Carpets might sometimes feel more like a burden than a blessing. They can add warmth, texture, and color to a room, but they also tend to get dirtier faster than hardwood, tile, or linoleum. To prevent them from accumulating large amounts of dust and dirt or from becoming discolored, it’s important to have them professionally cleaned once or twice a year.

But there are things you can do to help keep your carpets looking as fresh as possible for as long as possible in between professional cleanings, and Shop-Vac’s powerful wet/dry vacs are here to help. Here are our tips for cleaning your carpet.

Vacuum Regularly

It may be the most dreaded chore on your to-do list, but making sure you regularly vacuum your carpet is just as important as having the best vac and attachments. How often you need to clean your carpets depends on how much foot traffic they see. If you have five kids, two dogs, and a cat, you might want to vacuum several times a week. If you live alone with no pets, once a week is probably fine. The main thing you want to remember is: if you wait until you can see the dirt in your carpet, you’ve put off vacuuming for too long.

How you vacuum your carpet is just as important as when you do it, so make sure to use the proper technique. First, check to see that you’re using the right attachments. For your Shop-Vac wet/dry vac, our Multi-Purpose Floor Nozzle has bristles specifically designed for carpets.

Second, take your time. Start on one wall, vacuum slowly back and forth along one row to the end of the wall, then step back and start a new row. Give your vacuum time to remove not only visible dirt and debris, but all the stuff you can’t see as well. And if you have the time and energy, turn to your right and vacuum the room a second time starting on the adjacent wall. This loosens up even more dirt. If any dry messes are particularly tough for your wet/dry vac, use Shop-Vac’s Turbo Nozzle.

Also, your vacuum’s performance will drop dramatically if there are any restrictions to its airflow so, in order for it to get all the dirt trapped deep down in your carpet’s fibers, make sure your Shop-Vac intake hoses and exhaust are clear. Check your filter as well, and do your best to regularly clean or replace it every 3-6 months depending on your usage.

Get in Those Hard-to-Reach Areas

Shop-Vac sells detailing accessories for a reason, so don’t be shy about using them! If you don’t want to move your furniture every time you vacuum, use our Flexible Crevice Tool with your wet/dry vac to get underneath and behind everything as thoroughly as possible. Avoiding harmful dirt buildup is the name of the game, and it’s a lot easier to remove if you keep most of it from settling in in the first place.

Spots on Your Carpet? Your Shop-Vac Is Here for it.

Whether it’s dirt, mud, grease, food, coffee, or crayon, eventually you’ll get some dirty spots on your carpet that you’ll want to remove. What you might not know is that your Shop-Vac wet/dry vac can help.

In the past, you probably attacked your carpet spots with some cleaner, a towel/sponge/scrubbing pad, and good old-fashioned elbow grease. But if you scrub your carpet like that, you can actually damage its fibers, and it won’t remove the dirt from the carpet. In fact, it might just spread the spot around or embed it even deeper.

The secret to spot cleaning your carpet is extraction, and that’s where your wet/dry vac comes in. After you apply a carpet cleaning solution to the spot and use a towel to gently dab (not scrub) the affected area, take the hose of your wet/dry vac and suck up both the solution and the dirt. This removes the dirt from your carpet more effectively without damaging the fibers. And if the spot doesn’t come out the first time, give it another pass or two to loosen it up.

If your carpet ends up with some wet spots after you clean it, it’s crucial to get it dry as soon as possible too. Grab one of Shop-Vac’s air movers to get the job done. 

Carpet upkeep can be a pain, but it doesn’t have to be. Knowing the right tips and tricks for taking care of your carpet helps you keep it looking fresh and feeling great for a lot longer than you might think. And if you’re looking for the best wet/dry vac to help you out, turn to The One and Only Shop-Vac.

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