Keep Winter Grime at Bay

It’s the time of year when kids, pets and just about anyone who walks in your front door is likely to bring in unwanted extras on the bottom of their shoes (or paws) It’s all very well providing guests with a prominently displayed welcome mat, and asking people to leave shoes at the door, but there will always be one person who sails in oblivious to your clean carpets and spreads a trail of leaf mulch, mud or worse through the house.

Pets are a completely different matter and if you can stop a lively abrader and get him to wipe his paws, you’re a better person than most! Cleaning messy carpets after a grime invasion can seem like a mammoth task but if you leave the stains and dirt to bed in, it will be much harder to clean it back out again.

If a particularly mucky spill or walk-through appears, get straight to it with the kitchen roll and get as much of it up as you can. Emergency measures:

• Let the mud dry, and then vacuum up the dry dirt.
• Mix one tablespoon of liquid hand dishwashing detergent with two cups of warm water.
• Sponge the stain with the detergent solution using a clean white cloth,
• Blot the stain until the liquid is absorbed.
• Repeat Steps 3 and 4 until the stain has gone
• Sponge with cold water and blot dry.

To stop stains from taking hold in the unfortunate event of a Wellington boot malfunction, pre-treating can make a real difference, protecting your carpet and repelling troublesome stains. Even if you already have a stain resistant carpet, a ChemDry protectant will refresh it and perk your carpet up ready for the winter months.

Chem-Dry Repel Protectant repels liquids, which means that spills can be taken care of before stains set in. It can be applied to all types of carpets as it forms an invisible shield around each carpet fibre. The shield also increases the surface tension of the carpet fibres, preventing spills, dirt and stains from being ground in or absorbed by the carpet fibre. It’s also perfectly safe to use in a house that also has messy kids and animals!