How Often Should you Clean your Carpet?

Having a soft, beautiful carpet, can help make any room look more attractive, comfier and more elegant. But how often should you clean your carpet in order to keep your home looking fresh?

Overtime, your carpet can start getting dirty, stained and old, due to general usage.

This constant use, can make the room the carpet sits in look outdated and unappealing.

And as you probably know, keeping your home clean and fresh takes a lot of work.

But with simple care and a good cleaning routine, your carpet can look fresh and clean all year round.

How Often Should you Clean your Carpet?

Having clean carpets is not only about looks, it’s also about hygiene and ultimately, your HEALTH.

Because carpets can attract dust, dirt, odors and allergens that could affect your health by creating an invisible cloud of particles that you can breathe in, anytime you walk into the room.

That’s why on top of vacuuming your carpet, general professional advice recommends anyone with carpet in their home to deep clean their carpets every year to a year and a half.

That includes hot water extraction or steam cleaning, either done professionally or done by yourself.

But there are other things to consider when thinking about the frequency in which you need deep clean your carpets.

Things like:

• Foot traffic

• Pets

• Kids

• Number of people in the household

• Cigarette smoke

• Carpet Warranty

All of these things can affect areas of your home differently. Thus, affecting the frequency in which you need to clean your carpets.

For example, there are spaces that see more traffic than others. Like the hallway entrance, living room, kids playroom or master bedroom.

And more traffic means more cleaning.

If you have pets, especially pets that can shed a lot of hair or kids that are constantly going in and out of the house, they can increase the number of allergens and dirt that’s brought into the house.

These allergens and dirt particles can get trapped under the carpet’s surface. Making a more regular deep cleaning necessary.

Do you host people or have parties often? Do you or someone in the household smoke? Do you have a large family?

You get the idea by now… More use = More dirt = More cleaning.

Checkout the table below for easy reference.

Carpet Cleaning to Maintain your Carpet’s Warranty

Something else to think about… Warranties!

If you have recently installed new carpeting, it most likely came with a warranty.

If your carpet has a warranty, it is important to check the documentation it came with or to check with the company you purchased the carpet from, because it will show the care and maintenance requirements needed in order to maintain the warranty active.

In most cases, it will ask for a professional cleaning at least once a year. Double check and make sure you follow the required schedule.

What is the Best Way to Deep Clean Carpet?

First, let’s define what it means to deep clean your carpets.

There are many different ways to clean your carpeting other than vacuuming.

Because vacuuming only extracts dust and dirt from the top layer of the carpet, it is necessary to clean below that layer and extract dust, dirt and allergens from the bottom layers of the carpet.

The true way to deep clean your carpets is to do what is called as a hot water extraction or most commonly known as steam cleaning.

What is Hot Water Extraction?

Hot water extraction consists of using a machine that will spray high pressure water, combined with a cleaning solution, into the carpet’s fabric.

The water and the cleaning agent will work at the bottom layers of the carpet by loosening dirt and stains.

At the same time, the machine will extract the dirty water from the carpet, removing dirt, dust and debris that cause your carpet to have stains, have a bad odor or look old.

Carpet Cleaning Options

When thinking about deep cleaning your carpet, there are two main options.

You can hire a professional carpet cleaning company or you can do it yourself by renting hot water extraction machine.

Professional Carpet Cleaning

A professional company will be the pricier option but it does come with some added benefits and features.

• Commercial grade equipment.
• You don’t have to do the work. A time saver and a sweat saver!
• Most times, they have more commercial grade cleaning solutions that will remove tough stains.
• Guarantees.

DIY Carpet Cleaning

Now, if you are up to the task of doing the cleaning yourself, it does come with a little more sweat and work, but it will definitely save you some money.

These are the benefits of deep cleaning your carpet yourself:

• Great money savings. Machine rentals can run from $30 to $60 depending on how long you are looking to rent for.
• Complete your entire home without breaking the bank.
• You can focus on specific areas of your home and you can do extra work on those hard-to-get stains.
• You can make your own cleaning solutions for increased savings and potential cleaning power. (Keep reading for two awesome DIY carpet cleaning solutions)
• If you don’t want harmful chemicals in your home, you can create an all-natural cleaning solution that will do the job as well as the chemicals.

So, whether you are going with the professionals or you chose to do it yourself, keep in mind that this is an investment for the long-term health of your home and ultimately yourself.

How to Make your Own Homemade Cleaner for Carpets

Now, if you chose to take on the project yourself and deep clean your own carpets, you can create your own carpet cleaning solution.

Here are two great homemade recipes that can help you get the job done.

Homemade Carpet Cleaner Solution Recipe

These items can be purchased at any grocery/department store, Dollar Store or online.

• 1 Gallon of Hot Water (Not Boiling)
• 2 to 2 1/2 Tbsp. of laundry detergent.
• 1 Scoop of OxyCleanor generic brand like La’s Totally Awesome Oxygen Base Cleaner
• 1 ¼ Cups of La’s Awesome Cleaning Solution – Concentrated

Mix these items thoroughly in a gallon jug or bucket.

Once thoroughly mixed, fill up your hot water extraction machine’s reservoir to the specified level.

Natural Homemade Carpet Cleaner Solution

For those of you more concerned with chemicals and the potential harms from those chemicals. We have made some changes to the recipe in order to make it all natural.

• 1 Gallon of Hot Water (Not Boiling)
• 4 Tbsp. of White Vinegar
• 4 Tbsp. of Seventh Generation Ultra Power Plus Dish Liquid Soap
• For added cleaning power you can use 1/2 cup of Peroxide but it is not necessary.