It may be the season for indulgence but your festive tipple can soon turn to tragedy if there’s a spill.
Over the Christmas period your carpet can take a beating, with additional footfall, younger relatives, sticky treats and alcohol all threatening its condition. Take heed of these tips from Bath’s Avonvale Carpets to ensure ‘all is bright’ when it comes to your flooring – even during the merriest time of year.
Swap the shoes for socks and slippers
This may be an obvious one when it comes to ways to preserve your carpet but it’s obvious for a reason.
Ensuring you have a place for the family and guests to put their shoes protects your carpets from all the mess of the outdoors, including seasonal sludge and mud.
While dinner party guests may begrudge parting with their heels it is an opportunity for everyone to get into the festive spirit by donning a pair of novelty Crimbo socks – you could even offer them up as party favours; who doesn’t love the present of socks after all?
Don’t cry over spilt wine – just get another glass and a hand towel
Even if you’re fit to bursting from too much turkey and you’re slumped in front of the TV watching Our Majesty’s speech, if there’s a spill it shouldn’t be left for too long before it gets spot cleaned.
Paul from Avonvale Carpets says: “If you spill something, pause, take a breath and grab yourself another drink. Then get a hand towel to absorb the excess liquid.
And when it comes to method – don’t rub. Rubbing a spill will only soak it into the fibres further and cause damage, instead pat with the towel. And make sure the towel is white as coloured fabrics can create additional stains.
Only once excessive liquid is cleared away should you use a cleaning agent.
Any carpet will only perform as well as you maintain it
It’s no secret, much like your personal appearance – a bit of pampering and regular grooming go a long way in keeping your carpet looking fresh and new.
When it comes to vacuuming it’s important to know what type of carpet you have as certain vacuums perform better on certain carpets.
Loop-type carpets need a suction hoover and plush/twist carpets need an upright appliance with a beater bar. The latter allows users to reinvigorate the pile of the carpet, giving it a new lease of life.
But of course, sometimes it’s best to leave it to a professional – and that’s certainly the case when it comes to intense cleaning. Incorrectly shampooing your carpet can lead to sticky residue in the fibres. To avoid this, read instructions carefully or ideally hire help from someone who knows what they are doing, after all – all carpets are different and so should be treated differently too.
Keep your cool with an ice cube or two
The carpet takes the brunt of all your household activity – especially at Christmas when you will be hosting more people than usual.
With all those extra chairs and spare tables comes carpet dents. To avoid them place coasters under chair and table legs. If a dent has already happened and it’s proving particularly stubborn grab an ice cube. Place the ice cube over the dent and wait for it to melt. Once it has, the dent should be gone. Magic!
Invest in stain resistant carpet
If you have floors that just seem prone to accidental spillages and everyday mess, then stain resistant carpets might well be what you’re looking for.
Whether it’s red wine, orange juice or crayon, grown-ups, children or pets, a high quality stain-resistant, colour-fast carpet from Avonvale Carpets of Bath will make cleaning up quicker, easier and risk-free.
Generally made from naturally stain resistant polypropylene fibre, coated in a stain inhibitor, a carpet that’s labelled as ‘stain resistant’ will help you avoid having to replace carpets prematurely, making it an attractive, cost effective option for many areas of the home.
And Avonvale have a great selection of stain resistant carpets for you to choose from. Plain, striped, mottled, in a variety of different colours, you’ll find them all at Avonvale Carpets, Bath.
This article first appeared in the Bath Chronicle Weekend Magazine 30th November 2017