Before I gave up on trying to keep the carpet in my entrances clean and replaced them with Pergo, I kept a washable throw rug in front of the doors.

I've got a rug outside that door too, but it's not helping much.

I've got hardwood under the carpet on those stairs and thruout my condo, but I've always liked carpet better.

I have a small area by my front door. I took up the carpet there and replaced it with a piece of laminate anout 30 inches square. It's waterproof and washable. The laminate has a wood-grain appearance.

The foyer outside that door you see in the picture is about 6' by 6' with linoleum flooring and a mat that I wipe my feet off on. I still get the stains you see in the picture.

Bump.

Certain carpet fibers just seem to attract dirt...I believe Dacron is one...and likely there are others.
I live alone in a 2 story house. About 10 years ago I recarpeted one of the seldom used bedrooms in a pale peach Dacron. It gets very little regular use....maybe 3 to 4 times a year when I have more than 2 guests....and it's noticably soiled....even a few months after shampooing. I have a higher end nylon on the stairs and in 12 years it's never been cleaned and looks great.
Some carpet just attracts dirt. Seems that yours in the stair way is one that does.
Linda C

lindac, thanks for the response.

I'm not sure if the carpet is Dacron or not. I assume the main reason the carpet gets dirty is because shoes are worn on it.

So does anyone know anything about cleaning the carpet? Will shampooing it ruin the stain fighting abilities or anything?

How about some type of plastic mat to cover the stares so it doesn't keep happening?

Shoes are worn on all my carpet....and only that one bedroom get dirty. If shoes wre the problem, you would see a lot of filthy carpets.
Certain fibers attract and hold soil.
I suppose you could put plastic on the stairs...but I would rather dirty carpet than plastic.
As for destroying the stain fighting ability by shampooing...seems to me that stain fighting properties are pretty well non existant....I would rent a rug doctor and have at it.
Linda C

"Shoes are worn on all my carpet....and only that one bedroom get dirty. If shoes wre the problem, you would see a lot of filthy carpets."

The carpet is dirty because people wear shoes there (directly from outside). The dirt gets cleaned off on those first 6 stairs. This has nothing to do with yourbedroom, it has to do with the carpet on the stairs in the immediate entranceway to my condo. I do not know what you are trying to argue.

"As for destroying the stain fighting ability by shampooing...seems to me that stain fighting properties are pretty well non existant..."

How do you know that? I would really like to know how you know about my rug? Seriously, did you sneak in last night and try to clean it?
I said in the first post "Just wiping it with a wet towel makes a clean spot". So how "non existant" are the stain fighting properties if all it takes is a wet towel to remove the stain?

You haven't read the thread and you're fighting a battle about carpet material that no one really cares about.

After you clean the stairs, here is a second suggestion:

Non-slip stair treads;make of woven material. See the link for an idea about them:

Here is a link that might be useful: Non-slip stair treads

Excellent jobird, thanks!

That carpet cleaner looks like it would be good for the open area of my condo, but I need a handheld (or at least something with a wand) to clean my stairs with. Do you know of a good one?

Congrats on your new place. I see the you have what I call, "Cow Trails!" It looks as though they have just moved the entire group up your stairs. Who lived in your place prior to you? If they had kids which played basketball or they walked on asphalt with sealer, that could be your problem. The shoes look clean but the sealer leaves a residue on their shoes which attracts the dirt. I know this as I have had white carpet in my last 3 homes. When ever my in-laws came for the weekend the carpet would turn into the "Cow Trails" where ever they walked. My father in law ripped out all of the concrete sidewalks around their home and put in asphalt and sealed it every year. My carpet looked like theirs and they were here only for 2 days. I had to pre shampoo and then steam clean to get that out and then they were due again. They have not been allowed here in 7 years and since they have not been coming here I have not had to do this since. I do have this cleaned by a pro to protect my warrenty on the carpet. They do the dual process and have the Teflon or the Scotchguard done as red wine and coffee wipes up with water. I hope this helps.

"Who lived in your place prior to you?"

The carpet is actually new, it was installed by the sellers right before they put it up for sale.

The dirt was there from all the people coming to see the house, they left their shoes on (of course) thruout the entire condo when they were browsing, but all the dirt was rubbed off by the top of the stairs.

Now that I owe it, I take my shoes off on the first landing, but that first set of stairs gives my otherwise spotless condo a really ghetto look.

BTW, the spots on the corner of the wall (bottom left hand corner of above picture) have been repainted. I never noticed them until I saw that picture. lol

After you get it cleaned, you could always put down some of this temporay carpet protection film stuff in the traffic way. works pretty good for me.

Carpet Protector

Here is a link that might be useful: Carpet Protector

I noticed you can rent the RugDoctor at Walmart;along with the main machine,you have the option to rent the upholstery attachments. It was something like $22 for a 24 hour rental,plus the attachments,cleaning fluids,and tax (of course :)

Here is a link that might be useful: RugDoctor info

You also might want to consider this small cleaner,which should be perfect on stairs:

"I love this Little green god! I have had stains on my staircase for weeks and been debating whether to call a professional to come and clean yet again, when i went out and bought this against the advice of my sister who says she had no luck with it. She was wrong, the stains began to disappear instantly upon spraying the solution and my old carpet that i was thinking of replacing now looks better than new! Very easy to use, except i suggest vacuming before using it to avoid getting stuff stuck in the mechanism, which happened to me. It is an AWESOME machine."

Here is a link that might be useful: Bissell - Little Green Machine

I hope I was following this correctly, I can't tell if you were saying that you just moved in and the carpet is stained from walkthroughs or if you have been cleaning it but it gets dirty from guests shoes. If this is from walkthroughs before you purchased the condo you might consider calling a professional carpet cleaner. They should be able to tell you if it is safe to clean the carpet or if the carpet will be damaged. I don't think it would cost very much to get such a small area cleaned. They might also be able to suggest a way to protect the stairs. If you have been cleaning and guests are tracking dirt on the stairs, you might try buying a small portable cleaner like the one above, I have one and it does a pretty good job. It still takes some time to do a staircase, but it is easier than scrubbing with a cloth. I don't think cleaning should harm the carpet, but you do need to be sure to remove any cleaner left on the carpet. Cleaning residue will attract dirt even faster.

As far as the stairs issue, we ripped up our carpet on the stairs within the first 2 years of living here and put a runner (with a pattern) at the landing and it was the best thing we ever did. We can just wipe the stairs when they get dirty.
We own the little green and it does work like a charm...at first. We have 2 kids and a lab and light cream carpets upstairs in our home. I hired Stanley Steemer and the carpets looked new. I was very happy. HOWEVER, I kept noticing that I would have to call them more and more often b/c the carpet would get dirty more and more quickly after they came. After 1-2 weeks many of the same stains would even reappear! How weird! But then I was reading a blog online somewhere that said that anytime you use any type of soap on your carpet, it actually attracts dirt after it's dry. The dirt basically sticks to the soap residue in the carpet which is why the same stains were reappearing. So then I called ChemDry - a company that only uses carbonated water to clean your carpet. Our carpet was filty. I didn't know if it would work but it did! After 3 mos, they still look brand new. I honestly can't believe it. I will never use anyone else again. The price was the same - maybe a little less than Stanley Steemer too. Good luck!

Hi mcfromct,

Your comments about Chem-Dry (CD) sounded very interesting,so I did a Yahoo search on CD.

FYI, CD is now owned by Home Depot (HD) and some of Chem-Dry's consumer cleaning products are available at HD

One of CD's products,Stain Extinguisher,is available at HD and got a good review;see link below

I'm going to get some Stain Extinguisher at HD and give it a try. Thanks for the information about CD.

Here is a link that might be useful: Stain Extinguisher review on Epinions

Thanks Jobird - I didn't know you could purchase Chem-Dry products. I will definitely find some of that stuff myself!

I guess people haven't heard that bare feet and carpet don't get along well - the oil from the skin makes for dirty, nasty, carpets just like excessive dirt from shoes.

An outside the door, and a washable rug in all entrances can help prevent much of what usually gets tracked in. The trick is to wash the rugs frequently, and to wipe your feet on the rug before entering the house.

Two things that damage carpet, the grip on sport shoes (when you pivit it puts a lot of stress on the fibers), and oils from bare feet - which I can only guess are also in your socks if you've been wearing them all day....

I find nothing more disgusting in someone's entrance than a heap of shoes. Floors and flooring are designed for walking on, and closets are designed for storage of shoes. If you want to remove your shoes, fine, just put them away so I don't have to stumble over them.

My REMOVE-YOUR-SHOES sister-in-law, with her unsightly stack of shoes in the doorway, has suffered from warts on her feet because she refuses to wear shoes/house shoes/slippers indoors, and her doctor has told her as much. Thanks, but no thanks, I will keep my shoes on and she can keep her warty virus for herself. Regular maintanance (frequent vacuuming and professional cleaning as needed) is what keeps flooring clean, not how many people remove their shoes.....

-Grainlady