How often should I clean my carpets?
The carpet mills say.
When communicating with carpet mills regarding cleaning frequency, there is a distinction between what is required to comply with the warranty and ideals of how often they would prefer carpets to be cleaned.
A statement from Shaw says this: “Our requirement is that carpet be cleaned at least once every two years in order to maintain warranties. Ideally, a carpet should be cleaned every 12 to 18 months, depending on the family and home.”
If you go to The Carpet and Rug Institute's (CRI) website, www.carpet-rug.org, and read its Carpet Maintenance Guidelines, you will see that this publication states that deep cleaning should be done quarterly, every six months or annually, depending upon traffic levels.The challenge;
One thing should be obvious: There is no one correct response to the question, “How often should I clean my carpet?”
Major voices, including carpet and fiber manufacturers, the IICRC, The Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification, carpet cleaners and the public in general all have different ideas and standards.
However, there are some key areas where a consensus has been reached.
Proper professional cleaning will extend the useful life of the carpet
If carpet looks dirty, it is already past the time it should have been cleaned
Cleaning for health has a bigger impact on people's lives than merely cleaning for appearance
The carpet will never suffer from too much cleaning and often the more frequent the cleaning the less aggressive the cleaning can be.
So, my best answer is
“Your carpet should be cleaned at least once a year, more often if there are active children, pets or smokers in the home with more emphasis on areas such as family rooms, halls and stairs with less often in areas that are not used very often such as spare bedrooms etc."
What is the best method to clean my carpets ?
Bonnet Method / "Carbonated Cleaning"
This method is sometimes called "dry cleaning",
Bonnet Cleaning is simply an absorbent pad usually made of a combinations of both cotton and nylon fibers used under a rotary machine. A cleaner is usually sprayed on the surface of the carpet fibers and as the bonnet pad is used to spread the cleaner over the fibers and mix with any soil, then absorbing the soil into the pad. This is similar to taking a damp cloth and rubbing the top surface of a carpet to get all the soil out.
The world's largest carpet manufacturer, Shaw Industries, suggests not using this method, especially on cut pile, due to pile distortion and fiber damage. This method has very limited capability for soil removal and leaves much of the detergent in the pile since it employs no real extraction. As a result, rapid re-soiling often occurs.
Check with your carpet manufacturer because many leading carpet mills recommend against this method of cleaning.
Carpet Absorbent Cleaners
This method is often called "dry cleaning" since virtually no water is used.
In this method, dry absorbent compound, like sawdust, cornmeal, corn starch and other absorbent products (containing small amounts of water, detergent, and solvent,) is sprinkled over carpet or worked into the carpet with a machine. The purpose of this cleaner is to attract and absorb soil. Mechanical agitation from a brush works the cleaner through the carpet.
Ideally, the compound should be allowed to dry for at least 8 hours so the compound can absorb all the soil prior to removal by vacuuming. Most companies offering this type of cleaning allow 30 minutes at most, thus minimizing its’ effectiveness.
Very thorough vacuuming should be used to ensure that most of the carrier comes out of the carpet. With the extremely fine powder types, indoor air quality can be reduced.
Steam Extraction
This method is often call "Hot Water Extraction", and is the cleaning method nearly all carpet manufacturers and carpet fiber producers recommend.
This is the only cleaning method classified as "deep cleaning". All the others are considered "light surface cleaning" because they are incapable of removing soil deep in the pile.
The maintenance brochure published by the world's largest carpet manufacturer, Shaw Industries, recommends this method, because its own research indicates that it provides the best capability for cleaning.
This method is frequently called "steam" cleaning due to the fine spray of hot water and the cleaning solution used under high pressure to force dirt out of the carpet which is sucked up by the vacuum slot immediately in front of the spray with a powerful vacuum into a holding tank.
There are both truck mount and portable equipment used in this process. Although the truck mounts offer more power, after the long lengths of hoses needed to connect to the house they lose a tremendous amount of their heat, pressure and vacuum capabilities. The portable equipment which will not encounter these issues also has the advantage of changing the type and strength of cleaners used room by room to adapt to both the fibers and the level of soiling conditions, giving you an overall superior out come.
What is the best type of carpet to buy?
Carpet fiber characteristics
Not every carpet is created equally. Various fibers and how they are used in carpet dictates how easy the carpet will be to clean, and how long it will last and retain its bulk, texture and color.
Of equal importance is knowing each fiber's characteristics. Each fiber has it's "pros and cons."
Most choices in carpet are based on color, with texture and style following close behind.
There are four main fiber types in modern, broadloom carpet. They are:
Nylon (about 60% of market)
Polyester (about 30% of market)
Olefin (about 10% of market)
Wool (less than 1% of market)
This technical bulletin will address characteristics of each of these fibers.
Use this information to explain the cleavability of specific carpet types, and also to help specify which type of carpet is best for each application.
Nylon and durability
Nylon is known as a durable fiber. It's a good choice for heavy traffic areas.
Nylon's favorable qualities include:
Great resiliency
Accepts wide range of colors
Relatively colorfast
Easy to clean (with excellent results)
Not attracted to oily soils
Nylon's unfavorable qualities include:
Easiest of synthetic fibers to stain with typical food and beverage spills (fabric protection helps fight this problem)
Will lose color in presence of bleach, especially chlorine
With this information, think about where nylon would be a good choice in a home or business.
You might suggest to your customer to install nylon in a heavily-used living room, hallway, stairs, etc.
But you might think twice about suggesting nylon for bathrooms or areas where moisture is a concern, and especially when chlorine bleach might be used, such as a room close to an outdoor swimming pool, as the chlorine can be tracked onto the carpet.
Olefin and stain resistance
Although olefin does not have the "strength" of nylon and tends to mat down and "ugly out" faster, it has some excellent qualities.
Olefin's favorable qualities include:
Water resistance (including water-based spills)
Colorfastness (will not lose color like nylon because the color in olefin is "locked in" due to solution dyeing.
Chemical resistance (you can use very strong chemicals when cleaning olefin)
Olefin's unfavorable qualities include:
Poor resiliency, abrades and "uglies out" rapidly
After cleaning, tends to wick to the surface
Has low melting point
Attracted to oily soils
Olefin is a good choice in areas where moisture is prevalent, such as in a basement or around a swimming pool. It's naturally stain resistant, which means it's a good choice when kids and Kool Aid is in abundance.
But it's a bad choice for areas where oils and greases will be prominent, such as in a room close to a garage or right off a city street or paved parking area.
If olefin carpet is installed in such an area, you need solid cleaning techniques.
Polyester
Polyester holds a healthy second place of market share, mainly due to the new designation of triexta.
Polyester's favorable qualities include:
Good hand (soft to touch)
Colorfast
Semi-resistant to bleaches and chemicals
Naturally stain resistant
Not attracted to acid dyes
Polyester's unfavorable qualities include:
Poor resiliency
Attracted to oily soils
After cleaning, tends to wick
Polyester is a good choice for low-traffic areas, and areas that have spot and stain concerns. Because it has a soft hand, it's often chosen due to texture.
Wool — the natural fiber
Although wool holds such a small amount of market share (less than 1%), you have to remember that billions of yards of carpet are produced each year.
That means that 1% is still a significant number.
Wool's favorable characteristics include:
Naturally resilient
Resists abrading
Accepts wide range of colors
"Warm" fiber
Fire resistant
Hides soils
Repels moisture
Easy to clean
Wool's unfavorable characteristics include:
Expensive fiber
Dissolves in chlorine bleach
Some cleaning and stain removal is difficult
Does not react well with strong chemicals, which can limit your cleaning procedure
Color loss (bleeding and crocking)
Wool is obviously a favorite fiber for many, and because of its natural resiliency will last many years in a home or business.
There are also other fibers used in much smaller quantities such as linen and silk or rugs made from a combination of natural fibers such as wool and silk together. These carpets can require a very skilled technician to clean them.