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Cleaning carpet for the holidays

I had a conversation today about a timely topic with folks thinking of company.  If you have pets and/or children and have carpet, too, then you need to clean carpeting!  My back ground is industrial cleaning chemistry, so I can help.

My favorite products are Resolve carpet cleaner and Bissell Proheat Pet deep cleaner.  The Bissell cleaner is as easy to use as a vacuum.  It has 2 features that separate it from other carpet cleaning machines:

It heats the water as it applies it to the carpet.  This really boosts cleaning performance.

It uses a single bucket, so it is lighter weight and easier to operate.

Keys to good , clean carpet that does not resoil quickly are using as little soap as possible, water as hot as possible, and extracting the soap thoroughly.  Here is how I do it.

First vaccuum really thoroughly.  Next spray Resolve spot treatment on obvious stains.  Use Bissell’s hand tool to mist high traffic areas lightly with carpet cleaner that is diluted according to directions.  With the machine still set to the hand tool, operate the cleaner over the high traffic areas and stains.  This is to let the power brush scrub the soap into the stains and soiled areas.  Finally, switch from hand tool setting to water only and floor cleaning.  Extract the carpet until water is no longer soiled.

The carpet should look clean when you are done, but some stains will wick up and be visible again the next day.  Spot treat those again and extract again.  Deep stains or heavily soiled high traffic areas may need several cleanings, but since the Bissell is easy to use, I just keep it out until I am satisfied.

What a great tool.  Happy entertaining!  Michelle