Have you finally decided to take the plunge and have professional carpet cleaners come to your home? Whether it’s your first time, or the first time this year, you’ll appreciate the significant level of cleanliness professionals and high-quality equipment can achieve. However, you’ll need to do a bit of prep work before they arrive. Here are seven tips to help get your home ready for professional carpet cleaning.

1. MOVE FURNITURE

One of the first things you’ll need to do is to move furniture. Double check with the carpet cleaning company about what furnishings they will move, or if there is an additional charge for moving anything. At the bare minimum, you’ll need to move smaller furniture, but be prepared to move couches and the like if it’s going to cost more.

2. VACUUM THE HOME

Before the cleaners arrive, go over the entire home and vacuum the carpets well. This is necessary because surface dirt must be removed before cleaners can use their steam cleaning equipment.

3. DUST AND CLEAN BASEBOARDS AND AIR REGISTERS

It’s a good idea to go ahead and dust the baseboards and any low-placed air registers in your home. Foot traffic can dislodge dust from these areas and grind it into your freshly cleaned carpets.

4. MOVE FRAGILE/BREAKABLE ITEMS

Go ahead and remove any breakable or fragile items that might be in the way, even if they’re not immediately in areas where the cleaning will take place.

5. CRATE OR MOVE YOUR PETS

One of the first things you’ll need to do is to move furniture. Double check with the carpet cleaning company about what furnishings they will move, or if there is an additional charge for moving anything. At the bare minimum, you’ll need to move smaller furniture, but be prepared to move couches and the like if it’s going to cost more.

6. REMOVE FURNISHINGS IN THE FLOOR

In addition to moving some of the smaller furniture, you also need to move other furnishings. For instance, floor lamps, magazine racks and the like should all be moved somewhere out of the way. Often, the garage works well as a staging area.

7. PIN DRAPES UP

If you have drapes/curtains rather than blinds, make sure you pin them up. If left to hang down, the fabric can trail on the carpet and absorb cleaning solution and moisture. That can damage them, or cause colors to bleed or fade.

BONUS: LEAVE AN OPEN SPOT IN THE DRIVE

Finally, make sure you leave an open spot in the driveway for the cleaning company’s van. They’ll need a place relatively close to the house, and with access to a water supply. Leave plenty of room, and make sure that there’s easy access to the interior of your home from that spot.

As you can see, there’s actually a good deal of prep work that needs to be done before your cleaners arrive. The good news is that most of these tasks will take very little time or effort to complete, and your home will look the better for it when it’s all finished.