Colorado Winters Are Brutal on Carpets—Here’s How to Minimize Damage
TL;DR Colorado winters bring snow, ice, salt, and grit/grime that can permanently damage carpets if not addressed by a professional. Regular professional carpet cleaning, preventative care, and timely repairs can extend carpet life and protect indoor air quality. — Why Colorado Winters Are Especially Hard on Carpets Colorado homeowners face unique winter challenges that many other regions don’t. Snow, ice melt chemicals, gravel, and sand are tracked indoors daily, embedding themselves deep into carpet fibers. Once there, they act like sandpaper grinding fibers down with every step. In cities like Denver, Littleton, Castle Rock, Englewood, and Parker, temperature swings make matters worse. Snow melts indoors, then dries, leaving behind salt residue and microscopic debris that vacuums can’t fully remove. The Hidden Damage Winter Causes Here’s what most homeowners don’t see happening beneath the surface: Salt crystals cut carpet fibers and cause discoloration Moisture leads to mold growth and odors Grit and gravel break down carpet backing Heavy foot traffic causes rippling and loosening If left untreated, this damage often leads homeowners to replace carpets prematurely, especially when professional care could have saved them. How to Minimize Winter Carpet Damage (Pro Tips) 1. Use Entryway Defense Zones Placing high-quality mats outside and inside all entrances will encourage guests and family to remove shoes before entering. This alone can reduce carpet soil by up to 80%. 2. Vacuum More Often (But Correctly) During the winter, you should be vacuuming high-traffic areas at least 2–3 times per week using a vacuum with strong suction and a HEPA filter, which helps protect indoor air quality as well. 3. Address Salt Stains Immediately DIY salt (mag chloride) removal often spreads residue deeper into carpet fibers. Professional carpet cleaning neutralizes salt safely without setting stains. Vacuum the salt crystals and leave the cleaning to the professionals. Why Winter Is Still a Great Time for Professional Carpet Cleaning A common myth is that carpet cleaning should wait until spring. In reality, winter carpet cleaning in Colorado is safe, effective, and highly recommended. Modern equipment uses powerful extraction that removes moisture quickly, even in cold weather. Professional carpet cleaning: Removes mag chloride and chemical residue Can help improve indoor air quality during closed-window months Extends carpet lifespan Prevents permanent fiber damage Don’t Ignore Carpet Rippling and Loose Areas Winter moisture combined with heavy traffic often causes carpets to loosen. Carpet re-stretching restores safety, improves appearance, and prevents tripping hazards, especially important during the holiday season when we may have older guests with mobility issues visiting our house. Final Thoughts Colorado winters don’t have to destroy your carpets. With proactive care, regular professional cleaning, and timely repairs, homeowners can keep carpets clean, safe, and long-lasting. Even through the harshest Colorado winter months. If you live in Denver metro area, call today for your free quote. Remember at A Personal Touch, we don’t cut corners, we clean them!
Winter weather: Don’t let snow and slush shorten the life of your carpet
Would you invite the Abominable Snowman or the carrot-nosed Olaf from the cartoon Frozen into your house for tea? Likely not. They’d make big messes on your floor. When you come into your house from the driveway in the winter, you may not be as chaotic as Olaf, but your shoes and boots will track water, slush and grit onto your floors or carpets. Protect your fibers The fibers in your carpet are sensitive. Salt, water and dirt from shoes get ground into carpet, especially during the winter months. As the water dries, chemicals from road treatment solutions can rise to the top and cause staining.2 In turn, sand and grit can fall down into your carpet and degrade your carpet fibers. If this goes on long enough, those fibers can be permanently stained. The backing that holds your carpet together can also be affected.1 What can you do? That ounce of prevention Well, first, it’s best to contain that mess before it starts. Ask your family and friends to take off their boots and shoes before they enter the house. Put a boot tray outside your most-used door to keep everything organized. That pet paw solution The weather recently got so cold in Colorado that many dog owners protected their pets’ paws with strap-on booties. While you may remove your dog’s booties before they come back indoors, you may not think to wipe off their feet every time they come in from the yard. Place towels by the door and make drying your pets’ paws a regular habit. That vacuuming routine In 2013, Electrolux (a major household appliance brand) conducted a global vacuuming survey. They asked 28,000 people from 23 countries how they felt about vacuuming.3 The company discovered several interesting tidbits: Koreans vacuum more often than anyone in the world; 29% vacuum at least once a day. Most people worldwide vacuum for less than an hour at a stretch. Thirty-eight percent of respondents vacuum in the morning; vacuuming in the evening is rare. Sixty-eight percent of respondents vacuum in casual outfits, 21% wear a track suit and 4% wear only their underwear. (If you must know, 2% reported vacuuming in their birthday suits.) Of the 18-30 year-old surveyed, 51% listen to music while vacuuming and 6% even dance, listen and vacuum at the same time. Whatever your habits while dragging your Dyson or Hoover across the floor, your carpet will stay younger longer if you vacuum regularly. You don’t need to vacuum several times a day (11% of Koreans surveyed do), but once a week will keep your house fresher and your carpet newer longer. That carpet cleaning schedule As careful as we try to be, our carpets still take a beating in the winter. The family cat might break away before you can clean her paws. Your toddler might squirm out of your arms and run across the carpet in his snow boots. You might knock your hot cocoa over with your elbow while solving the latest Wordle puzzle in front of the fire. A professional carpet cleaner can help you treat stains quickly with the right solution that won’t damage your carpets and area rugs. Regular professional cleaning (every 12 to 18 months) with high-temperature, truck-mounted steam cleaning equipment can lift grit from your carpets to prevent fiber staining. After the cleaning, your professional carpet cleaner can then apply a new coat of protectant to your carpet. Your partners in clean At A Personal Touch Carpet Cleaning, we can help you keep your carpets fresh all year long. We are happy to answer any carpeting questions you might have and give you a free, written estimate without cost or obligation. Contact us at 720.344.2870 or use our online form to schedule a free consultation. Sources: https://jkcomplete.com/3-things-can-destroy-carpet-prevent-delamination/ https://www.angi.com/articles/road-salt-wrecks-carpet.htm Electrolux-Global-Vacuuming-Survey-2013-Did-you-know.pdf (electroluxgroup.com)
How can regular carpet and upholstery cleaning help you through the cold and flu season?
It snowed! We celebrate, not only for our ski areas, but because our recent temperature drop brings much-needed moisture to Colorado. Our hearts are with our neighbors in Boulder County who recently suffered catastrophic fire loss. Unfortunately, our colder temperatures also firmly place us in the heart of cold and flu season. The best ways to prevent illness Why are colds and flu so common in January and February? As you know, when it’s chilly outside, we retreat indoors, crank up our thermostats and close our windows. We hang out more with our family and friends. Our physical closeness passes around germs in enclosed spaces. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), this is especially true if we: Don’t stay away from others when we are sick: Gone are the days of “powering through” a cold or sickness. Stay home when you feel rotten and don’t gift your crud to others. Also, rest and let yourself truly recover. Your immune system will thank you by staying strong. Touch our faces a lot: This one got hilarious meme treatment early in the pandemic, but frequently touching your face, nose and mouth for whatever reason (mask, itchiness, fidgeting) is a serious habit to break NOW. Forget to wash our hands often: Plain old soap and water (yup, for 20 seconds) are still the best defense against sickness. Use hand sanitizer when you cannot access a sink. Don’t cover our mouths and noses when we sneeze or cough: This is disrespectful to others and gross. Neglect other good habits: The CDC recommends getting enough sleep, exercising, eating right and ensuring our living spaces are properly cleaned and sanitized. Reduce infections at home Which brings us to our main subject. As Sir Isaac Newton discovered in 1665, what goes up must come down (AKA don’t sit under a fruit tree in the autumn). Gravity enables all those viruses and bacteria to drift down and eventually settle into our carpets and upholstery. Some viruses, like norovirus (think nasty stomach bug) can stay in carpeting and upholstery for up to a month if not removed, according to the National Institutes for Health (NIH). Thankfully, studies show the COVID-19 virus does not typically cause infection from soft surfaces after 72 hours. According to livehealthily, the flu virus sticks around for 24 hours and the jury is out about just how long strep bacteria can survive on a surface to make you sick. Fear not. Our houses help us out and there are things we can do to reduce infections! Carpets are actually our friends. According to the Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI), carpeting “plays the role of an air filter: carpet traps dust, pollen and other particles, taking them out of the breathing zone until they can be removed easily…” Regularly vacuuming your home, 1-2 times per week, as well as routinely cleaning and disinfecting your upholstery and carpeting can help keep your family well during the cold and flu season. Fight the flu and other bugs with steam A Personal Touch Carpet Cleaning recommends steam cleaning your carpets every 18 months with a reputable high-temperature, truck-mounted steam cleaning service. One of our own employees testifies that regular carpet cleaning keeps his family healthier, “I have 5 kids and 2 dogs and now 5 grandkids. We don’t get colds and flu like other families.” But, don’t take our word for it. Recent studies like this one at the NIH report steam cleaning works to minimize germs in carpets. The NIH reports, “…our results support a previous finding that steam vapor can reduce viruses beyond the EPA standard in short contact times…” A Personal Touch can sanitize your chairs, ottomans and couches as well. Our trained technicians are knowledgeable about many different kinds of upholstery from canvas and corduroy to silk, lace and leather. They will clean your upholstery’s fragile trim and piping with care. Upon request, they can apply a special fabric protector to help extend the life of your furniture. Stay healthier during cold and flu season. Call us at 720-344-2870 for a free estimate or simply schedule an appointment.
Five Tips to Keep Your Carpets Clean This Winter
Look out the window. We may have sunny skies often, but we know this is Colorado and weather can change quickly. The Old Farmer’s 2022 Almanac predicts snow showers and frigid temperatures periodically in our area through March of next year. Local weather forecasters say Denver residents have up to a 50 percent chance of a white Christmas this year (we hope). From winter snows to summer dust, most of the dirt in your home comes from the great outdoors. It can be challenging to keep floors and carpets clean all year, but winter carpet care requires extra diligence. We have a few sure-fire carpet tips to help: Use door mats: Place thick, absorbent mats by entrances outside and inside your home. Ask your family and guests to use them. Establishing good habits will protect your carpets and floors for the next generation. If your family routinely tracks in mud and slush, consider placing a boot scraper outside your most-used entrance. Boot scrapers come in a variety of styles from metal to plastic and are usually sold for under $30. Family and friends can scrape their shoes or boots free of debris before stepping over your threshold to keep your home cleaner. Remove shoes: Of course, asking your family and guests to remove their shoes as they enter your house is even better. Set up your entryway or mud room with a boot tray and bench (if you have space). Provide clean slippers or socks for your guests to wear around your house for a welcoming touch. Don’t forget Fido: Our beloved pets track in as much dirt as we do. Keep a clean towel handy and be sure to wipe off your pets’ paws immediately after they’ve been outside. If you’re dedicated and patient, you may be able to get your dog to help you in this area. Check out this fun, informative video, Teach your dog to wipe his paws. The towel would be easiest! Address spills quickly: Spills happen: it’s inevitable. Especially during holiday get-togethers. So, it’s best to be prepared. Keep clean, white rags and vinegar or carpet cleaner on hand. Treat a stain immediately, while it’s still wet. Blot excess fluid quickly to prevent spills from soaking through to your carpet pad. Check out this page for our in-depth advice on spot removal. Routinely clean carpets: Clean your carpets well and clean them often! Vacuum once a week, if not more, to keep your carpets fresh. Schedule a professional carpet cleaning every 12 to 18 months to keep your home environment healthy and your carpets in good repair. Did you know, many stain-resistant carpet manufacturer warranties require professional cleaning every two years? Be good to your floors and carpets! They’ll last much longer, stay under warranty and keep their original beauty for years to come. A Personal Touch Carpet Cleaning has been helping keep Colorado’s carpets clean and repaired for 30 years. Ring in 2022 by scheduling your carpet or upholstery cleaning today. Call us at 720-344-2870 for a free estimate or simply schedule and appointment.
5 benefits of regular professional carpet cleaning
It’s almost time to feast on Thanksgiving delicacies. For most families, that means welcoming guests into your home to celebrate. You may have gotten the turkey and cranberries, but is your home ready? Your carpet lends warmth to your home environment and really does tie your décor together. You want your carpets to last and look great every time you gather with family or friends. Treat your carpets well by getting them professionally cleaned, it’s totally worth it. In fact, without even trying too hard, we can name at least 5 benefits of professional carpet cleaning. It: Extends the life of your carpet: Home carpeting will last 5-7 years on average. However, your carpeting is an important investment. You’ll want it to last much longer! Keeping your carpets dirt free is the single best way to extend the life of your carpet. Vacuum twice a week to remove non-soluble dirt. Get your carpets professionally cleaned once a year to remove the soluble spots. Your carpet needs weekly as well as professional cleaning to keep it fresh, restore its life and its original beauty. May prevent illness: Our professional extraction process can help prevent seasonal allergies by removing pollens which settle into your carpet. We use 180-degree water to clean your carpeting which can kill germs and help prevent colds and flu. Our truck-mounted steam cleaning extraction method is incredibly powerful which means your carpets will also dry more quickly once the bacteria, dirt and pollens are gone. Lifts tough stains: A Personal Touch carpet cleaning pre-sprays all of your carpet or upholstery with a low pH enzyme cleaning solution. The solution breaks down dirt and oils so that they can be easily flushed out as your carpets are cleaned. We apply specific spot lifting formulas to remove special stains such as ink, grease, urine, rust, tar and more. Brings high-traffic areas back to life: The best way to protect your high traffic areas is to keep them clean with a bi-weekly vacuuming routine. You cannot over-vacuum your home’s carpeting. Then, once a year, you should get your carpets professionally cleaned. Most carpeting warranties require a professional cleaning at least every 18 months. Keeping up with both kinds of cleaning will revive and refresh your carpeting. To further protect your carpet, we can apply a Teflon carpet protector. Eliminates stubborn odors: We all love our pets, but messes are inevitable. If your pet has an accident, blot any liquid and clean your carpet promptly to prevent the mess from soaking through to your carpet pad. It can require a lot more work from your cleaning professional to remove spills that have soaked through to the pad or been left untreated for a long period of time. Our general enzyme pre-spray and 180-degree water break down all kinds of spills and get rid of the odor they cause. Our specialized pet spill pre-spray takes the bite out of animal urine and fecal odors. Keep your home fresh! Vacuum weekly and keep your carpeting looking, feeling and smelling new with a professional carpet cleaning every 12 to 18 months. A Personal Touch Carpet Cleaning Services uses cleaning methods that won’t void your carpeting’s warranty. Call us today at 720-344-2870, or use our online contact form to ask us questions or to receive a free quote. Call us today at 720.344.2870 or use our online contact form for any questions you may have or to receive your FREE quote.
Don’t Let The Cold Weather Ruin Your Carpets
There’s plenty to love about wintertime: skiing, sledding, and of course, the holidays. However, increased foot traffic and wintery ground conditions can put your carpet to the test. Stick to these carpet cleaning tips from A Personal Touch Cleaning in Littleton and expect a great-looking carpet all season long. Dirty Snow Stains Long ago, before the advent of cars, trucks, and general industry, snow remained more or less white. Nowadays, it’s only a matter of time before the snow that collects on your street and in your driveway acquires a “dirty” texture, which when tracked into a home can leave unsightly stains on the carpet. You can eliminate these by applying soapy water to the affected area, gently blotting over the stain until it disappears. Once it’s gone, you have two choices for removing any excess water: a dry white towel and a vacuum. Go with the latter option if there’s still some loose dirt around the area. Christmas Tree Care For many people, a Christmas tree is the item that ties an entire room together during the holidays. But before you can gather the family for decorating and sing-alongs, you need to get the tree into the house. Simply dragging the tree in is a no-go, since the tree is liable to pick up dirt and snow along the way, which is then deposited on your carpet. A sound solution is to wrap the tree in a plastic sheet from the time you purchase it until the minute you reach your front door. Remove the sheet (and the dirt, snow, and detritus that no doubt cling to it) and introduce your clean, fresh tree to the family. Another big tree-related to-do: waterproofing the area where the tree stand is placed. Make sure the stand doesn’t contact the carpet directly, or you could be left with an unsightly post-holiday dirt ring on the carpet. Another necessary precaution is to avoid overwatering the tree: too much dirty tree water is liable to spill over the edges of the waterproofed area. Humidity We know what you’re thinking: “In the dead of winter, why would I give a hoot about humidity?” A fair question, until you consider that all of the snow that gets tracked into your house doesn’t stay frozen. It melts, and the build-up of water will increase your home’s humidity level and create an environment that encourages mildew growth in your carpet. The solution is two-fold: keep the heat inside your home at the recommended level, and vacuum frequently so that moisture and dirt don’t have a chance to seep into your carpet. Shoes/Boots We know this is carpet care 101, but here’s a friendly reminder to put a snow rug just inside your door(s). Shoes and boots are by far the most common way that dirty snow is introduced into a home, but a combination of a snow rug/shoe rack/insistence that shoes aren’t allowed inside will be a big help in maintaining a clean carpet. Here To Help, All Winter Long If at any point this winter you a professional’s help with carpet cleaning or carpet repair, contact A Personal Touch Carpet Cleaning. Having served Littleton for decades, across all four seasons, you’ll find our expertise is invaluable when it comes to cleaning and preserving your carpets. Call us today at 720.344.2870 or use our online contact form to request your free estimate. Remember at A Personal Touch, “We don’t cut corners, we clean them.”
How to Rid a Carpet of Salt Stains
Winter brings lots of things – some of them fun, others not so much. Salt stains on your car or home’s carpet fall into the latter category. Good thing A Personal Touch Carpet Cleaning in Littleton is here with some helpful advice on how to rid your carpet of salt stains and keep everything fresh and clean all winter long! Step 1: Create an effective liquid solution Take a spray bottle (if you don’t have a bottle, use a mop bucket or bowl) and fill it with ½ white vinegar and ½ warm water. Sure, there are many things that smell better than vinegar, but not many of them can match vinegar’s cleaning power. If you don’t have vinegar or prefer not to work with it, you can substitute it with dishwashing detergent, but chances are it won’t be as effective. Step 2: Apply the solution to the affected area Spray-bottle users should spray the stained area until it’s completely covered. If you’re not using a spray bottle, pour enough solution on the spot so that it’s completely saturated. When you’re finished, take a scrub brush or a toothbrush and begin scrubbing the area. Be careful not to scrub too hard, since the goal is to stir up and remove the salt. Scrubbing too hard can result in the salt digging itself even deeper into the carpet. A light scrubbing of the affected area will stir the stain to the surface. Step 3: Dry the area When you’re satisfied that the area is thoroughly scrubbed and that the stain has been lifted to the surface, take a clean, dry towel and dab the area completely. The aim here is to absorb the stain from the top of the carpet, so dab gently lest you push the stain back into the carpet. Step 4: Remove the towel When the towel is soaked through, remove it. If liquid still remains on the carpet, take another towel and repeat the dabbing process until the affected area is dry. Another option is to incorporate a wet/dry vacuum into the process. If you go this route, dab the area once with a towel and then use the vacuum to remove the salt stain. Using a vacuum has the added bonus of helping remove the vinegar smell. Should the stain still be visible after dabbing/vacuuming, repeat steps 1 – 4. It isn’t uncommon for a salt stain to resist the initial cleaning, but stick with this plan and your carpet should be clean again in no time. Step 5: Negate the smell As mentioned at the outset, vinegar’s downside is its strong smell. Negate this by immediately exposing the affected area to fresh air after cleaning. If the stain was on your car floor mats, hang them out to dry or put them in the dryer. If the stain was indoors, run a fan by the location and open any nearby windows (provided it isn’t too cold outside). If you want, spray a deodorizer around the area. Keep these options going until the smell is gone. For more information regarding carpet cleaning near Littleton, contact the specialists at A Personal Touch Carpet Cleaning – serving the entire Denver metro area.