Dirty Carpets on the Edges

Posted by Kristin Abraham Jan 7, 2007

When I purchased my condo I noticed that the carpets have a dirty appearance around the edges, especially on the stairway going to the second floor. This has always bothered me because I just could not understand how these areas could get so dirty and how someone could let the dirt continue to build up in the edges. I mean my vaccuum comes with a little attachment that gets in corners. But the difference in color between the sides and even the high traffic areas is incredible.

So, I am sitting here watching HDTV and there is a couple with the exact same problem except it wasn't the dirty carpet that bothered her as much, she was bothered by a moldy smell. And the House Detective (from the show of the same name) knew immediately what the problem was. The stairs, underneath the carpet, do not meet up flush with the walls. This means that as the air return is sucking up air it's pulling it up from the basement, through the cracks between the stairs and the wall and the air is being filtered through the carpet. This is why it gets so incredibly dirty looking.

AHA!

So I've already decided to replace the carpet in part of my condo. The rest of the place is getting hardwood/pergo flooring (see this article http://interiordecorating.suite101.com/article.cfm/installing_hardwood_laminate_floor if you're interested in installing flooring). But the stairs are definitely going to stay carpeted. I'm VERY accident prone and having fallen down stairs several times in the past I don't want to make them more slippery. So the carpet stays. But hopefully the stain goes and never comes back.

Now, the television show said that the stains could be cleaned and they set the husband to t hat task. They didnt say which products they were using but I'm guessing that a nice strong (maybe even industrial) carpet cleaner would work, and he was using a brush, so scrubbing is probably necessary. Remember that every carpet fiber is stained through and through with dirt so it might take a while. Luckily, mine will just take money, because I'm replacing that yucky 1980's carpet.

Then to fix the problem, and prevent my new (probably expensive) carpet from getting stained the show recommended filling the gaps. They used caulk to fix small gaps and foam insulation spray to fix the larger leaks. On the show they guy went into the basement and just simply fixed it from below. My problem is my stairs are not exposed to the basement. So, when the carpet is removed, prior to the new carpet coming in, I will caulk the cracks to seal them.

As I learned when doing the floors in the office, under the carpet in my condo is horrible. They contractors and builders were horrible and did things in a cheap, quick way. So I'm totally not surprised that the filthy carpet is because of faulty building rather than bad cleaning habits of prior owners. It's good to know I can fix the problem relatively quickly and easily.