Carpet Cleaning Tips and Advice from Werner Braun

Below is some great advice from Werner Braun's column titled Random Facts About Carpet for the Dalton Daily Citizen. Werner Braun is the Carpet and Rug Institute's president and offers some valuable carpet cleaning tips as well as some inside information about carpet and static electricity.

There comes a point in time where you feel like you’ve become an “expert.” This can be for any profession: painters, writers, scientists, mothers and, yes, even those of us in the carpet industry.

Though many of us in the carpet world would like to think of ourselves as “carpet experts,” we also like to think that there’s always something new to learn in the carpet industry; and even better, that’s there’s always something to teach consumers and retailers.

As we have spent the past few weeks talking about Allen Rathey and HousekeepingChannel.com, I became curious as to what they had on their site about carpet that I didn’t know about floorcovering. What things about carpet that I hadn’t heard in a while, and more importantly, things that I thought would be beneficial to our carpet audience?

Some call random facts “random” because they aren’t useful. But I can guarantee these random facts are ones you haven’t heard, and could be lifesavers in a “carpet crunch.”

As carpet becomes colder, there is one thing that begins to happen without warning: static electricity. My kids used to rub latex balloons on their heads and watch as the static charge made their hair stand on end, and random carpet fact No. 1 is there are static control options for your carpet. Many new carpets are manufactured using conductive fiber in the face yarn that is durable and protective even for modern day electronics.

We’ve all been there, dragging our feet across the carpet to open the door, and “shock” — you get more than you bargained for. There are many variables that affect the amount of static generated. These include differences in environments, humans, shoe soles, generic fiber types, carpet construction, carpet backing materials, carpet cushions and even the type of base floor on which the carpet is installed.

The static performance of a carpet may be altered in service as a result of wear, soiling, cleaning, temperature, relative humidity, etc. Changes in any of these variables can alter the amount of static electricity that is generated in carpet and, therefore, the degree of shock. However, studies have revealed that static electricity does not become a problem with most people until the relative humidity drops below 40 percent.

For existing carpet installations, static electricity problems can best be reduced by maintaining a proper balance of relative humidity. If for some reason the relative humidity cannot be controlled at the proper balance, there are several non-permanent antistatic products that can be supplied and/or applied by professional cleaners.

These products significantly reduce the occurrence of static electricity to levels that are below the level of human sensitivity. Caution should be considered before using a topically applied product, however, because some products can cause carpet to soil at a much faster rate than normal.

The next set of random carpet facts are to help remove those pesky stains that happen in everyday life.

• To remove ink, from a ballpoint pen for example, use rubbing alcohol (70 percent isopropyl). Apply the rubbing alcohol to a cloth or paper towel and do not pour the rubbing alcohol directly on the spot.

• To remove blood from carpet, rinse the spot quickly with cool water. Then follow with an approved cleaning solution from the Carpet and Rug Institute’s Seal of Approval products or a mix of 1/4 teaspoon clear (nonbleach, nonlanolin) dishwashing liquid with one cup cool water. Blot and dry quickly.

• Wine stains also come out with the very same dishwashing detergent solution found in the blood remedy above. Blot, repeat and dry.

• Fingernail polish can be removed using a non-acetone fingernail polish remover. Simply apply a small amount of the remover on a white cloth and work it in from the edges of the spill to the center, and continue to blot the area using lukewarm tap water. Dry the spot with a clean cloth.

So as “random” as these carpet facts might seem, they’re all available to help make you a carpet “expert,” because life gets messy and there are “shocking” moments, but you will know how to keep your house clean and static free amongst the chaos.

Werner Braun is president of the Dalton-based Carpet and Rug Institute.