Clean carpets feel synonymous with spring cleaning, don’t you think? Carpet that looks and feels like a pro cleaned it is even better. Spring is a great time to deep clean your carpet, freshen up your floors and give them a thorough cleaning. Through the years I’ve tried many carpet cleaning machines and even more cleaning solutions. Come see my favorites and recommendations for how to clean carpets like a pro.

First, do you need a carpet cleaning machine? Not necessarily but I can say that with 3 kids and 2 dogs, ours has paid for itself many times over. You can also rent a machine but if you can, I recommend purchasing one so you can use it for cleaning up little and big messes. It comes in handy if you have any middle of the night cleaning emergencies.

This is the one I have and recommend – it’s fairly easy to clean and while it’s heavy, it works great! I like owning a machine because I can do a bedroom as needed or just the hallway. Once you have your carpet cleaner or have rented a machine, you’re ready to get started.

Decide on what method you want to use. Depending on the state of my carpet, I choose a cleaning solution. Here’s what I recommend:

4 Solutions to Clean Carpets

Quick clean and freshen up: Equal parts white vinegar to hot water – this might sound odd and smelly, but it was recommended by a professional and it really works!
Brighten up dull carpets, stain removal: 1 scoop Oxygen Whitener in tank of hot water
Clean + brighten up carpets (my favorite method): 1 scoop Oxygen Whitener + 1 tablespoon BioKleen Carpet & Rug Shampoo
Traditional carpet shampoo: BioKleen Carpet & Rug Shampoo

How to Clean Carpets

Fill up your tank with your cleaning solution of choice and hot water – this makes a big difference and allows the solution to fully dissolve and works at getting stains out too. Spot test if you haven’t tried it on your carpet before.

Pre-treat stains with your carpet cleaner (the one I recommend has a ’spot shot’ that you can aim at stains) or mix a little bit of the solution and water in a spray bottle and spray on stains. Let it work for 15 minutes or so. Alternatively, if you have a favorite carpet stain remover you could use that too. I like this one. I like to do a little spot treatment on the stairs and high traffic areas before doing the full carpets.

I lay down a large towel at the bottom of the steps steps and any other areas where someone could slip and as a spot to put the carpet cleaner as I am getting started. This avoids and drips and slips on the hard surface floors.

Once I have everything set up and pre-treated, I zip through the carpeted areas that I want to deep clean and shampoo. Open windows and turn on fans to speed up the drying process. Typically it takes a couple hours to dry fully.

Once I’m done with the carpets, it’s time to clean the components and tanks. Check out that dirty water – yuck!

I put everything in the utility sink, empty the tanks, and wash everything thoroughly and let it dry before putting it away.

Don’t you love clean carpets? It feels so good to get it checked off my spring cleaning checklist!

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