When is the best time for your carpets to be cleaned? This question is hard to give a precise answer to because it depends on a number of factors. How soiled is the carpet? Do you have a household of four or a household of eight? Do you allow shoes to be worn in the house? Is the carpet light in color or dark? The main objective in having a carpet cleaner in to do your carpets is to get them clean before any irreversible damage has been done. It will be a much better job and easier too if carpet is cleaned before becoming overly soiled. This would be about twelve to eighteen months for family of four with normal activities going on in the house.
Many budget conscience families are worried about the extra expense that professional carpet cleaners add on to already tight budgets. This leads them into trying to clean the carpet themselves with a rented machine and chemical solutions from a local home improvement store. This option is not a viable one and should be reconsidered. What ends up happening when homeowners attack this job on their own is carpet can become damaged because the homeowner is not familiar with proper techniques and the equipment is not appropriate for the job.
Problems such as fading, change in color, saturation of chemicals and water, shrinkage and fiber damage are all issues that carpets can faced if improperly cleaned. A professional carpet cleaner will come out to the home before the job is to be done. Upon this initial contact with the carpet they will inspect it, find out the homeowners expectations, give an estimate on the carpet cleaning technique they recommend and schedule a time to come out and clean the carpet. It is unwise to have a company come out and clean the carpeting without a detailed review of the type of carpet, the homeowners’ expectations and a quote stating what is involved along with papers of insurance.
Different methods of carpet cleaning work better on different types of carpet. For instance the absorbent pad method is ideal for short Berber carpet or carpet used within offices and schools. This is true because dry time is not involved and the carpet can be used again immediately but also the type of carpet is shallow so the dirt does not have as far to settle in.
Frieze and plush carpets however are better cleaned through the hot water extraction method which gives carpet a deep cleaning. Carpet cleaners come into the house and pre-treat existing stains on the carpet. Then for a deep cleaning a fine spray of hot water is applied to the carpet. This forces the dirt out of the carpet which is then sucked into the machine and a spray of cleaning solution and water is applied and immediately sucked up into the equipments holding tank. Carpet cleaners use various types of equipment so one may use a hand held all in one machine while another has long hoses attached to holding tanks inside the vehicle. The high temperature water also helps to decrease the amount of drying time necessary. With this method homeowners will want to place fans for maximum air flow until the carpets are thoroughly dried.
The answer to when a homeowners carpets need to be cleaned is actually simple…when it needs it. Carpet kept clean and free of dirt build up will last well beyond the manufactures warranty. After the holidays and the traffic has cleared right before spring cleaning is an ideal time however many people have their homes open to family during the holiday season so maybe after the kids go back to school carpet cleaning is something to look into.