When your home springs a leak or deals with severe water damage after a storm, it can have serious consequences for all your belongings. Even if the foundation of your home has been able to stand up after a safety inspection, there’s still a lot of work to when it comes to your household items, especially your carpets. When carpets retain moisture, it can mean big trouble. Even the smallest water stain can lead to big issues if you’re not using the right carpet cleaning tips. Whether you bring in your carpet regularly to Bluffton SC carpet cleaners to treat staining and water damage or spot-treat your rug at home, here’s what you need to know about protecting your home carpet.
Water Damage Can Mean Home Damage
While you might assume that the state of your carpet won’t have a major effect on other areas of your home, you’d be wrong. When a carpet gets soaked by a leak or even a messy spot-cleaning job, it can mean disastrous consequences. Because we don’t often see the flooring beneath our rugs in between cleaning sessions, we can often go for weeks being unaware of the greater damage a wet or damp rug is doing to the foundation of our floors. Whether your rug has been damaged and you weren’t aware of it, or your padding somehow ended up soaking up water, it could mean serious problems for your wood floors. That’s why it’s so important to always make sure your rug is completely dry before it comes back into the house after a cleaning. For best results, always dry clean or steam-dry your rug to make sure there’s no extra moisture in there.
Don’t Assume Your Rug is Fully Dry
It might make sense to keep your rug free of moisture, but how can you tell when your carpet is fully dry, especially after hanging it outside? While you might assume that a bit of sun exposure will get your rug aired out, it’s often not enough. You might not be able to feel it, but in the event of a wet stain or leak, your rug could develop mold growth deep in the fibers near its base. While you won’t be able to necessarily see this at first, you will be able to smell it after some time passes. However, you never want to let it get to this point. If your rug has dealt with a serious leak or a harsh stain, you should always take it to get professionally cleaned rather than trying to deal with the situation yourself.
Regular Maintenance Isn’t Enough
Even though you might be vacuuming regularly and keeping your rug away from stains and spots using an all-natural treatment, you should never assume that basic maintenance is enough. If your rug gets a stain, you might not even know about it until it’s already too late and mold has begun to form. If this happens, a regular vacuum job won’t be enough. You don’t want to have to deal with the consequences of mold growth in your rug. You’ll be able to save money in the long run, not to mention the health and safety of your home, by taking your rug in for regular professional cleanings.