How Often Should A Carpet Be Cleaned?

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 trafficSoil levelsVacuuming schedulesSpot cleaning methodsProfessional periodic cleaning frequencyRestorative 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 weekSpot clean as and when requiredProfessionally clean 'tracking areas' every 12-18 MonthsRestore - 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 weekSpot clean as and when requiredProfessionally clean 'tracking areas' every 6-12 MonthsRestore - Professionally clean all areas annually

Heavy Soil (families with pets or smokers)

Vacuum 2 - 4 times per weekSpot clean as soon as spots appearProfessionally clean tracking areas every 3 - 6 MonthsRestore - Professionally clean all areas twice a year

Extreme Conditions (large families, multiple pets etc.)

Vacuum dailySpot clean immediately spots appearProfessionally clean tracking areas every 2 - 3 MonthsRestore - 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.

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Why Should I Get My Air Ducts Cleaned?

Some of the benefits of air duct cleaning are that system cleaning will allow systems to run more efficiently by removing debris from sensitive mechanical components. Clean, efficient systems are less likely to breakdown. They have a longer life span, and generally operate more efficiently than dirty systems. Duct cleaning can also reduce the amount of allergens in the duct system. These allergens can be circulated throughout the home with your forced air system.

How a forced air system works is that air is drawn into the system through your return grills and fed into the system through your return ductwork. The air from the return side of the ductwork is fed into the lower compartment of the furnace; where the blower is located. The air passes through the filter and then is pushed up with the help of the blower. The air then passes through the upper part of the furnace where it can be heated or cooled depending on if the heat or air conditioning is on. The air then flows through the supply side duct work to the supply side grills where it exits into the rooms either heated or cooled. The process repeats itself throughout the day and evening until the temperature that has been set at the thermostat has been reached.

The air travels in a circular motion from return to supply side. While you have a filter you must understand that filters vary in efficiency. Some are 90% efficient. Some are only 5% efficient. What does this mean? If a filter is 90% efficient it will stop approximately 90% of what passes through the filter. If a filter is 5% efficient it will only stop approximately 5% of what passes through the filter. This is a very basic explanation there is more to it than this but the important point is that a 90% filter is much better than a 5% filter. Which do you have?

Whatever filter you have it isn't 100% filtration. You couldn't heat or cool your home with 100% filtration because no air could pass through that type of filtration. The National Air Duct Cleaners Association recommends that you clean your air ducts every 3 to 5 years. When was the last time you had your air ducts cleaned? Have you ever had your air ducts cleaned? If you had your ducts cleaned did you get a professional job, not did you pay for a professional job, did you get one?

Clean ducts helps to create a healthier living environment. Clean air ducts help furnaces operate more efficiently. Clean air ducts help your system run longer. So if you can't remember when you last had your air ducts cleaned your probably over due. So do your best to select a reputable duct cleaner. There are many unscrupulous air duct cleaners out there so ask your friends if they have a recommendations. Referrals are one of the best ways to find a good service provider. Angie's list is another great resource or possibly a local chamber of commerce. Good luck in getting your air ducts cleaned. Start breathing easier today, why wait?

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