Your carpet installation is a significant investment, both in monetary terms and overall home image. It is important to implement a maintenance program from the beginning. A consistent and effective carpet care program can help preserve your home's positive image and dramatically extend the life of the carpet.

 

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There are many important reasons we clean and maintain any object, including carpet. The incentive for an effective cleaning and maintenance program is magnified when we recognize these activities contribute to the following:

• Maintaining the value of your property and reducing the rate of depreciation.
• Contributing directly to personal security and comfort.
• Accenting aesthetics.
• Creating a unique psychology that enhances quality of life.
• Encouraging topophilia (affection for place).
• Elevating a sense of well-being, which is the essence of good health.
• Sending caring messages and image.
• Promoting human dignity.
• Managing waste and hazards and contributing to environmental protection.
• Helping to ensure sanitation – reducing adverse exposure levels.
  

The appearance of carpet depends upon several factors – color, pattern, density, fiber, and a viable carpet maintenance program. In order to keep carpet performing its best, designing and implementing a comprehensive maintenance plan is very important.

 

Maintenance Plan and Schedule – Five Elements

 

A customized comprehensive carpet care program consists of five elements:

1. Soil Containment – isolation of soil entering the home using mats at entrances.
2. Vacuuming – scheduled frequency for removal of dry soil using a CRI Seal of Approval (SOA) Green Label vacuum.
3. Spot and Spill Removal System - using professional spot removal techniques.
4. Interim Cleaning – scheduled and frequent "appearance cleaning" for traffic areas.
5. Restorative Cleaning – scheduled deep cleaning to remove residues and trapped soils.
   

Check the "traffic lanes" often for slight dulling of color; this indicates a build up of soil and/or abrasion of fibers. Entrance mats and scheduled cleaning can reduce this deterioration. Areas where large amounts of sandy soil enter the home may become dull due to abrasion or scratching of the fiber surface, affecting the reflection of light. Frequent vacuuming helps to minimize this problem.

 

A thoughtfully designed and implemented maintenance program performed by qualified personnel (e.g., CRI SOA Service Providers or Clean Trust-Certified carpet cleaning professionals), properly equipped and trained, is essential for optimal long-term performance of your carpet.

There is sometimes a big difference between cleaning carpet and maintaining carpet. Cleaning, very often, is the removal of apparent soil. For many carpet owners, cleaning takes place irregularly, on an “as needed” basis. Soiling, however, is a cumulative process which, if allowed to go too far, cannot easily be reversed. Maintenance, in contrast to cleaning, is a scheduled on-going process of soil removal designed to maintain carpet’s daily appearance at a consistent level of cleanliness.

 

About The Carpet and Rug Institute

The Carpet and Rug Institute, headquartered in Dalton, Georgia, is the national trade association for the carpet and rug industry. Its members are manufacturers, suppliers, and service providers, representing over 90% of all carpet produced in the United States. CRI is the source for science-based information and insight into how carpet and rugs can create a better environment — for living, working, learning and healing. For more information, visit the CRI Blog.