Carpet Cleaning

With three dogs and two cats we have become very adept at cleaning carpets/area rugs at La Casa de RadBear. This is how we deal with cleaning our rugs when our furry friends attempt organic redecorating.

In our rug cleaning arsenal are the following items that you can find just about anywhere:

• White vinegar
• Water
• Paper towels
• A spray bottle

Yeah all we use is diluted vinegar. We use a one to one ratio of vinegar to water. Just fill the spray bottle up half way with water, then top it off with vinegar. Mix well. This is what the folks who cleaned my parents carpets recommended. We found out the hard way that commercially available products leave this nasty residue that actually makes more dirt stick to it. This sort of defeats the whole purpose of cleaning the rug in my opinion. The vinegar has the added benefit of covering any residual smells. One reason pets pee on rugs is they smell the urine from an earlier accident or another animal. In their brains this means it is a prime bladder emptying station.

The key to successfully clening up a pet stain is to soak up as much of it as possible before you apply anything to it. I think blotting works best. WIping just spreads the problem around. So use paper towels to blot up as much as you can. If the accident occurred on an area rug, put paper towels under the rug as well as on the top. This will draw the pet mess out of the rug from both sides.

Before you use the vinegar water on your carpert test it in an area no one will see to make sure it will not have an adverse reaction. I doubt it will, but better safe than sorry.

Once you're confident your rug will not be disfigured, completely wet the area where the pet mess in question was. Let it sit briefly and then blot up the vinegar water. Keep blotting until the majority of the vinegar water has been absorbed. When you have soaked up as much of the vinegar water as you can lay paper towels over the top of the area. This will alert family members to the damp area and let them avoid getting a vinegar laden sock. Let the area dry.

This method also works on vinyl flooring. Just wipe up the mess, spray the residue and wipe up the vinegar water.