Sure, you love the way your carpets look. Carpets add something to any room in just about any environment. They radiate warmth and charm. They determine the overall mood of your home or office. But, no matter how much you love your carpets, there’s one thing you really hate. You can’t stand cleaning them. We do understand. Maintenance is always an issue. That’s why there are so many cleaning services to choose between.
But there is something you should know about carpet cleaning. It’s really not as painful as you might think it is. Sure, it does need you regular attention, but it doesn’t need to drive you insane. You just need to follow these simple tips:
Get your choice of carpet right
If your carpet looks worn before its time, that’s a sure sign you have chosen the wrong carpeting for your space. That’s easy enough. But, you should also know that if a carpet shows its dirt quickly throughout the day, it’s a sign that you have chosen the wrong carpeting for your office or home.
Of course, you can’t expect to go weeks on end without vacuuming your carpets, but you should definitely be able to go a full day without it looking dirty - unless, of course, something was spilled, or you have a higher volume of traffic than normal. If you suspect that you have the wrong carpeting in your space, you may just want to consider replacing it sooner rather than later. It’s probably not adding much in terms of investment at the moment anyhow.
Vacuum Often!
Sorry everyone, buy as of this moment there still isn’t a carpet that doesn’t require regular maintenance. The only carpets that don’t need this sort of attention are in rooms that are never used.
And regular maintenance for carpets means vacuuming. If you never wear shoes on your carpeting and you rarely use certain rooms, you can get away with vacuuming about once a week. That includes rooms, like spare bedrooms. If you really cannot bear this task at home, get yourself one of those robotic vacuums and set it to tackle this chore once a day.
Of course, office spaces need vacuuming more routinely. Ideally, office carpets should be vacuumed once a day every day that they are in use. Remember though, your cleaners probably do not need to be included in this daily vacuuming.
Get to Spills Before They Become Stains
Spills are dangerous things for carpets. Okay, unsalted and unbuttered popcorn and water are not going to cause much harm. But, how often are spills limited to just that? Still, you cannot expect to limit spills and accidents unless you do not allow any living to happen in rooms with carpets. This is completely unlikely at the best of times - and defeats the purpose of carpets in the first place.
However, you should not despair. As long as you get to spills quickly, they should not become a problem. We can’t apply that universally because we don’t know what you’re planning to spill on your carpets. But, for the most part, getting to spills quickly and using the right products to treat them will make all the difference to your maintenance routine.
You Will Need Deep Cleaning; How Do You Determine the Frequency?
You will need to get your carpets regular deep cleaning treatments. There’s not really any way around that. Your vacuum cleaning, no matter how diligent you or your cleaning staff may be, is no match for dirt that gets pushed underneath the piles of your floor. It will do a lot, but it will not get it all.
The frequency of deep cleaning treatments is one of the biggest questions carpet owners have. That’s because there is no right answer. Well, there is, but “as often as needed” is less certain than most people desire.
When determining the frequency of deep cleaning treatments, you can work with guidelines. In general, you should not let a year pass without deep cleaning a residential carpet, though two to three years is more reasonable for most homes. Office carpets probably need a deep cleaning every two to three months.
Opt for Professional Dry Cleaning Services
If you hate carpet cleaning as much as we think, you do then you will probably engage the services of carpet cleaners anyhow. But you should go this route for a more serious reason than just your detest of cleaning. Nope, it has to do with the equipment needed for proper carpet cleaning.
Rather than shampooing your carpets with plenty of hot water, you should actually opt for a dry cleaning treatment. This will make all the difference to the life of your carpets. Unfortunately, you cannot easily rent the equipment needed to perform this work and it’s not a terrific investment for private homes. If you do have a wonderfully large office, you might consider buying what you need. But then, you probably have a staff at your disposal to handle all the tasks you detest doing.
Use Mats to Protect Your Carpets
The right carpet will withstand just about anything you can throw at it in terms of dirt and debris, wear and tear. But that does not mean that you should just ignore your carpets when you expect heavy traffic. If you do think that your carpets are about to undergo a serious beating, you would be wise to protect them however you can.
That doesn’t mean you should lay mats over your beautiful carpets every day of the year, but it does mean that you’ll want to use them when there is extremely heavy rainfall or other issues. Additionally, you might want to consider using mats just outside of your reception area to minimise dirt in your space.
Don’t Underestimate the Value of Carpet Tiles
If you truly hate maintenance, then you may want to consider carpet tiles rather than broadloom next time that you need to invest in carpets. Although the daily maintenance is not markedly different between the two forms of carpets, there is one area where carpet tiles have an edge over broadloom.
Carpet tiles can be easily removed from the floor and replaced with new tiles. This means that you can remove stains, small burns and other issues so that your carpets always look like you’ve put many more hours of work into your carpet than you really have. That’s a plus if you’re really not a fan of floor maintenance (incidentally, carpet tiles are almost always strong and resilient).
If You’re Not Sure of the Best Treatment, Call Your Technical Consultant
There is a reason that quality carpet manufacturers and distributors employ quality technical consultants - it’s to answer your questions and ensure you get the best service before, during and after the ordering process.
If you have a question about the treatment you should be giving your carpets or the type of carpets you should order in the first place, this is your first port of call. A good technical consultant will always steer you in the right direction.
Remember that next time you experience any difficulties. After all, these are the people that might actually be able to take away some of the pain of floor maintenance.
