Is it Too Soon to Clean my New Carpet?
If you purchased new carpet within the last year or two, you might be wondering when the time is to start having it professionally cleaned. Often a salesperson at the carpet store will tell you to wait as long as possible before you have your new carpet professionally cleaned; that cleaning your carpet will just make it get dirty faster requiring more frequent cleaning. Is that true?
Old Attitudes for Old Technology
The belief that once you clean your carpet the first time, you will then need to clean them all the time goes back to the early days of professional carpet cleaning. Back then lots of chemical and water was used in an attempt to get the carpet clean. These carpet cleaning chemicals worked great at attracting soil away from the carpet fiber and suspending those soils in the cleaning solution to be wet vacuumed away. The trouble began because the equipment was not able to extract or rinse out all the chemical that was applied. So, the chemicals remained on the carpet as a sticky, soil-attracting residue. It was true, once you cleaned your carpets back “in the day” you began a cycle of needing to clean them more often.
Poor Quality Carpet Cleaning Causes Damage
To some extent, this can happen even today when calling some “discount” carpet cleaners. They use cheap chemicals, inferior equipment, untrained workers and charge low, low prices. The poor guys who work for them are often subcontractors or are paid on commission. What happens is that the technician often has to hurry through the job just to make a decent living. So there can be a lot of these cheap, sticky chemicals left in the carpet because they were not properly rinsed out. Sure it looks okay when he leaves, but the carpets will re-soil quickly, often over the course of a few days or weeks.
The Benefits of High-Quality Cleaning
Things in the carpet cleaning industry have changed dramatically over the last few years. The cleaning agents we use, though more expensive, are designed to rinse freely from the carpet and leave little or no residue. What tiny amount may be left behind is specially formulated to dry completely non-sticky, to be vacuumed away with normal maintenance. Quality equipment does cost more, but it has the power to thoroughly clean your carpet and rinse away soils and cleaning agents. Finally, the application of a quality protector makes your carpet stay cleaner longer. Not all carpet cleaners are willing to spend the extra time and money to do a high-quality job. A reputable company will pre-treat, agitate and rinse with extremely hot water and a powerful vacuum system. This leaves carpets clean, fluffy and residue-free, the way it should be. As a bonus, clean carpet improves indoor air quality, so your family will breathe easier. Most major carpet manufacturers require professional carpet cleaning once every 12-24 months. Failure to do so could void your carpet warranty. So if you want your carpets to stay cleaner, last longer and look beautiful, call Van’s Carpet Cleaning to set up your personalized carpet care program.
