How often should I get my carpets cleaned?
Frequently used carpet should be professionally cleaned by a qualified technician at least annually – perhaps a little longer interval for infrequently used carpet, and even sooner for carpet in homes occupied by respiratory sensitive or allergic persons; or in homes with indoor pets.
The following chart from the IICRC S100 Standard and Reference Guide for Professional Carpet Cleaning serves as a guideline for recommending cleaning frequencies for carpet. They consider traffic, soil rating, vacuuming schedules, spot cleaning schedules, and professional interim and restorative cleaning.
Residential Carpet Cleaning Frequency Chart
Is there anything I need to do before you come clean my carpets/upholstery?
Please make room in your driveway closest to the access door for our truck. Remove fragile lamps, knickknacks, and glassware from furniture, and clean floor of loose toys, papers, books, etc.
How long should my carpets take to dry?
It should never take more than 24 hours, with proper ventilation, for a carpet to dry. But, it is very important that customers must cooperate by providing continuous airflow or ventilation to help carpets dry. Plus the warmer your house, the faster the carpet will dry. A house that is 22 degrees will dry half again as fast as a house that is 18 degrees.
Do you move furniture?
Light furniture moving is included in cleaning costs, with exceptions. Heavy furniture moving is an additional charge.
What about spots and stains?
Most spots can be removed. It is more likely that we can remove a spot effectively if we know what it is, so please inform the technician as fully as possible the origin. Pre-existing conditions such as dye stains, abuse, bleach, and acid damage cannot be removed. Additional charges may apply for excessive and specialty spot removing.
Why did a dirty spot appear after I had my carpets cleaned?
Carpet, particularly Berber and Olefin, can hide stains and spills at the bottom of the carpet. After being cleaned, these deeper stains may rise to the surface creating a dirty appearance. The carpet industry terms this “ghosting”. Please contact us and we would be glad to provide a remedy.
Why do I have dark areas along my walls and in doorways?
These are called Filtration Lines. These dark soiled areas develop gradually on the carpet along walls, under drapes, and in doorways. This is not a carpet problem but directly related to indoor air conditions. Removal requires a special procedure not done through normal cleaning and is an additional charge. Sometimes it cannot be totally removed.
Why do I have waves or wrinkles in my carpet?
If there were no wrinkles before cleaning, there will likely be no wrinkles after drying. The carpet swells as it absorbs moisture (cleaning or weather-related) and returns to its original size as it evaporates. Permanent waves and wrinkles result from carpet characteristics and installation peculiarities. We can re-stretch your carpet at an additional charge.
What is the proper way to deal with furniture indentations in carpet?
Indentations from furniture re-arrangement are a normal phenomenon in carpet. Sometimes, the situation is self-correcting when the furniture is moved and the carpet backings and pile are allowed to re-acclimate. In other cases, vacuuming coupled with light brushing can bring up the indented areas. In extreme cases, the indentation can be covered with a damp towel and steamed with an iron for a few seconds, followed by brushing while warm to “resurrect” the pile in that area. Nylon carpet pile (about 70% of residential carpet) responds particularly well to this procedure.
There are, however, limitations brought on by the type of pile fiber. If the pile is made of non-resilient olefin, as in olefin Berber or level-loop olefin commercial carpet, the indentation may be permanent. That’s a characteristic of the fiber. This is why non-resilient olefin often is combined with resilient nylon in several popular carpet styles.