Cleaning your carpets is a task that you probably don’t think about too much, and beyond vacuuming, you may even question if it needs to be done at all. However, once you do have your carpet freshly cleaned, you’ll wonder how why it took you so long!
Over time, as you add furniture, toys and other bits and pieces, the fibres that make up carpet become covered by things such as dust, debris, and allergens. As the build-up, it doesn’t just affect the condition of your carpet, it can also affect your health. Therefore, as you would clean your kitchen or bathroom, carpet cleaning should also be considered.
Is Vacuuming Enough?
Vacuuming is one of those necessary weekly carpet maintenance tasks. It’s good to get rid of surface dust, debris and things like pet hair.
Once you’ve finished vacuuming, the carpet may look cleaner, however, a vacuum is unable to draw out dirt that nests deep in the carpet’s fibres. Over time, this dirt turns into stains that can become impossible to remove.
Therefore a thorough, deep clean requires a professional carpet cleaning solution, which should be done periodically to keep your carpet in great shape.
How Often Do I Need to Vacuum?
In general, a thorough vacuum each week should suffice, however, there are some things you should consider such as;
- Whether or not you have pets.
- Whether you have any children.
- If anyone in the house has respiratory conditions.
- If anyone smokes.
- The amount of your home is carpeted and the areas the carpet is present.
Consider these factors as they’ll influence the frequency required and ensure you don’t simply rely on visual cues when contemplating vacuuming. Dust and debris are inevitable and is much harder to see on darker carpets or when comparing it to wooden or tiled floors.
If you share your house with pets, especially pets that shed fur, and if you have active children who love you play, the vacuuming frequency should at least be two or three times a week. This will help remove the hair and debris from the top of the carpet and stop some of it from nestling deeper down.
Asthma and other health conditions can intensify when dust and allergens are in your carpet, so if someone in your house does suffer from asthma, be sure to schedule carpet cleaning more regularly. This increased regularity also applies to smokers as carpet can retain the smoke and smell. More frequent cleaning will help reduce the impact.
How Frequently Should I Have My Carpets Professionally Cleaned?
In addition to vacuuming, scheduling professional carpet cleaning at least annually is advised. This is to ensure a deep and thoroughly clean is done to lift out the hard to reach dirt and debris that will be inevitably hiding. A yearly spring clean of your home should coincide with a yearly carpet cleaning service.
This time frame is a common suggestion for a number of reasons;
- Many carpet manufacturers recommend this timeframe as part of their warranty requirements.
- An annual deep clean is necessary to reach the deep down into the fibres to help prevent permanent stains and damage.
- Clearing out your furniture to let the professionals reach all areas is a time-consuming task and isn’t something you’re likely to want to do too often!
How Does Professional Carpet Cleaning Work?
There are two broad approaches to carpet cleaning, dry cleaning and steam cleaning. Dry cleaning is efficient and allows you to walk on your carpets again in less time as it used much less water. The carpet cleaning process involves first removing the initial debris and to position the carpet fibres upright with a high-powered jet vacuum. A broad-spectrum pre-treatment is then applied which is designed to target the various types of dust and debris. This process breaks down any stains and is followed by an application of a cleaning product such as ‘Drytech’ with a compressed air sprayer.
This applies a mist and stops the carpet from getting too wet. In the case of Drytron, the next step is ‘Drytech Two’, which is applied with an accumulator pad. This pad is submerged and squeezed dry, followed by being applied to the turbo agitator. Via fast rotation, the accumulator pad activates the Drytech cleaning compounds to extract debris from carpet fibres and onto the pad. It’s a carefully applied process that is strong on stains whilst maintaining the carpet’s condition.
A resulting professional clean will look great, keep your carpet in tip-top shape and will help prevent any unnecessary health implications. Good luck!
