Carpet Care

Commercial Carpet Care? All of the following is great advice, but also go here to get cleaning schedules and more for commercial areas.

Whenever the manufacturer provides specific information on your carpet that contradicts the following, please follow your manufacturer's recommendations. For most carpets, here's how to keep your carpet looking its best.

Vacuum Regularly

Dirt is abrasive. It is essential that you vacuum regularly to remove dirt particles from the carpet fiber. Dirt left in the carpet will abrade the yarns and detract from your carpet's appearance, even after the dirt has been removed. Therefore, it is essential that you vacuum regularly so dirt does not have an opportunity to detract from the appearance of your carpet.

How often should I vacuum?

In general, you should vacuum your carpet weekly. However, high traffic areas will require more frequent vacuuming. Vacuum trafficked areas twice weekly, and high traffic areas daily. Vacuum more frequently if you have pets.

Wool carpet

Wool carpet, especially wool berber, is more susceptible to fuzzing or pilling. This is due to the nature of the fiber used. Don't worry. Wool carpet is very durable. But you should not use the beater bar attachment on your wool carpet. Use the suction only attachment for wool carpet. This will maintain the best appearance for your wool carpet.

Spot Clean as Necessary

When a spill occurs, spot clean your carpet. The quicker you attend to a stain, the better your chances are of removing it. No carpet is stain-proof. If it was, we wouldn't be able to dye the carpet to your color, as dye is just a stain applied to the carpet!

Spot Cleaning Step 1

If the spill contains some solid materials, carefully scrape and lift the solid materials off the carpet. You can use a dull knife, spatula, or even a stiff manila card for this.

Spot Cleaning Step 2

For the remaining liquid, blot with plain white paper towels or clean rags. Do not use paper towels that are dyed with patterns. We don't want to add another stain. And do not rub! Just blot. Rubbing will not help absorb the liquid, and will only abrade your carpet. Just keep blotting.

Most people will give up too early here. If you are getting any moisture transfer through to your paper towels or rags, then keep blotting. Keep applying new dry paper towels or clean rags. Many stains can be completely removed at this stage if we are persistent about blotting.

Spot Cleaning Step 3

If you have blotted until you get no more moisture transfer and you still have a stain, then use a cleaner that is safe for your carpet. Pelletier Rug recommends Capture brand cleaner for general spots.

Capture. Use for general spots. A good all around cleaner that also reduces allergens.
Coffee Off. A special cleaner made just for coffee stains.
Wine Off. A special cleaner made just for wine stains.
Urine Off. Another specialty cleaner is great for homes with pets our young children. Unlike other cleaners that attempt to mask the urine odor, Urine Off actually breaks down the uric acid that produces the odor.

For specific spot cleaning suggestions, click here.

Professionally Deep Clean

Manufacturers require professional cleaning by an IICRC certified professional every 12 to 18 months to validate warranties. High use areas may require more frequent cleaning.

After your carpet has been cleaned, wait for it to dry completely before walking on it or moving furniture back into the room. Wet carpet can cause metal furniture to rust, permanently staining the carpet. Paint or wood finish stains can also stain wet carpet.

Some professional cleaners will move furniture back into the room while the carpet is wet. But when they do this, they use a special protector to separate the furniture from the wet carpet that the homeowner can remove later.

Homeowner Purchased Cleaning Machines

In general, we do not recommend homeowner purchased cleaning machines. Some do a reasonable job of applying cleaning solution. Some over-wet or saturate the carpet. But all the machines we've seen lack the suction required to adequately remove detergent and moisture. Leaving a carpet wet for too long is detrimental to its performance.

Leaving too much detergent will cause the carpet to resoil quickly. Most homeowners treat this by cleaning again, which leaves more detergent. This detergent attracts soil and the carpet resoils more and more quickly. Do yourself a favor and avoid this headache.

Protect your Carpet

Entry mats help collect dirt, sand, grit, and other materials that might be tracked onto your carpet from outside.
Keep your pet's nails trimmed to prevent them catching a loop on berber carpet.
Never slide heavy objects across the carpet. Sliding heavy objects across a carpet generates heat, which can melt or distort synthetic fibers. Also, there may be a corner that could catch a loop on berber carpet. Lift items off the carpet to move them.
Hard plastic protective mats should be used under wheeled chairs such as office chairs.