As a floor covering, carpeting is subject to quite a beating day in and day out; if special attention isn’t paid, many carpets have to be replaced prematurely. Without proper carpet care, a floor begins to look dirty and faded and the fibres start to lose their fullness. Regular and thorough carpet care is one of the best ways to prevent these issues, and will keep your flooring looking its best for as long as possible.
Traffic Areas
Traffic areas are those places where people are constantly walking or working. On many occasions, even after carpet cleaning, traffic areas still will not look clean. This is known as “traffic lane Gray”. Traffic Lane Gray is a condition where the traffic lanes in a home start to look darker than the rest of the carpet. This is different from regular soiling because the darkness is not caused by dirt but by scratched carpet fibres that no longer reflect as much light as the rest of the carpeting.
There is not much that a carpet care expert can do with traffic lane Grey. The only way to treat this condition is to prevent it. To prevent it you must limit wear on your carpet. See our top carpet care tips below.
Carpet Wear and Tear
Proper care and maintenance of your carpet will extend its life and preserve its appearance for many years. Clean carpets contribute to a healthy indoor environment and if maintained properly, will look better and last longer!
All carpets will eventually show signs of wear. This can create the illusion of soiling which often causes frustration and misunderstanding between homeowners and carpet care experts. Remember, when a 5 year old carpet is cleaned, the result is a clean 5 year old carpet!
Carpet Stain Prevention
As with most things, prevention is preferable to cure. Therefore, getting all your carpets treated with an anti-stain treatment will make your carpets more resistant to dirt and will help in preventing carpet stains. Making your carpet more rigorous to stains can be cheaper than you’d think and worthwhile in the long run as it will make your own carpet more long-lasting and durable.
Top Carpet Care Tips
Here are some ways to slow down the wear and tear process on your carpets:-
- Rearrange your furniture regularly so traffic areas are changed.
- Use door mats at all entrances.
- Vacuum regularly using a vacuum cleaner with HEPA filter
- Act quickly on spots and spills
- Elect to have family members remove shoes at the door
- Keep kitchen floors clean – grease and oil can be tracked onto carpets
- Have your carpets protected with Carpet Protector
Vacuum Cleaner with HEPA Filter
It is essential that you vacuum your carpets regularly with a strong, well-functioning vacuum cleaner. A good vacuum cleaner features high-efficiency filtration (HEPA). A vacuum with HEPA filtration retains 99.97% of anything 0.3 microns or bigger and stops it from being circulated back into the air we breathe. Correct brush height is necessary to spread the fibres to remove embedded soils. Rental machines and personally owned machines are acceptable for use in rinsing spots and spills but should never be thought of as a replacement for periodic professional cleaning.