It can happen that one day we enter the house and realize that there is a not very pleasant smell saturating the atmosphere. After sniffing several rooms, we discover that the culprit is a bad smelling carpet.
We ask ourselves if there is any trick to make it recover its initial freshness, and the answer is yes. In this article we tell you the causes of the most frequent smells, how to eliminate them and how to prevent them from happening again.
Why do some carpets smell bad?
There are many reasons why a carpet can smell bad. Humidity is one of them, as well as fungi and mites that take advantage of this humidity and sometimes even give us allergies.
Along with these frequent causes, there are also those that our pets leave behind. Remains of food that they drag to the carpet, their own hair, and even remains of urine with which they have marked the house.
It is also possible that we have not washed the carpet for some time, a frequent situation with fixed carpets. It is not necessary that something has fallen on them for them to have a strange smell.
It is normal for the fabrics to absorb the surrounding odors, such as cooking oil or our own body odor. Even if it doesn’t look dirty, we should wash our carpets from time to time to avoid these odors.
How do you eliminate the smell from a carpet?
A dirty rug is not a place for children to play, but it is not a place for adults to spend too much time on. Ideally, it should be cleaned of anything that gives off an irregular smell, even if it is slight.
If our carpet smells funny, it is better to eliminate it as soon as possible. There are two reasons for this. On the one hand, the fungi advance little by little through the fabrics, and the smell will be more and more unpleasant. On the other hand, these same fungi can deteriorate the fabrics.
Since the goal is not to eliminate the odor, but to eliminate that which causes it, the ideal is to vacuum up any large particles that can be removed. After this, we can shake (carefully) the carpet so that the smaller ones that the vacuum cleaner could not catch fall.
Once we have disposed of the large particles, we will attack the small ones, as well as bacteria and fungi, with a machine wash or a hand wash. Remember that for machine washing it is convenient to have a washing machine specialized in delicate fabrics.
If we suspect that we have fungus or mold, the right thing to do is to wash the carpet with very cold water, below 5ºC, to eliminate them. But if we know that the smell comes from another type of substance, it will not be necessary to reduce the temperature so much, and the fabrics of our carpet will thank us for it.
Removing the odor particles
Sometimes the smell seems to come from a stain. In this case, the first thing we have to do is clean that stain and check, once the carpet is dry, if the smell is gone.
It is possible that, even if we remove the source of the smell, it will still be there. The odour is actually particles that remain lodged in the tissues. That is why fishmongers’ clothes still smell even after several washes.
In that case, we can wash the carpet several times or use some salt, such as baking soda, for a few hours. The baking soda will absorb these odor particles, and then we just must shake the carpet and vacuum the salt off.
How do we avoid future odors in our carpet?
Eliminating bad odors from a carpet is an important goal but avoiding future odors is even more so. For carpets is important to get some sunshine, as well as to have some daily ventilation, if possible, at low temperatures.
It is advisable to avoid storing them in damp and dark areas, or where there is hardly any ventilation. We will avoid the proliferation of fungi, which are almost always what gives carpets a bad smell.
Our aim is to provide you with a comfortable home in which to live wonderful experiences with your loved ones. And that excludes bad smells and dirty carpets.
Taking care of the hygiene of the house, including the fabrics that occupy the walls and floors such as curtains and carpets, brings a point of warmth to the home that makes it more comfortable and livable.