How to Clean Carpet: Carpet Cleaning Products & Tips

Regular carpet cleaning is important for the hygiene of your home and the health of those who live there. It helps to tackle unpleasant smells and allergies to pet hair and dust mites, and prevents bacteria from breeding.

It also reduces the amount of dirt and dust in your home and slows the degradation of your carpets. Of course, it also makes your spaces look fresh and attractive!

Professional carpet cleaning can get costly - but it’s easy to deep clean your carpet yourself. Here, B&M have selected our favourite carpet cleaning solutions and techniques to create a comprehensive “how to clean your carpet” guide.

We’ll explore a number of methods, including a deep-clean, interim cleaning - which will help you keep carpets looking their best on a more regular basis - and stain removal or spot cleaning.

Deep Cleaning Tips

Carpets and rugs need a deep clean twice a year at minimum.

In order to penetrate deeper into the carpet and achieve the best possible results, we highly recommend looking at high quality carpet cleaning machines or a steam cleaner.

For example, the Tower Purejet Plus is a highly affordable and very effective carpet washer that simply needs to be filled with a good carpet shampoo and clean water to blast away dirt and debris.

B&M Top Tip: Pretreat stains that are particularly visible by blotting them with white vinegar on paper towels, then allow them to air dry before using a machine - this will help all dirt to be lifted and produce a nice, even finish.

Interim Cleaning

You’ll only need to deep clean your carpets every few months but, of course, there may be times in-between when you want to freshen a room up.

To do this, pick up a specialist carpet care foam or, alternatively, find a great carpet cleaning powder. Many foams don’t require vacuuming - you just spray them directly onto carpets and rugs - but take care to read instructions to be sure!

Carpet powders, on the other hand, are simply sprinkled onto the carpet and then vacuumed up, lifting dirt, debris dander and dust mites away and leaving your carpets and rugs smelling great.

There are so many carpet cleaning solutions that leave floors smelling great as well as looking good as new. We highly recommend picking up an odour elimination spray to use alongside your other carpet cleaning products.

B&M Top Tip: Brush down your carpets and rugs with a rubber headed broom and use a vacuum cleaner to pick up loose dirt before going in with carpet cleaner to produce the best effects.

Never scrub too hard - one of the aims of regular cleaning is to extend the life of your carpet, and too much rough treatment can cause damage and wear.

Spot Cleaning for Stubborn Stains

Some food and drink spills - particularly of substances like red wine, coffee and curry - should be tackled immediately to prevent a lasting carpet stain.

There are a number of products available for the most effective stain removal - and a combination approach often works best.

Of course, it’s always best to go in with carpet stain remover as soon as possible after the spill occurs. We recommend starting with a product that has a scrub brush attachment to pull away the surface elements of the stain while penetrating further into the fabric.

It may be that this is enough to lift the mark, but many tough stains require a few rounds of treatment. If you can still see the stain after the first round, don’t scrub harder - it may simply damage the carpet.

The next step should be to use a spray bottle containing foaming cleaner, or a powerful carpet mousse. Apply these products as many times as required until your carpet looks like new.

B&M Top Tip: The best carpet cleaners have been formulated to protect your carpet against future staining - so always read the label to make sure you’re getting the best product.

Whether you want to give your carpets an intense overhaul or a quick once-over, or you’re jus looking for a way to get rid of individual stubborn stains, the above carpet cleaning solutions should provide you with everything you need to know to keep your floors pristine and fresh.

Struggling with allergies to household dust or pet dander? We have a full range of allergy relief products in our Health & Wellbeing section.

B&M Top Tip: Explore more top quality, affordable, branded products to achieve a sparkling clean finish in every room when you check out B&M’s Household and Cleaning range.

How do you get your carpets and rugs looking their best? Share your hacks and techniques with the B&M Community today via Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.