50 Handy Tricks

Step 3: Clean Carpet with Powerwasher

Lorraine Palmer got an amazing deal on a big persian carpet because it smelled bad.
So she washed it with her gas-powered high pressure washer from costco.
First she sprayed detergent all over it, Then pressure washed it with the sprayer. Now she's squeegee-ing the soapy water out of the rug. There's a slight incline in the parking lot so the water will drain out. Then the carpet drained and dried in the sun for a day or two. She propped it up to get more airflow around it.
In some places the pressure washer damaged the rug because she got the nozzle too close, but overall it was very successful.
It might be good to put a wire guard around the nozzle to keep from getting it too close to the rug.

Comments

[andersonamenda]

Pressure washing is a great technique to clean the carpet. Its more beneficial and easy than other methods.

[patmac]

I had a much smaller rug and I just used a long broom. You could also get down on your hands and knees and use a brush. I rinsed it with the hose really well and left it outside to dry by draping it over my truck bed which allowed air flow underneath. It worked great. Great Instructable.

[freedive57]

To dry a soaking carpet, roll it up then stand it up. It will drain. When the dripping mostly stops, hang it unrolled (like over some 2x4's ). Ditto on the guard on the pressure washer. Test to establish the minimum safe distance before bringing the spray head close to the work. garbage cans are closer than carpets.