What if we told you that you have the power to protect and prolong the life of one of your home’s most expensive assets? Well, you do…

Carpet is just that – one of your home’s most expensive assets. Replacing it costs thousands of dollars. Professionally cleaning it is effective and highly recommended once a year, but the results improve significantly with one little effort on your part; vacuuming your carpets on a regular basis. That’s it.

Simple vacuuming helps remove the dry, harsh abrasives that break carpets down and cause the wear patterns in the heavy traffic areas. Lower traffic areas can be vacuumed once a week, but heavy traffic areas of the home should be vacuumed more often than that. Add kids or pets to the mix, and vacuuming multiple times a week is what we recommend.  

And when we say vacuum, we don’t mean a few quick swipes over the center of the room. Take a few extra minutes to make sure you’re vacuuming slowly and meticulously in order to cover an entire area. It’s not a race. Vacuuming quickly is almost a waste of time. We’re not advising spending an abundant amount of time on one area. The faster you vacuum, the more you leave behind. We’re just saying to make sure you’re doing a thorough job of sucking everything up from your carpet. “Regularly-cleaned carpet” translates to “longer-lasting carpet.”  

Another tip for regular vacuuming? Use the attachments. The edges and corners of rooms are easily overlooked, and it is common for people to run their vacuum right up to the wall…but the inch or two that the vacuum is not getting cannot be forgotten. Use your vacuum’s hose to get those hard-to-reach areas where dust and debris tend to settle.

Lastly, check your vacuum frequently to make sure that the hoses, bags, and beater bar are in good condition. The beater (or brush) bar, located beneath your vacuum, is like a magnet for hair and string. When too much becomes intertwined with the bristles, not much will be getting through. Simply grab a pair of scissors and cut away the mess. 

In our busy lives, it’s easy to whip out the vacuum, quickly brush it over a room in a matter of 30 seconds, and call it good.  Eighty-five percent of the soils in your carpet are “dry soils” and can be easily removed with your vacuum. Professional cleaning gets out the other 15 percent – the oily, sticky, impossible residue that only a professional can get rid of for you.