How To Care For Your Carpet

When it comes to maintaining your carpet, one of the most critical areas of focus is the traffic areas. If ground in soil is not removed on a regular basis, the traffic areas will begin to wear excessively. The dirt is extremely abrasive against the fibers of the carpet as you walk back and forth on it. The second area of focus of course, is spot removal. You must react to “danger” spots immediately. Red wine, red beverages, urine, blood, ect. can cause a permanent stain if not treated immediately. Listed below are the steps you must take to properly maintain your carpeting.

Vacuuming

Vacuum your carpet often. Once or twice a week at least. Vacuuming removes the sharp soil that can cut and slice the fiber causing premature wear. Much of the soil is not visible to the eye. Vacuum before the carpet looks soiled. Remove any loose particles such as loose food, leaves, pieces of crayon, bugs, ect. as these items can cause a spot on the carpet.

Professional Cleaning

As a general rule, cleaning by a professional firm should take place about once a year. For extremely heavy traffic areas, cleaning may be required more often. Proper professional cleaning will not leave a sticky residue behind and can be done as many times per year as needed. MANY STAIN RESIST WARRANTIES REQUIRE PROFESSIONAL CLEANING EVERY 2 YEARS.

Spot Removal and Interim Cleaning

Immediate spot removal is key to a clean carpet. Great care also must be taken in how spot removal is performed. When a carpet is new, or has sufficient protector on it, plain tap water will remove many spots. However for those spots that will not easily remove with water, you must use a spot cleaner. Select a spot cleaner that is recommended by the carpet manufacturer or your trained professional cleaner. Any spot that you are not able to remove, and for pet urine or feces, call your professional cleaner immediately.

Protective Coatings

Residential carpets are treated with stain resistant properties and soil resistors which after a period of 2 to 3 years, begins to wear off. At that point you should consider having a professional carpet cleaner re-apply the treatment after professional cleaning. The soil resistor will help the soil slide off of the carpet easier when vacuuming, spots will be easier to remove, and professional cleaning will be more effective.

There is much discussion in our industry about how often carpeting should be cleaned. Surely you have heard “Wait as long as you can before you clean your carpet…” or “Once you’ve cleaned your carpet, it’s never the same…”

These widely used comments have stemmed from unfortunate encounters with uninformed cleaners that have left the carpet with an overload of detergent residue. The unfortunate consumer has assumed that this is the case with all carpet cleaning and resolved to wait until the carpet is in dire straight to clean it.

The good news is that properly cleaned carpet will not re-soil quickly and will actually last longer. Why? Because damaging soils are removed with effective carpet cleaning. Soil that is not removed by vacuuming, even though it can rarely be seen by the naked eye, it cuts and slices on the carpet fibers as the carpet is walked on breaking down the carpet yarns in the traffic areas. The result is that even with restorative cleaning at that point, it will not correct the damage that has been done to the fiber. Not to mention that a carpet that is not cleaned on a regular basis is an unhealthy carpet. Carpet is like a sink. It collects pollens, insecticides, exhaust, ect. that gets tracked in or blown in from the polluted outdoors. Carpet manufacturers state that a residential carpet should be professionally cleaned at least 18 to 24 months for best performance. More often if pets and/or children are present and perhaps more often if you are a smoker.

In closing, a carpet that is maintained on a regular basis will not only last longer but will also provide a healthier indoor environment.

5 Reasons You Should Always
Get Carpet Protector

1. Reduces permanent stains
    A great looking carpet can be ruined by an ugly spot. Unprotected carpet doesn’t repel     spillage as well as protected carpet.
2. Helps save your traffic areas from becoming destroyed
    Traffic area soil is very abrasive and cuts carpet yarns like a knife. This damaging soil     can easily bond to an unprotected carpet. 
3. Make spots easier to remove
    The easier a spot is to remove, the less cleaner you will have to use. 
4. Makes your next professional cleaning more effective
    Having protector applied to your carpet will enhance your next cleaning.
5. Helps avoid costly service calls
    Carpet protector helps you remove more spots than you could without protector.
The result of having protector applied to your carpet is that you carpet will look better and last longer.

4 Mistakes Other Cleaners

Make In Applying Protector

1.  Not using high quality protector. 
     Kwik Dry only uses the highest quality, recommended protectors.

2.  Not using dedicated container. 
     Each Kwik Dry van has a dedicated container reserved ONLY for    
     Carpet protector.

3.  Not applying the product properly. Some cleaners either under                    
     apply or over apply the protector. Kwik Dry technicians are          
     diligently trained for proper application.

4.  Not grooming the carpet.
     Kwik Dry thoroughly grooms the protector into the carpet pile.