How Often Should I Clean My Carpet?
It's a question we encounter all the time: "How often should I clean my carpet?" It usually comes up after we've cleaned-up some really bad areas that the homeowner deemed un-cleanable. It's when they realize that they probably should have called us out sooner and just hadn't gotten around to it.
The quick answer is every 12-24 months. This number is in-line with the warranty requirements from most carpet manufacturers. However, that doesn't fully do justice to your particular circumstance and might not be the correct answer for you. The not so quick answer is "it depends". And it depends on several factors, some that are in your control, and some that are not.
Frequent vacuuming of your carpet is key to its long life
The single best action you can take to prolong the life of your carpet will be frequent and thorough vacuuming. It really doesn't matter as much what type of vacuum you use, as much as how often you use it. Daily vacuuming of your high-use areas will prolong the useable life of your carpet by many years and save thousands in early replacement costs.
Carpet Vacuuming Quick Tip: When vacuuming high-use areas make it a habit to change directions of how you vacuum. Back-and-forth and across will lead to maximum soil removal.
Cleaning frequency based on use
Let's be honest; your carpet faces a lot of abuse. Just count the foot-traffic that your carpet is subjected too. Take for example the carpet that's located in your hallway coming in from the garage or the bottom step on your stairs. They get a daily dose of heavy foot-traffic, combined with the fact that these areas also will receive the deposit from the bottom of your shoes and or feet. Contrast this with areas of carpet that see relatively minor traffic, such as lightly used living or dining rooms.
In cases like that it may make sense to professionally clean those heavy-use areas every six months, and don't worry about the lightly used areas for 24-36 months.
Cleaning frequency based on visual clues
Carpet has a great ability to hide soil. Because of the carpet pile (the length and density of the fiber), soil has an abundance of places to hide and accumulate within your carpet. Once you see dark traffic areas show-up, the soil-load in your carpet is very high and might have already started to do damage to your carpet fiber. Carpet cleaners call this condition "traffic-lane gray" and it is difficult to completely reverse.
Frequent vacuuming of these areas can prevent this condition from taking hold.
Cleaning frequency based on routine
For your carpet's sake it's best to avoid getting to "traffic-lane gray". It really shortens the life of your carpet. The best advice I can give you here is to get into the habit of an annual cleaning routine. I realize that this advice coming from a carpet cleaner can be taken as a self-serving statement. And that's a risk I'm willing to take. Our experience has been that the customers who have their carpet cleaned (and protected) on an annual basis get a much longer life out of their carpet and overall seem to be happier with how their carpet performs over the long term.
Carpet loosing favor as a floor covering
Carpet is a great floor covering. Although it's not the first choice of many homeowners these days, as hardwood, travertine and tile have largely taken over, there's no other floor covering that's so soft, fluffy and fun to play on. It's just when carpet is not properly maintained that it starts losing favor. And that is where professional cleaning of carpet comes in.
The benefit of professional cleaning
An annual cleaning frequency is ideal in most circumstances and there really is no better way to clean then with the Zerorez®, soap and chemical-free cleaning system. Cleaning this way will keep most carpet in excellent condition and will give you many years of pleasure. If you are ready for a clean, healthy and residue-free carpet give us a call at 866-937-6739.
