How Often Should You Clean Your Carpets?

Prevention

Preventing messes from happening is the best way to keep your carpets clean. The best ways to do this are to have a welcome mat on both sides of every door that leads outside, have somewhere to put shoes that collect and trap any dirt, dust, mud, and other debris, and lay out rugs in high-traffic areas, such as down hallways and under couches and armchairs.

Don’t go overboard with the number of rugs you use, however, as they also have to be cleaned. While cleaning a smaller, easily-movable throw rug is easier than cleaning the entire carpet, if there are too many, it may actually be more challenging instead.

Each rug will need to be vacuumed, spot-treated, taken outside, and beaten, and will eventually require a deep clean, which can also start to get expensive if there is a lot to clean. Remember that while these prevention methods help, they’re not perfect, your carpet will still need to be cleaned, and any rugs or mats you use will also need to be cleaned later.

Stain Treatment

Spot stain treatment is the most frequent type of cleaning you will engage in. The moment you notice something has been spilled or dropped onto the carpet, you need to act. What you use and how you clean the stain depends on what was spilled, how much time you have to clean it, what your carpet is made of, and how many children or pets you have.

Whatever you use, remember to make sure it’s compatible with your carpet’s material, test it on an inconspicuous spot first, and ensure that it doesn’t contain chemicals that would irritate your potentially sensitive skin or pose a threat to any young children or pets you have.

Vacuum

How often you should vacuum your carpet depends on how heavily trafficked it is. At the minimum, you’ll need to vacuum once a week. This will collect and remove any loose dirt before it embeds itself outside the vacuum’s reach. If you have children or pets, you’ll need to vacuum more often for both their health and to clean up the messes they’ll make.

If an area receives high traffic, it may need to be cleaned more often. Pay attention to the carpet in these areas to see how often it needs to be cleaned. Of course, if something solid that won’t stain is spilled, it may need to be vacuumed, but this likely won’t require the entire carpet to be cleaned. Make sure to clean this area thoroughly, or you’ll find fragments and crumbs everywhere and will need to vacuum the carpet sooner than anticipated.

Carpet Cleaner

If your carpet is starting to look dirty, but you don’t think it’s time for a professional deep cleaning yet, you can purchase a carpet cleaner. What cleaner you purchase is up to you, but you need to ensure it will not damage your carpet’s material. This will also be true for any cleaners you need to buy to go along with it. If you purchase a carpet cleaner and have allergies, remember that the cleaning solution it calls for could cause or worsen your symptoms for a bit.

If you have sensitive skin, children, pets, or some combination of the three, you may want to forego a store-bought cleaner and use water and vinegar instead. If you do have pets or children, you may want to consider keeping an enzymatic cleaner on hand for when they have accidents. These specialized cleaners aren’t necessary for every mess, but they will sanitize the spot and remove any lingering odors left by these biological mishaps.

Pets & Children

If you have pets or children running around, you’ll need to clean your carpets more often and more thoroughly. Young children tend to put anything they can pick up into their mouths, which can be a problem if they find something on the floor that is not supposed to be there or do so with a toy that was dropped onto the floor. This, combined with their tendency to drop things as they learn how to grip things properly, can be a recipe for disaster.

Pets are at ground level and may attempt to eat anything that is dropped, even if it makes them sick. They are also likely to bring in messes from outside since they usually don’t wipe their feet before entering the house. As a result, there will be more messes to clean, and failing to do so regularly will allow them to come into contact with and potentially eat something they shouldn’t, making them sick.