Do you wait until the carpet starts to look dirty before calling a
professional carpet cleaning company to perform 'restorative carpet
cleaning?
Waiting for a carpet to look dirty before calling in the cleaners is what most people do but, is that leaving it too late?
When
you leave a carpet so long that it looks dirty, lots of permanent
damage has already occurred. You will have been walking on a carpet,
with lots of trapped dirt, cutting away at the fibres, causing premature
wear. This same dirt will have ground its way into the fibres and
permanently changed the colour of the carpet.
Leaving the carpet
to look dirty before cleaning means, your carpet has already worn down
and permanently discoloured. How can you prevent this from happening?
Professional
carpet cleaning is the only way to guarantee removal of deep down dirt,
that causes wear and discolouration, but how often should you perform professional carpet cleaning?
If you leave carpet cleaning to once a year, you can expect the level of appearance to be as follows
(The values change depending on variables such as number of children, number of pets and frequency of vacuum maintenance.)
On
average, you can expect a carpet to look 50% of what it did, when new,
after just one year. By having professional carpet cleaners in, you can
restore the appearance to 80% of what it was when new. Leave the carpet
another year and, the carpet deteriorates to look 30% of what it looked
like when new. Having your carpet professionally cleaned at the end of
year 2 restores the look to 50% of what it looked like when new. At the
end of year 3, the carpet falls to look 20% of what it did when new and
professional cleaning of the carpet at the end of 3 years improves the
look to 40% of what it did when new.
Have your carpet
professionally cleaned once a year and, after 3 years you can expect it
to look 40% of what it did when it was new!
Having carpet
protection applied at the same time as professional carpet cleaning,
improves the level of appearance significantly.
Can You Have Your Carpet Professionally Cleaned Every Month?
The level of appearance improves dramatically, if you can have your carpets professionally cleaned on a monthly basis.
Have your carpet professionally cleaned once a Month and, after 3 years
you can expect it to look 80% of what it did when it was new! In
fact, the level of appearance only drops a small amount and, if the
carpet also had carpet protector applied on a regular basis. The carpet
would still look almost like new after 3 Years of use!
You now
know that you should have your carpets cleaned as often as possible but,
how often should your type of household have professional carpet
cleaning?
Below, is a carpet cleaning maintenance plan, which is
the IICRC (Institute of Inspection Cleaning and Restoration
Certification) guide to carpet cleaning frequencies. "The Clean Trust
S100 Standard and Reference Guide for Professional Carpet Cleaning".
The
IICRC (or The Clean Trust as they are now known) is one of the world's
foremost authority and examining board for professional carpet cleaners.
When looking at the following carpet cleaning frequency guide, please consider factors such as:-
- Amount of traffic
- Soil levels
- Vacuuming schedules
- Spot cleaning methods
- Professional periodic cleaning frequency
- Restorative professional carpet cleaning
Please note: Follow the carpet manufacturers cleaning schedule to maintain your warranty.
Carpet Cleaning Maintenance Plan
Should your household have...
Light Soiling
- Vacuum once a week
- Spot clean as and when required
- Professionally clean 'tracking areas' every 12-18 Months
- Restore - Professionally clean all areas every 2 Years or as manufacturer's warranty
Normal Soiling (families with children or elderly staying at home)
- Vacuum twice per week
- Spot clean as and when required
- Professionally clean 'tracking areas' every 6-12 Months
- Restore - Professionally clean all areas annually
Heavy Soil (families with pets or smokers)
- Vacuum 2 - 4 times per week
- Spot clean as soon as spots appear
- Professionally clean tracking areas every 3 - 6 Months
- Restore - Professionally clean all areas twice a year
Extreme Conditions (large families, multiple pets etc.)
- Vacuum daily
- Spot clean immediately spots appear
- Professionally clean tracking areas every 2 - 3 Months
- Restore - Professionally clean all areas quarterly every 3 - 4 Months)
I hope this information has helped you understand the
necessity for regular carpet cleaning, so that you can keep your carpet
looking good for many more years to come, compared to not having carpet
professionally cleaned.
Do not let your carpet look dirty before
calling a professional carpet cleaner. But, do have your carpet cleaned
as often as possible.Have carpet protector applied often, to extend the
time your carpet keeps looking good.
