Carpet Care Answers

Consistent carpet care can significantly extend carpet life.

Vacuuming: The most important measure in consistent carpet care is vacuuming. Approximately 80% of all soil can be removed. Concentrate on high traffic areas, vacuum daily. Medium and low traffic areas can be vacuumed less frequently. Remove soil immediately before it can be worked into the carpet through foot traffic.

Walk-off mats: Most dry soil is brought in from the outside through foot traffic. Use mats at all entrances, inside and outside the doorways. This will help reduce the amount of soil particles carried onto the carpeting.

Spot Removal: Spot removal should occur at the time the spot is found, before having a chance to set and become a permanent stain.

Common carpet problems

Soiling
Oily/sticky soils will cling to fibers causing yellowing/browning conditions – especially in high traffic areas. Driveway sealer can be a primary source of this type of soil. Cooking oils, and animal fats are another common oily soil source.

Fiber/Yarn damage
Dry abrasive soils scratch fiber causing dingy, dull appearance even after soil removal. The damage actually changes the way the fibers reflect light. This condition normally occurs in traffic lanes.

Urine
One of the major causes of yellowing/browning on carpet is urine. Often, a newer spot appears yellow and an older spot is brown. In some cases, normal cleaning will remove urine spots. In other cases, proper spot removal techniques and agents will be effective. Older urine spots are difficult to remove entirely as hydrochloric acid in urine alters carpet dye permanently.

Soil filtration
Appears as dark lines around baseboards, under doors and curtains, and around air registers. This condition occurs with central forced air heating or air conditioning systems. Air is drawn around the perimeter of the room to the air return. This air is filtered as it passes over and through carpet tufts. Most of the time, soil filtration lines are permanent, however, they usually can be lightened by cleaning.

Fading
Sunfading: Ultraviolet waves can damage the dye on textile fibers, causing the colors to fade or change. Most fibers are treated with two or more dyes to produce the desired color. One of the dyes may be affected by sunlight more than the other. This would cause a color change. If each dye is affected similarly, the overall color may appear lighter. Lighter colors fade more quickly as there is less dye to produce a color

Did you know that according to the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration (IICRC) you should have your carpets cleaned AT LEAST 1 TIME PER YEAR depending on the amount of traffic? The IICRC is a professional association that trains & monitors cleaning technicians throughout the United States. To help you decide how often your carpets need to be cleaned, I have included a graph from the IICRC S100 book, 2002. These standards provide the guidelines used by the Carpet Industry to give your carpet the longest life possible.