Keeping the floor mats in your car clean goes a long way in keeping your car’s interior tidy. However, not everyone has an extractor handy to deep clean car carpets. The good news is that you don’t need one! There are a few different methods for deep cleaning carpets available to you.
How Do You Hand Wash Car Carpet?
Handwashing car carpets doesn’t have to seem so tough. Even if you don’t have a vacuum cleaner or carpet cleaning machine handy, you can achieve clean carpets with anything from homemade carpet cleaners to carpet shampoo. Keep reading and we’ll take a look at a few of your best options.
What You’ll Need to Clean Car Carpet Without an Extractor:
- Broom
- Toothbrush or other small brush for stain removal
- Towels or clean rags
- Spray bottle
- One cup of vinegar
- A few drops of dish soap
- One gallon of hot water
How to Clean Car Carpetw Without a Machine or an Extractor
Step 1: Take Out Your Carpets
The first thing you’ll want to do is remove your car carpet from the car. It’s much harder to clean floor mats if you’re trying to reach under your seats and dashboard or around car doors to do it.
It’s a good idea to work outside where you don’t mind making a bit of a mess. After all, you’re going to loosen all the dirt and debris from the floor mats and it has to go somewhere.
Step 2: Do a Cursory Cleaning
The next step is to do a light carpet cleaning. Usually, you’d use a vacuum for this. Without an extractor of any kind, though, your best bet is to take a broom and sweep your car carpet. This won’t tackle any tough stains but it will remove any loose debris.
Step 3: Create Your Homemade Car Carpet Cleaner
Now, you’ll want t make the solution for cleaning car carpets. For this, you’ll need the vinegar, water, and dish soap that we discussed earlier.
You can go ahead and mix the gallon of hot water, a cup of vinegar, and drops of dish soap together. To make this solution easier to use, put it in a spray bottle for quick distribution.
Step 4: Wash Your Car Carpets
Next, use your spray bottle to wet the car carpets with your cleaner. For the best results while carpet cleaning, start scrubbing with your rag in a circular motion, working your way over the entire carpet. You may need to do this a few times, depending on how dirty your car carpet is. TMF Store: Carpet Cleaning Equipment is the most effective carpet cleaner.
Step 5: Let Them Dry
After that, use a few towels to blot the carpets dry. This won’t thoroughly dry them, so you’ll want to set them out somewhere that they can air dry completely before putting them back in your car.
How to Clean Car Carpets with Car Carpet Shampoo
Step 1: Start with the Steps Above
To get started with this, you can follow all of the above steps up until you create your cleaning solution. To restate them briefly, take your car carpet out of your car and go over it with a broom.
Step 2: Clean the Carpet with a Carpet Cleaner
The next step is to follow the handwashing instructions on the bottle for the carpet cleaner you’ve chosen. We recommend an option like this one. After you’ve done that, simply rinse the car carpet and let it dry. The best carpet cleaner is a green certified cleaner. Learn more about the carpet cleaning process simply by visiting this website at zerorezsacramento.com/.
How to Clean Car-Carpets with Borax
Just like the last two methods, you can do all of the same steps except for creating your cleaning solution. To save time, we’ll skip ahead to that.
In this case, you’ll need a couple of cups of hot water, three tablespoons of grated bar soap, and two tablespoons of borax. If you want to freshen your car up in the process, you can add a tablespoon of essential oil for scent. From there, you can clean as we discussed in the previous options.
How to Clean Your Car Carpets with Baking Soda
Step 1: Create the Baking Soda Cleaning Solution
To start, you’ll need some baking soda and warm water. The goal here is to make a paste, so you’ll need about a 1:4 ratio. If you use a full cup of warm water, match it with about ¼ cup of baking soda.
Step 2: Start Scrubbing
Now, you can add the solution but don’t scrub just yet. Instead, let the mixture sit on the car carpet for about 20 minutes and then scrub. Finally, rinse it off and let it dry.
Common FAQs
How Long Does It Take Car Carpet to Dry?
No matter what method of carpet cleaning you choose, you’ll need to let your car carpet dry before returning it. Otherwise, you’ll likely notice a musty smell the next time your car doors open.
It can take up to 24 hours for a car carpet to dry on its own. To speed this process along, you can prop the carpet up at an angle and set up a fan to blow on it.
How Do You Remove Stains from Car Carpet?
This depends on what stain you’re dealing with. Tough stains call for different deep cleaning materials.
For example, the best way to tackle blood stains is with a simple mixture of cold water and laundry starch. On the other hand, a glass cleaner is actually the best option for coffee stains. In the case of grease stains, turn to paint thinner.
If you have any caked-in stains, grab some hydrogen peroxide and a tube of regular foaming toothpaste. This should help lift them out.
It can also help to use a nylon brush or toothbrush to help you really scrub at tough stains in particular.
What Kills Mold and Mildew in Carpet?
If you have mold or mildew in your car carpet, it’s best to take care of it right away. I found out we have mold when we did Rolling Hills mold inspections. The best way to handle this is white vinegar. This makes the first method we went over a great choice to tackle mold and mildew. For particularly tough spots, you can use white vinegar directly and start scrubbing.
Can You Put Car Carpet in the Washing Machine?
The truth is that while one car carpet might fare well in a washing machine, it might really damage another. If you see any rubber or plastic parts on your car carpet, don’t put them in the washing machine. These pieces will deform or even melt in the wash.
Did you like our tips? Having a few ways to deep clean your car carpets without a carpet extractor is great in a pinch. If you like this, make sure to let us know in the comments and share these tips and tricks with your friends!