If you move your furniture and see marks on the carpet fibers that look like little craters, don’t worry. The marks can be fixed. Using a few simple steps involving water, you can make the carpet look like it should again, instead of like a bad copy of the moon’s surface.
An Easy Fix
For small dents, like those made by sofa legs, put one medium-sized ice cube in each. For bigger holes, use more ice cubes. The goal is to slowly wet the carpet fibers so they can soak up the water as the cubes melt. Wait a few hours or all night, and then gently brush the fibers of the affected area with a plastic comb with wide teeth or the edge of a plastic gift card. Use your fingertips to scour over the area for a carpet with tall fibers. This helps the fibers get back to where they were.
The Suction Response
In some event, you might be able to get the carpet fibers back to where they were before by vacuuming the dents and the area around them. Rub your hands back and forth through the carpet fibers a few times with your fingers. If your fingers aren’t doing much, rub the edge of a plastic gift card through the fibers. Clean the carpets. If the regular vacuum setting isn’t working well, use the detachable hose and nozzle to apply stronger suction directly to the affected area and vacuum both the dents and the fibers around them.
Treatment with Steam
Carpet dents that are hard to get out or are big can be fixed with steam. Wet a white, lint-free cotton cloth, like a tea towel, until it is damp but not dripping wet. Put the towel over the damaged area, and then use a clothes iron set to the cotton setting to iron it, going a little past the dents. Remove the iron, but leave the towel on the carpet to dry. Take it off when the towel is dry or after a few hours.
Solutions for Hard Mark
Some types of carpets, like Berber, are notoriously hard to dent. Since the fibers are tightly woven instead of standing straight like in a plush or pile floor covering, it takes longer for dents to disappear. There may be multiple ways to eliminate the dents. Spray a light mist of water on the dent, then rub it back and forth with your thumb or the edge of a plastic gift card.
Use a carpet steamer or a damp white tea towel that has been ironed into place to steam the dents, then run your fingers or a plastic card through the fibers again. If the dent is still there, spray the area with a light mist of water, run your fingers through the fibers, and then heat the area with a hair dryer set to medium heat for several minutes, stopping every minute or so to comb the fibers with the card or your fingers. Be careful not to heat the carpet too much, just enough to make the fibers grow.
Read Also: How to Clean Baseboards With Dryer Sheets
Fluff up a matted carpet
Not only does a matted carpet look dirty and untidy, but it may also hide dust, dirt, and other things that don’t belong on the carpet. Use water, an iron, or a carpet rake to loosen up that tangled mess.
Vacuum First
Before fixing a matted carpet, you should vacuum it well. This will eliminate any loose stuff, like pet hair and dust. When you vacuum, the carpet gets a little fluffier, making it easier to see which spots are matted down and need more work.
Move That Carpet.
A carpet rake or brush can make an old, matted-down, dirty-looking carpet look new again. A carpet rakehell is a bit like a comb with teeth that aren’t as soft as those on a brush. A rake is used to clean a long or tall napped carpet, like an old-fashioned shag carpet. A carpet brush is for floors with short hair. Run the rake or comb over the carpet before you vacuum to help loosen dirt and remove pet hair. Then, run it over the carpet after you vacuum to fluff it up. Rake or comb the whole carpet to freshen it up, or if you don’t have much time, focus on the high-traffic, matted areas.
Water Cleaning
A spot that looks flatter and more matted than the rest of the hair can also be refreshed with an ice cube or water spray. Place an ice cube in a small depression, like one left by a chair leg. As the cube melts, go over the area with a stiff nylon brush to straighten the carpet fibers. For a larger area, spray lukewarm water on the fibers. Use just adequate to wet them without soaking them through to the floor. You can straighten carpet fibers using your fingers, a nylon brush, or the edge of a spoon bowl.
As a carpet spritzer, a mixture of equal parts water and vinegar helps revive the fibers and eliminate odors already in the carpet. As with the water-only method, spray the area with just enough vinegar solution to make the floor damp. Use a nylon brush to straighten out the fibers.
Carpet Fibers handling with Steam
A carpet mattress can also be fixed with iron for clothes. This works great in places with a lot of foot traffic. Wet a white, lint-free fabric and squeeze out the extra water. Please turn on the clothes iron and set it to medium heat. Place the fabric on top of the matted area, and then gently iron the cloth to loosen the carpet fibers. If you need to iron more areas, you can move the cloth as needed. Use a large, white, lint-free cotton towel to iron a large area. When cleaning a large area, you may need to wet the cloth or towel again. If the carpet fibers still look tangled, run your fingers through them or use a clean nylon-bristled brush like a nail brush.
