Whether you've had your pup a long time or they're a new addition to the household, you'll have noticed that pet hair gets everywhere. Particularly in a carpeted home, dander can make your house feel dirty and aggravate allergy symptoms. However, with the right method, you can keep your carpet free from dog hair. Here’s how to get dog hair out of carpet with nine tried and tested methods:
The first line of defence against pet hair is regular vacuuming. It's recommended that pet owners hoover at least every 2-3 days, maybe more during moulting season. This helps prevent the hair getting ingrained in the carpet. Don't forget to vacuum underneath furniture, or fur will gather there.
Just as it helps to free stray hair from your dog’s coat, a dog brush can pull pet hair from the carpet. It may take quite a few strokes and a bit of welly, but this is a reusable method. At a pinch, your own hairbrush may work, too.
When you need to get debris out of fabric or carpet, a lint roller is a useful tool. The sticky paper gathers hair without having to pick it up with your hands.
Finding a lint roller with a long handle will help you get right under furniture. Make sure you pay attention to how full the sticky paper is, as you will need to peel to the next layer every so often.
The rubber bristles of a carpet rake avoid damaging most carpets. By running the rake over the carpet, you can remove dog hair easily. However, this won't be suitable for every carpet, so double check that yours has a high pile.
As with most messes, sprinkling baking soda on the area can work wonders. Leave it overnight, and by the morning it should have loosened enough to be brushed away.
The little bumps on washing up gloves help to agitate dog hair out of your carpet. They work even better if you wet the gloves first, then put them on and rub the affected area. You'll still need to collect it afterwards, but it should be much easier to pick up.
Perhaps the most unusual method on this list, but by far the most fun. Just like static produced by rubbing a balloon on your head can make your hair stand on end, it can attract pet hair. Blow up a balloon, rub it on your carpet and see if it pulls out or loosens those dog hairs.
While there are plenty of tips on how to get dog hair out of carpet, nothing beats a professional deep clean every once in a while. The National Carpet Cleaning Association (NCCA) directory is full of accredited carpet cleaners throughout the UK. Even the most difficult of pet hair won't stand a chance.
Search by postcode to find carpet cleaners in your area.
Running a cleaning business is about more than just tackling grime. You're also responsible for your own goals, marketing and organisation. If cleaning is your forte, the business strategy side may not come easily to you. Fortunately, you don't need a degree in business studies to broach these principles. Read on for our guide to mastering your cleaning business strategy.
Every business has a group of people that their services are aimed at. Broadly speaking, this is likely to be tenants or owners of residential or commercial properties, but you might have a specific target market within these categories. For example, busy mums or retail businesses.
By keeping this audience in mind, you can tailor your business strategy to the people you want to attract. For example, if your business specialises in office cleaning, you can aim your marketing at office buildings. If you're more geared towards family homes, community spaces might be more helpful to you.
There are many elements that make up a brand. These include your business name, colours, values and voice. It's essentially how you want the world to see you. Whether you want to be thought of as a luxury brand who serves the elite or the best in town at deep cleaning rugs, you can express this through your branding. Consider the palette and images you use – the best branding communicates your mission at a quick glance.
People can only hire you if they know you're there. By making as much information readily available as possible, you make it easier for customers to find what they're looking for. However, that's no use if they can't figure out how to contact you. Make sure that any promotional material includes your phone number, email address, website and social media profiles. Remember that each customer will have a preferred method of communication – not everyone wants to call for a quote.
Chances are, you won't be the only cleaning business in your area. This means that you'll need an awareness of the other businesses as part of your cleaning business strategy, so that you can compete. Whether it's low prices, specialist skills or strong values, you'll need to find something that sets you apart from the rest of them.
Happy customers are more likely to recommend you to a friend. Excellent customer service can gain you organic referrals, but there's more you can do to make the most of positive feedback.
One of the best ways to sell your business is by showing off your good work. Ask your customers if you can use photos of the work you do for them. Even better, see if they will leave a review. These can be displayed on your promotional materials to provide credibility and show potential customers that you can be trusted.
Membership of The National Carpet Cleaning Association (NCCA) gets you a widely recognised seal of approval. Once you've proven that you meet our standards, you'll gain access to training, resources and advice. All of our members are also listed in our directory, helping you reach countless new customers.
Joining the NCCA could be a pivotal part of your cleaning business strategy. Find out more on our membership page.
However, if you're determined to keep up your new year’s cleaning, there are some techniques that can help you out.
It's tempting to put off cleaning tasks for as long as possible and handle them in one big clean. However, it's much more efficient to clean things as you use them. When you wash your hands, give the sink a clean. Or give the hob a wipe each time you use it.
While it might seem cheaper to tackle grime with your bare hands, it can take forever. What's more, there are some effective cleaning products that you might already have around the house. For example, bicarbonate of soda can loosen almost any carpet stain. Researching the best cleaning hacks can make maintaining your resolution much easier.
New year’s cleaning isn't the job of any one person in the household. If you're finding it hard to keep up, it might be time to delegate. Whether you live with a partner, kids or friends, everyone benefits from a clean environment. Asking them to help out will lighten the load.
Clutter can be one of the biggest barriers to effective cleaning. If there are things physically in your way, moving them can turn a five-minute cleaning task into a full-on excavation. Finding a home for everything you own not only makes it much easier to find it, but makes cleaning chores simpler.
Not everything needs cleaning every day, but some things can't be left too long. If you group tasks by how often they need doing, you can create checklists that make sure nothing gets forgotten. Guest rooms won't need as much attention as bathrooms and kitchens, for example.
Work out when it's easier for you to clean – and make an effort to use this time. Whether that's creating a bedtime routine, cleaning up during TV ad breaks, or getting up an hour earlier at the weekend, resolutions stick better when they're tailored to your routine.
There's nothing worse than repeatedly cleaning things you have no use for anymore. Save your energy by donating, selling or disposing of unwanted items. This will make room for the things you do want, and also make it easier to clean every nook and cranny of your home.
Start with a clean slate by treating yourself to an expert cleaner. New year’s cleaning and tidying can feel futile if your carpets don’t match the fresh appearance of your home. The National Carpet Cleaning Association (NCCA) has a directory of accredited carpet cleaners who can revitalise your carpets for the year ahead.
Every one of our cleaners is insured and highly trained, so you don’t have to spend your precious time on background checks. Search our directory to find carpet cleaners in your area.
So, what’s the best way to clean up pine needles from carpet? Read on as we take a closer look…
If you’re worried about the post-Christmas clean-up, you can minimise the number of needles that reach your carpet.
Tree skirts wrap around the base of your tree and cover the area underneath it. This means that the skirt collects the needles, instead of letting them fall to the floor. Alternatively, you can place a rug under your tree, which will do the same job.
You can also spray hairspray onto your tree, which will prevent the needles from drying and falling off.
However, if you didn’t do this in advance, here are some solutions to make sure your house isn't still covered in needles by next winter.
While it may be your instinct to vacuum, this could actually damage your vacuum. Using a dustpan and brush will prevent clogged machinery and allow you to dispose of the needles safely.
A rubber broom is one of the best tools to get pine needles out of carpet. The needles are less likely to get stuck to rubber than to regular bristles, making it easy to dispose of them afterwards.
The purpose of lint rollers is to collect debris, so they’re perfect for picking up pine needles. They're great for de-needling soft furnishings, clothing and of course carpet.
Wrap a loop of sticky tape around your hand, with the sticky side facing outwards, and use it to collect the needles. This works similarly to a lint roller, but without having to go out and buy one. To protect your hand from sharp needles, it’s a good idea to wear thick gloves when you do this.
Sprinkle bicarbonate of soda over the problematic pine needles and then use a dustpan and brush to sweep them up. The powder will coat the needles, creating friction that keeps them from clinging to your carpet.
A dry foam carpet shampoo is an off-the-shelf solution to fallen pine needles. Make sure that the product you buy is suitable for your carpet, and always patch test on a hidden area first.
As with many carpet cleaning tasks, the best way to clean up pine needles from carpet is with the help of a professional carpet cleaner. If your pine needles are stubborn or you don’t have time to try different removal methods, booking an annual post-Christmas clean can refresh your carpets for the year ahead.
The National Carpet Cleaning Association (NCCA) has a database of accredited carpet cleaners that meet our high standards. Find a cleaner in your area with the reassurance that they’ve been thoroughly vetted for quality and reliability.
The term "hoovering" is a common colloquialism in the UK for vacuuming. It originates from the Hoover Company, a prominent manufacturer of vacuum cleaners in the early 20th century. Hoover became synonymous with vacuum cleaners in the UK due to the popularity of their products. Over time, the brand name "Hoover" was widely used as a verb to describe the act of using a vacuum cleaner, much like "to vacuum" in the United States. This linguistic phenomenon is similar to how brand names can become generic terms for their respective products, like "Kleenex" for tissues or "Xerox" for photocopying.
How often you should vacuum/ hoover your house will depend on many different factors, and they're not always the most obvious ones.
The inhabitants of your home can be a major factor in how often you should hoover. The more people in your house, the more traffic your carpets will get, and the more often you're likely to need to hoover.
Pets drop dander, which can become embedded in the fibres of carpets. They're also likely to bring dirt and debris from outside. This means that pet owners benefit from hoovering at least once every 2-3 days.
If you have babies at home, they are very vulnerable to illness and are also liable to put things in their mouths. As they spend a lot of their time crawling or rolling around on the floor, you'll want to keep it as clean as possible. For this reason, people with young babies should hoover at least every other day.
Similarly, if you or someone in your household suffers from allergies, you may want to vacuum more often. Especially during hay fever season, all sorts of irritants and allergens get embedded in the carpet. Some people find that vacuuming as often as every day is helpful in reducing their symptoms.
Particularly messy household members also mean more frequent cleaning. If you live with small children, people who work outside or just messy eaters, you may see that your carpet visibly needs cleaning more often.
Different types of flooring need maintaining in different ways.
Carpets and rugs benefit from being hoovered at least once a week, as their fibres cling onto dust. It's also recommended that carpet owners wet vacuum once a month to clear out anything stuck deep in the fibres. Each carpet has its own needs – longer carpets may need more hoovering and may also need brushing to avoid matting and shedding.
Hardwood, laminate and tile will need less vacuuming, but also require mopping and sweeping. If you stay on top of these other tasks, hoovering once a week should be enough.
High-traffic rooms will need more attention than those not used often. Hallways, living rooms and playrooms are best hoovered twice a week, while bedrooms and studies may only need once a week.
Any room that people eat in will need the most hoovering, as food crumbs can attract pests.
If you've fallen behind on your hoovering or your carpet just needs a deep clean, it might be time to call in a professional. The National Carpet Cleaners Association (NCCA) has a directory of accredited carpet cleaners throughout the UK.
Search our directory to find a carpet cleaner near you.
If you own a carpet cleaning company, you might be wondering whether to join the National Carpet Cleaners Association (NCCA). One factor that sometimes makes business owners hesitate is the NCCA certification cost, and whether it's worth it. Here, we will break down the cost and what it means to be an NCCA member.
As the only nationally recognised trade association for carpet cleaners, there are a variety of benefits for our members. This is what the NCCA certification cost gets you.
Your business will appear in our directory, making you easily discoverable to potential clients. Customers can search by postcode, helping bring you work in your local area.
You get the bragging rights of saying you're a part of our association. Only our members are permitted to use our logo and claim accreditation status.
If you want to further your skills and services, we offer courses and discounts, only available to our members.
Members gain access to our free advice helplines. We also have templates for business documents for you to download.
If you have a disagreement with a client, we can act as an arbitrator between the two parties. While we encourage complainants to go directly to our members first, we also give them the option to report complaints to us.
Being an NCCA member gives you access to exclusive online advice forums and networking opportunities. We also hold industry days and events as a chance for you to network with other cleaners.
In order to receive our stamp of approval, we expect all of our members to uphold our standards. These standards are all representative of good business practices that will improve your company and career.
We ask that anyone in your business who will be cleaning carpets is trained. When you join, you sit an entry-level training course in professional carpet and upholstery cleaning, or provide evidence that you have already passed one of our approved courses.
All of our members are required to provide proof of public liability insurance. While this is not a legal requirement, we ask our members to have it to ensure that both you and your clients are protected if something goes wrong.
We require all members to carry out their business with integrity. This means charging fair prices, maintaining personable service and having established procedures for complaints and liability.
Everyone that joins must pay the NCCA certification cost. This allows us to keep our trade association working well, and allows us to offer you every possible opportunity.
The National Carpet Cleaners Association (NCCA) offers so much value for UK carpet cleaners. Membership with us unlocks access to everything above, which can be priceless for your business.
To find out more, take a look at our membership page.