Don’t let carpet powders pull the rug out from your cleaning routine
Muddy pawprints, baby toes, and everything in between: Keeping your floors clean is key to providing a healthy indoor environment for you, your kids, and your pets. If you have carpeting in your home, you’re likely familiar with the extensive, consistent maintenance required to clean it properly.
To address the challenge, many homeowners turn to carpet deodorizer powders. We’ll break down what these powders are, why they may not be safe to use in your home, and what you can do instead to create a safer environment for your family.
You’ll find carpet deodorizers when you shop in most supermarkets and similar stores stocked on shelves in colorful cans that promise to clean your carpet and reduce odors. To some extent, they deliver on that promise. Whether made from chemicals or natural ingredients, these powders can make a room smell fresher for a time.
Most instruct you to simply sprinkle the powder onto whatever area of your carpet you want to treat and then vacuum afterward. Some people use baking soda in a similar way.
"Baking soda is a non-toxic neutralizer for scents,” says Asya Biddle, Angi Expert Review Board member and manager of The Dustbusters janitorial company in Williamsport, PA.
However, there’s mixed information about whether or not baking soda is safe for use on your carpet or if it can damage your vacuum.
If you grab a can of carpet powder off the store shelf and read the label, you can quickly assess the product for harmful ingredients. All carpet cleaners, including powders, may contain a variety of chemicals or fragrances that may irritate more sensitive or vulnerable members of your household, especially those with allergies or chronic respiratory conditions.
However, even if the chemical ingredients in your powder product are harmless or it’s labeled “natural” or “environmentally safe,” it can be dangerous in other ways. Chemical powders and baking sodas both consist of fine grit that can harm both your carpet and your family.
Carpet powder is meant to be vacuumed up after application. However, unless you have an industrial-strength vacuum, your machine is unlikely to remove 100% of the loose grit of your deodorizer or baking soda.
This leftover grit can sink deep into the foundation of your carpeting, rubbing against fibers to wear them down, fray their ends, and cause them to get dirtier faster.
As grit residue lingers and adheres itself to your carpet fibers, bacteria can begin to grow. This bacteria can make your home feel like springtime outdoors, causing allergies, degradation in your home’s indoor air quality, and skin and eye irritation.
These effects can have a more pronounced impact on young children and pets, who tend to spend a lot of time low to the floor playing, crawling, and sleeping. That’s why carpet powder may not be safe for use long-term.
As you vacuum up the deodorizer you’ve sprinkled on your carpet, you may not see some of the negative effects right away. Tiny particles may get kicked up and float to other parts of your room. Meanwhile, inside your vacuum, the particles that get picked up can clog filters or bags, reducing your machine’s efficiency or causing it to overheat.
Most people turn to carpet powders for a quick fix when faced with stubborn odors or stains from messes like pet urine on carpet. With all the potential dangers it poses, you would hope that carpet powder is at least able to remove Fido's mess and leave you with a clean, fresh carpet surface.
Unfortunately, all that deodorizers are capable of doing is temporarily masking odors. Their effect tends to wear off quickly, and in just a few days or even a few hours, the odor will return. Carpet powders don’t remove the true source of the bad smell, and proper cleaning requires more thorough decontamination.
If not carpet powder, how should you go about properly removing carpet stains and pet odors in a safe manner? We recommend an approach to cleaning that adheres to these tips from The Carpet and Rug Institute:
Stain resistance starts with a well-kept carpet. Establish a routine and stick to it.
Vacuum weekly or more frequently in areas that get lots of foot traffic.
Clean spots and spills quickly before stains and odors have a chance to set in.
Have your carpet professionally deep cleaned every 12 to 18 months.
Proper spot cleaning starts with absorbing the spill completely. Blot liquids with a clean, dry cloth and carefully scoop up semisolids like last night's leftovers with a spoon. Never scrub or rub, as this can have the same fraying effect on your fibers as gritty carpet powder.
You should then dampen the spot with another clean cloth and a manufacturer-approved cleaning solution if needed. Continue to blot until the mess is completely gone. Following these steps is also the best way to avoid voiding your carpet’s warranty.
As we touched on above, you should have local carpet cleaners deep clean every 12 to 18 months, but frequency heavily depends on foot traffic. If you have children and pets, you might want to get your carpet cleaned more than those without.
Your routine cleaning should include steam cleaning, which works well on all carpet types. This is especially true if you’re dealing with stains and odors.
“More than likely, the source of the issue is buried deep in the carpet fibers, and only commercial equipment is capable of removing the source and the odor properly,” says Biddle.
Typical carpet cleaning costs are $100 to $500. If you do have heavy stains, soils, or odors that you can’t seem to lift, hiring a company for carpet shampoo services in your area is a better option, and it’ll cost you $80 to $400.
While carpet powders might be risky, you don’t have to have a dirty carpet to avoid their dangers. A simple, consistent carpet cleaning routine and prompt response to spills and pet accidents are all you need to maintain a clean and beautiful carpet for many years to come.
