cold water attracts soap better.

Once you have shampooed and rinsed your carpet you need to leave adequate time to let the carpet dry. Some carpet shampooing instructions say to wait up to twenty-four hours for the carpet to dry. However, if you have used the appropriate amount of water, then they should dry in four to six hours. If your carpets are still wet after twenty-four hours then you need to run over them with a powerful wet vacuum to remove excess water. Too much water left behind can cause mold and mildew problems. Mold is a fungus that causes an allergic reaction in many. Some people think they are suffering from a perpetual cold, but they are actually exposed to mold. Symptoms include coughing, wheezing, headaches, and other cold like symptoms. If you have a problem with allergies then you might want to avoid the use of wet carpet shampoos altogether.

If you decide to use a wet carpet shampoo, then there are many brands to choose from and each brand has its own special characteristics. Some popular brands are Kirby, Electrolux, Bissell, and Hoover. Each of these companies also makes the carpet cleaning machines. One popular Bissell carpet shampoo is called 2X Ultra Concentrated Formula. This carpet shampoo’s main benefit is that you only have to use half the amount of shampoo during each use as you normally would. Because of this, the cleaner comes in a smaller bottle, which uses less plastic and as a result is better for the environment. Smaller bottles are not the only thing that makes eco-friendly carpet shampoos. Some carpet cleaners have less anionic surfactants in them. Some studies say that the surfactants, which give the shampoo its foaming capabilities, are bad for the environment. There are carpet shampoos that have less surfactant for this reason. Hoover makes a good product called Platinum Collection Carpet & Upholstery Shampoo. This product is meant for use in high traffic areas and works extremely well on tough stains like grease, oil, coffee, and wine. Hoover also makes a pet formula advertised to have odor fighting enzymes.

Carpet shampoos can have many added ingredients. Some have water softeners in them, which are good for lubrication. You need lubrication to prevent tangling of the carpet fibers in some of the longer carpets. Other shampoos have allergens in them that are meant to kill dust mites, which will help people with indoor allergies. Sometimes, the things added to carpet shampoos are not beneficial. For example, some scented varieties of carpet cleaner might mix with odors that already exist in the carpet in an unpleasant way. One group of controversial shampoo ingredients is optical brighteners. These chemicals are essentially dyes that cause ultraviolet light to become visible to the naked eye. The result is a short lived brightening effect. The carpet looks shortly brighter and cleaner. The initial result is fantastic, but over time and prolonged use, the optical brighteners can turn your carpet yellow.

Once you have chosen your shampoo, you will need to pick a machine. There are several things to consider when choosing your carpet shampooer. First, look for machines that have many attachments and extra hoses so that you can easily clean upholstery or hard to reach corners of carpeted floor space. Another thing to look out for is that you machine is a standalone model that does not need to be hooked up to a sink. Having to be near a sink or hose outlet, will severely limit your ability to clean many rooms in your home. You will need to make a choice between rotating brush heads and fixed brush heads. The rotating heads generally do a better job with cleaning, but the fixed brushes are much gentler on delicate fabrics and carpet fibers. Another decision that will cause you to weigh your options is the width of the machine. A wider machine will enable you to clean a larger area in a shorter amount of time. However, they are much harder to maneuver than a less wide machine.

Some machines will clean hardwood and tile floors as well so if you are considering buying a machine then you might want to look at one of those. If, however, you are not interested in cleaning your own carpets and floors, then you might want to hire a service. Stanley Steamer is a very popular carpet shampooing company and they have franchise almost everywhere.

Please keep in mind that carpet shampooing can be avoided if you take proper care of your carpets in the first place. The first thing you need to do when trying to get your carpets clean is practice some preventative measures. For example, you can institute a no shoes policy. Put up a sign on your front door or any other entrance into your home that asks guests to remove their shoes. People usually do not mind adhering to your request. The only problem you might run into is with repair technicians or delivery people. It may seem hard at first, but after a few days of your family removing their footwear, it should become habit.

The next carpet cleaning measure that you can take is vacuuming. Most people think that it is acceptable to vacuum only once a week. However, it is actually better to vacuum at least twice a week. If you vacuum up the surface dirt often, it does not have time to settle down into the carpet fibers and pad. The longer you go in between vacuuming, the more opportunity the dirt and grime has to work its way deep into the carpet where a vacuum cannot touch it. Even the most powerful vacuum cannot remove dirt that has adhered to the deepest part of the carpet fibers. Some experiments have been done that say that vacuuming twice a week, versus once a week, can double the lifetime of your carpet. Nevertheless, if taking precautions and vacuuming do not do the trick or if you are lax with these measures then you might have to think about carpet shampooing.

One special variety of carpet shampoo is auto carpet shampoo. The carpets in your car get dirty just like the carpets in your house. You might have an even more difficult time with the car because you cannot take off your shoes in the car. Car carpet shampoo is generally very foamy because you only use the foam when cleaning your car carpets. You want to keep the water used to an absolute minimum. You take the foam, scrub it into the carpets with a stiff tire brush, and then vacuum away the foam and any dirt that was loosened. You can purchase car carpet shampoos in car detailing stores and car parts stores.