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How to Keep Your Carpet and Upholstery Free of Pet Hair
Pet hair on your sleeves. In your food. Rolling around your house in tumbleweeds.
Anyone who has had a long-haired dog or cat in their home knows this struggle well.
For those with allergies, this is what nightmares are made of. For people without allergies, it can still be unpleasant, and over time, it can cause damage as the hair and dander become embedded deep in the fibers of carpet and upholstery.
That said, there are many things you can do daily, weekly, and yearly to mitigate this damage, keeping your surfaces hair and allergen-free.
To help you create your own strategy, we put together a guide that includes our best strategies for minimizing pet hair on carpet and upholstery.
Preventing Pet Hair Accumulation on Carpets and Upholstery
- Groom and brush your pets regularly to reduce shedding. This strategy is simple: remove the loose hair from your pet before it can ever fall onto your floor or couch. You can take them to a professional groomer, who can remove a lot of hair at once using specialized tools, or you can simply use a good brush to attack the area where your dog or cat loses the most hair.
To determine where this spot is on your pet, look at the brush after taking a stroke to see how much hair has been caught. Note that this can alternate between a few places on your pet’s coat, as my dog sheds more from her hindquarters some days and more from her neck others. I typically target both areas each day and then check the brush to see how much hair I’m getting to determine how much time I need to spend on each area.
- Protect your furniture from hair accumulation by using pet hair-resistant covers and throws. This creates a barrier between your furniture and the hair that will still fall from your pet’s coat, even if you groom them daily. You can vacuum your cover to remove the hair or just shake it off outside.
Most importantly, these covers are also often washable, which means you can remove the hair and dander build-up with a simple wash. As a bonus, this protects your furniture from mud and other dirt your pet may bring into the house.
Vacuum regularly. While this won’t be able to extract dander and hair deep in the carpet or upholstery fibers, it will remove the hair and dander at the surface. This provides some level of relief for those with allergies and prevents these contaminants from sinking down into the fibers, where they can become embedded.
Some vacuums have pet hair attachments you can use on upholstery, and most pet vacuums should also have a washable HEPA filter to help with dander control. Be sure to clean the HEPA filter frequently and empty your vacuum regularly so it can keep working at maximum performance.
Tip: I tend to find dog hair tumbleweeds in the corners of my house, on my stairs, or behind objects that can trap hair. Be sure to use a vacuum attachment to get in those areas or move items whenever you can to catch the large buildups of hair.
Professional Pet Hair Removal Service
Remember the stubborn dander and hair that becomes embedded in your carpet and upholstery fibers? These contaminants still affect indoor air quality and release allergens into the air, even while embedded. They can also wear down on the fibers, reducing longevity.
Thankfully, this is where professional cleaning steps in to save the day.
Hot water extraction cleaning, like Stanley Steemer’s, is particularly effective because injecting cleaning solution and hot water knocks the fur and dander loose from the carpet or upholstery fibers. This makes the contaminants available for extraction back into a machine for source removal.
If odors are set into your furniture or upholstery, a professional-grade deodorizer can fight those bacteria at the source and eliminate the odor. After the professional cleaning process is finished, a protectant can also be applied to create a barrier between the hair and surfaces in the future.
Why Choose Stanley Steemer for Pet Hair Removal
Stanley Steemer understands the challenges pet owners face in keeping their carpets and upholstery free of pet hair. Our hot water extraction cleaning technique removes up to 94% of household allergens, and we offer specialized services to address pet-related issues, including deodorizers, stain treatments, and protectants.
Our products are engineered to be EPA Safer Choice Certified, which means the ingredients are highly effective but won’t pose a risk to your pet, even while the carpet is wet. Just be aware that if your pet goes on the carpet while it’s wet, its paws will get wet, which could cause it to slip on hard surface floors!
Don’t stress about pet hair in your home. Contact us via the quote tool online or call 1-800-STEEMER to get a FREE estimate and schedule your carpet or upholstery cleaning today!