How often do you clean your carpet? When it’s sticky? When it’s crunchy? When it’s grimy? When it’s stinky? When it’s a biohazard?
Many homeowners take their carpets and rugs for granted. They’re something found in almost every room in the home. They’re vacuumed every so often, and usually, people don't tend to give cleaning them a whole lot of thought otherwise. But if you're one of those folks who clean the carpets every seven years whether they need it or not, you may be living with a whole lot more crud than you think. Some authorities claim that carpets can hold up to four times their weight in dirt. That's a lot.
Carpet Manufacturers’ Warranties Require Carpets to be Professionally Cleaned
Many carpet warranties require the carpet to be professionally cleaned every 6 to 24 months. The carpet industry takes this requirement seriously. The Carpet Guru of Tigard, Oregon puts it bluntly: “If you do not have a receipt from a certified carpet cleaner, don’t even bother to file a [warranty] claim.… [I]f you do not clean your carpet every two years (more often if you have pets), you will have no warranty, period. This cleaning has to be done by an IICRC-certified carpet cleaner, not your home cleaning machine.”
The Carpet & Rug Institute Recommends Professional Carpet Cleaning Every 12 to 18 Months
Have your carpet professionally cleaned every 12 to 18 months. That’s the advice given by The Carpet & Rug Institute, an industry trade group. But Zerorez, a leading carpet cleaning service, suggests that some people should clean their carpets more often. Vacuuming infrequently, having a light-colored carpet, having household members with allergies, having pets or young children, having a large family, and wearing shoes indoors can have a bearing on when it’s time to call in a professional cleaner.
Clean Your Carpet in the Spring—Or the Summer, Winter, or Fall
There’s no single best time of year to have your carpet cleaned. This is a choice that depends a great deal on your lifestyle and the climate where you live. Special Touch Carpet Cleaners recommends cleaning in the spring if you live in an area with harsh, mucky winters. But the firm also notes that having your carpet cleaned in the summer, when family members tend to be away from the home more, makes a certain amount of logistical sense. Cleaning in the fall is recommended if you want your carpets to look great at holiday time. And having carpets cleaned in the winter may be desirable for people with allergies, since at that time of year windows stay closed and people are more apt to stay at home.
Heavy Foot Traffic? Clean Your Carpets More Often
Some carpeted areas get walked on a lot more than others. And those areas tend to get soiled faster. “If you see obvious signs of soiling on the carpet, it shows that you have waited too long” to have your carpets cleaned. So advises ServiceMaster, one of the oldest commercial and residential cleaning services in the country. The company suggests cleaning carpeted hallways, family rooms, and entryways every six to eight months. If you fail to have areas of carpet that are starting to look dingy professionally cleaned, it can make eradicating those dingy spots impossible later on.
So How Often Should You Clean Your Carpet?
Although the advice given by carpet experts varies, it varies within a fairly small range. Unless your lifestyle--or a carpet manufacturer's warranty--demands that it be done more often, most people should have their carpets professionally cleaned every 6 to 24 months. To choose the best carpet cleaning professional in your area, check out our Top Ten Carpet Cleaning Services.