Protecting Your Investment
Carpet is replaced every 10-12 years on average. However, after 3-5 years it can start to show signs "uglying out" as the manufacturers like to call it. The carpet cleaning industry calls it wearing out. There are some fiber types that clean up well, look better and last longer than others. Today, carpet comes in many different fiber types with blends of nylon, plants, recycled plastic, and wool. In our experience, nothing beats a great nylon carpet; in fact, we're still cleaning some of the older nylon carpets from the 90's and early 2000's and they hold up remarkably well. Nylon carpet may be more expensive than the alternatives, but like any other textile in your home it is an investment.
We believe it is our job to educate you based on our experience and cleaning 100,000's sq ft of carpet each year. We have learned and experienced what cleans up well, what products last the longest, and what carpet types do well in specific situations. While we aren't carpet salesman, if you're ever thinking of replacing your carpet we can provide you with our professional recommendations and tips.
Carpet Cleaning Tid Bits
- Vacuum, vacuum, vacuum - removing dry soil from your carpet is the easiest and most efficient way to make your carpet last longer. A common myth - you can buy an expensive vacuum and vacuum less often. While some people believe that, that couldn't be further from the truth. To the naked eye, soil looks flat but under a microscope a grain of sand or soil has million of sharp edges. When your carpet becomes loaded with soil, our foot traffic causes the soil to cut the carpet fibers. This causes the carpet to wear and that cannot be reversed. As the carpet wears, it reflects light differently and can make a light amount of soil look very dark on lighter colored carpets. Vacuuming regularly is one of the key components to maintaining your carpet. For a family of 4 we recommend vacuuming common areas 2-3 times per week.
- Just as we mentioned in this article, your carpet is a filter. Carpet filters out a lot of the dirt, hair, bacteria, and other pollutants we bring into our home and businesses. Bacteria loves dirt but vacuuming to lessen the soil load in the carpet significantly reduces the bacteria's food source. This also greatly improves your indoor air quality.
- Professional carpet cleaning is another key component to maintaining your carpet. In fact, major carpet manufacturers require professional carpet cleaning to uphold and maintain warranties. They also recommend it to uphold fiber retention and healthier indoor air quality.
- Use rugs - walk off mats or rugs are a great way to reduce soil load in the carpet. Whether they're inexpensive machine washable rugs or investment quality woven rugs. Having them at your entry ways and transitions to hard surfaces help to lessen the amount of dirt we bring on to the carpet. We can clean these rugs during your carpet cleaning appointment if they're woven rugs or quality area rugs that are not machine washable.
Carpet Cleaning Is Like Maintaining Your Teeth
We know you've just read that heading and you may have raised your eyebrow but stay with us. The process of vacuuming your carpet to maintain it, is the same process that brushing your teeth is to maintaining your teeth. Professional carpet cleaning is the same process as going to the dentist. As you know brushing your teeth makes them last longer and look between. However in both carpet cleaning and dentistry, sometimes there are issues that only a professional can fix. A chipped tooth, a koolaid stain - we think you get the picture.
When you're young and first start going to the dentist, they applied fluoride to your teeth to protect them. Carpet manufacturers apply a fluoro-chemical protectant to the carpet - most commonly known as Scotchgard™. Over time that protective property wears off and needs to be reapplied. We offer carpet protector application and can a can apply it directly after cleaning. Having carpet protector applied after cleaning can help your carpet to last 50-75% longer.