Important Tips to Maintain your Home's Carpet

When it comes to maintaining carpet, the most critical areas of focus are the foot-traffic lanes. If ground-in soil is not removed on a regular basis, these traffic areas will begin to wear excessively. Dirt particles are very abrasive against the small individual fibers of the carpet as you walk back and forth on it.

The second area of focus should be immediate spot removal. You must react to "danger" spots immediately. Red wine, red beverages, urine, blood, etc. can cause a permanent stain if not treated immediately.

Please see this helpful page for suggestions on cleaning different types of spots and stains.

Listed below are some tips that you may want to take to properly maintain your carpeting.

1. Check the Warranty

Copies of specific warranties on your carpet purchase are available for you upon request. Stain resistant warranties can vary from 5 to 20 years. All stain-resistant warranties require regular cleaning and immediate spot removal!

2. Vacuum, Vacuum, Vacuum!

Vacuum your carpet often. Once or twice a week at least. Vacuuming removes the sharp bits of soil that can cut and slice individual fibers, causing premature wear. Much of this soil is so small, it is not visible to the eye. Vacuum before the carpet looks soiled. Remove any loose particles such as loose food, leaves, pieces of crayon, bugs, etc. as these items can cause a spot on the carpet. Please vacuum slowly, and from multiple directions.

3. Professional Cleaning

As a general rule, carpet cleaning by a professional should take place about once a year. Many stain resistant warranties require professional cleaning at least every two years. If you have extremely heavy traffic areas, please professionally clean more often. Professional cleaning removes the damaging soil from the traffic areas that your vacuuming has not been able to remove. Proper professional cleaning will not leave a sticky residue behind.

4. Spot Removal

Immediate spot removal is key to maintaining a clean, healthy, and beautiful carpet. Great care must be taken when performing spot removal. Please refer to this page on my website for help on spot removal from carpet.

When the carpet is new, it has sufficient protector on it — plain tap water may remove many spots. However, for those spots that will not move easily with water, you must use a spot cleaner.

We have a spot cleaner that we highly recommended that we hand out free after our pro services.

Please carefully follow the instructions on the bottle, and if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to give me a call.

5. Protective Coating

Residential carpets are treated with stain resistant properties and soil resistors. After a period of two to three years, much of the soil resistor may wear off, depending on traffic. At that point, you should consider having a professional re-apply the treatment after a thorough professional cleaning. The soil resistor will help the soil slide off the carpet easier when vacuuming, spots will be easier to remove, and professional cleaning will be more effective the next time it is cleaned.

Conclusion

At Prestige, we're dedicated to helping you keep your carpets and furniture upholstery in optimal condition. We will work with you to recommend professional cleanings in order to meet your standards. We look forward to our appointment!

If you have any questions about this article, or questions related to cleaning carpet, upholstery, and area rugs, and maintaining a healthy home, please feel free to give me a call, and let's talk!

Owner and Master Cleaner
Prestige Carpet Care