Your carpet is a valuable investment and like any investment it requires maintenance. By properly maintaining your carpet it will last longer and look significantly better.
Here are 6 Easy Tips to Get the Most out of Your Carpet:
1. Check the Warranty
Copies of specific warranties on your carpet purchase may be available from your carpet retailer. Stain resist warranties can vary from 5 to 20 years. All stain resist warranties require regular cleaning and immediate spot removal!
2. Vacuum!
Vacuum your carpet often. You should at least vacuum once or twice a week. Soil is not very visible to the eye and vacuuming removes the sharp soil that can cut and slice the fiber causing premature wear. Remove any loose particles such as leftover food, leaves from plants, pieces of crayon, bugs, etc. as these items can cause spots on the carpet.
3. Vacuum!
Did I say Vacuum? It’s that important.
4. Have Your Carpet Professionally Cleaned Often
Most people don’t clean their carpet often enough. This may be due to the cost, the hassle factor, or because they do not realize how important regular professional cleaning can be. If your traffic areas are visibly dirtied, you have already waited too long! Soil in traffic areas are somewhat oily and bonds to the carpet fibers, eventually staining the carpet. In addition, traffic area soil is sharp and it chafes the carpet fibers. To keep this to a minimum, clean your traffic areas before they look visibly stained.
As a general rule, professional cleaning by a certified firm should take place about once per year. For extremely heavy traffic areas, cleaning may be required more often. Proper professional cleaning can be done as many times per year as needed. (Many stain resist warranties require professional cleaning every 2 years). Professional cleaning removes the damaging soil from the traffic areas that vacuuming has not been able to remove.
5. Remove Spots Immediately
Spots that are not immediately removed can turn into permanent stains very easily. When a carpet is new, or has sufficient protector on it, plain tap water will remove many spots. However for those spots that will not go away easily with water, you must use a spot cleaner. Ask the carpet manufacturer or a trained, certified professional cleaner what they recommend for a spot cleaner. Many spot removers that are purchased at the store leave too much soap residue and can cause yellowing. Avoid using foam carpet cleaners or any product that is not made specifically for carpet. Never pour spot cleaner directly on to the carpet. Any spot that you are not able to remove, and for pet urine or feces, call your professional cleaner immediately.
6. Re-Apply Carpet Protector
Residential nylon stain resistant carpets are treated with stain resist properties and soil resistors. After a period of 2 to 3 years, some of the soil-resistor starts to wear off. At that point you should consider having a professional carpet cleaner re-apply the treatment after professional cleaning. The soil resistor will help the soil slide off of the carpet easier when vacuuming, spots will be easier to remove, and professional cleaning will be more effective. Unprotected carpet soils faster, doesn’t last as long, and is prone to permanent staining.