Handy Tips for Keeping Your Frieze Carpeting Clean
Frieze carpeting is often prized for its outstanding longevity and softness, but it's one of the toughest carpets to keep clean. As with shag carpeting, the fibres are long and strong, so they can put up with constant foot traffic for years without showing signs of aging, but frieze possesses a soft and luxurious feeling often missing from shag.
The issue is that those long fibres are tightly twisted and lie on their sides, which conceals dirt and debris while giving any parasites an easy place to hide. Dirt and dust can build up without anyone really noticing – that is, until the carpeting has become seriously dirty. So, how can you keep your wonderful frieze carpeting looking and feeling as good as the day it was installed?
Use the Right Vacuum
If you choose to use frieze carpeting in any of the rooms in your home, you need to put a little more thought into the type of vacuum cleaner you use. Firstly, it's best to go with a canister vacuum instead of an upright model. Pushing a whole upright vacuum across heavy carpeting is hard, so it can be tempting to do the job improperly; it's much easier and more convenient to only have to move around the head and the hose. You should also look for a height-adjustable head that can be used for different pile types, plus a removable beater bar. Beater bars will shred your frieze strands over time.
Blot Stains Immediately
From a maintenance point of view, one of the most confounding things about frieze fibres is that they spread stains out in a random state depending on how the fibres happen to be resting. This means that rubbing to remove stains should be avoided; you'll just push the offending liquids off into new and unexpected directions. Instead, use some highly-absorbent kitchen paper to blot any stains as soon as they occur.
Use a Carpet Rake
If you have never before owned a long-fibred carpet, you've probably never heard of a carpet rake. They actually look less like rakes and more like very large pet brushes with long handles. The head contains very thin pins made from metal or plastic positioned closely together. When run over frieze carpet, those pins will help prevent any fibres from clumping together while exposing any dust-filled areas that might have escaped the vacuum cleaner. After raking, you can vacuum again to get at those areas.
Arrange Regular Professional Cleanings
No matter how vigilantly you follow the tips listed above, you're still not going to be able to keep things as clean as a professional carpet cleaning service. A professional cleaning service will be trained to work with frieze carpeting; in fact, you might be able to find a specialist company if you live in a heavily populated area. They will also be able to use more specialized equipment to return your frieze to its full and former glory.
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