What can you do to protect your carpets over the holidays

You have spent a lot of money on your carpets and the last thing you want is for them to be damaged buy visitors to your home over the holiday period.

The Christmas and New Year’s holidays mean visitors – lots of them! It can also mean parties, party food and possibly some alcohol. This means that there are going to be a lot of people walking through your home. Many homes can expect a general mixture of kids with wet shoes, adults with muddy boots and perhaps a variety of wet muddy paw prints. If you are planning a party as well,  add spilt wine and food stains to the mix.

This means that there is a good chance that your carpets are going to suffer.

You may feel that there is nothing you can do. But you don’t have to put up with severe carpet soiling or damage. There are a number of things that can be done to make sure that the holidays are not a disaster for your carpet.

Here are some handy strategies to minimise the effect of the winter season on your carpets:

Clean or replace doormats – now is the time to clean your existing door mats or replace old worn out ones. It is important that you place door mats at every entrance to your home so that they can remove the soil and mud from people’s shoes before they enter your house;

Vacuum your carpets – vacuuming your carpets on a daily basis stops mud dirt and small stones from being ground into the fibre of your carpets or carried around the house in the soles of shoes. You may even want to book the services of a professional carpet cleaning company in advance so that they can deep clean your carpets professionally the day after;

Footwear – some types of footwear can take their toll on your carpet. Protect it from the effects of high heels or tough boots with a generous supply of rugs and mats. Ideally, you would want people to take their shoes off whilst they are in your home. Sometimes you can feel uncomfortable asking your guests to remove their footwear. One way around this is to place a politely worded sign asking at every entrance, asking them to remove the shoes;

Food and drink  – food and wine can cause considerable damage to carpets and floor coverings. Reminding guests not to drop food might work, for a while. However, you may be more successful if you leave plenty of clear surfaces for people to leave their used plates and cups when they are finished with them and have a policy of removing them as soon as possible;

Be prepared for the worst – in general the longer that you leave mud, dirt or food and drink on your carpet, the harder it will be to remove it. Make sure that you have access to a wide variety of  cleaning products appropriate for the wide range of stains and soiling that you are likely to encounter. When you notice spills and  soiling it is vital that you deal with them straight away giving yourself the maximum chance of rendering the stain invisible;