If some furniture is too heavy to move, place squares of wax paper, foil, wood blocks, or plastic film under the legs to protect them from the moisture of the steam cleaner. You can’t clean the carpet completely if you leave furniture in the room. If you don’t have room to move the furniture to another room, move it all to half of the room and do the room in two separate sections. Let the carpet dry before you move furniture back to the already cleaned half.

Dust ceiling fans and corners of the ceiling to prevent extra dust from falling on the carpet after you have steam cleaned them.

For extra cleaning, use a nozzle attachment to get right up to the baseboards and edges of the room. Vacuuming also fluffs up the carpet so that the steamer can clean the fibers more effectively.

When you do this, dab at the stains with a cloth. Never scrub at stains as this can cause them to work deeper into the carpet.

Some natural fiber carpet can shrink from hot water or be harmed by detergent, so always be aware of what type of carpet you are planning to steam clean. [4] X Research source

Some machines will have a specific compartment where the soap goes, and others might direct you to mix the soap into the water.

If your steamer is one that you pull backward, put the head as close to the corner as you can. If you push the machine forward, clean a small area in the corner and then walk along the wall out of that area.

However the machine works, make sure that you don’t walk on the carpet you have just cleaned. If you must walk behind the steamer on the wet carpet, do so with bare feet so your shoes don’t leave marks.

When you start each new line, slightly overlap the line before it to make sure you don’t leave any lines of uncleaned carpet.

As you walk in lines, a good rate is taking one step about every 2 seconds. This allows the machine plenty of time to work. If you have more time and want to clean your carpet even better, go over the area a second time, but with just warm water or a 50/50 mix of vinegar and water to remove any leftover soap.

Place a sign at the entrance of the room to deter people from walking on it while it is wet. You can also turn on the air conditioner and ceiling fans, as well as place standing fans or floor blowers in the room to dry the carpet out faster. Alternatively, if it is relatively warm and dry outside, open up all your windows to increase air circulation.