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Selecting Your Carpet

In selecting your color, take the time to look at large samples in your home or business, both by daylight and lamplight in the evening. The color you choose will look different under different lighting conditions.

Light colored carpets will show more soil and require more maintenance than dark colors. Darker colors of carpeting are more effective in high traffic areas. Multi-colors and patterned carpets are especially effective in hiding soil.

The performance and quality of a carpet is directly related to the amount and quality of fiber that goes into the pile. The better the fiber and the denser it is packed, the better the carpet will perform. Thin, less dense carpet will lose its surface appearance faster. It is best to buy the highest quality you can afford.

To help keep carpet products looking beautiful longer, a comprehensive maintenance plan must be organized and implemented.  Much care and attention is put into the selection of a new carpet.  Consideration is made for aesthetic appeal including texture, color and style.  These features combined with fiber quality and construction standards engineered to meet performance requirements, can all be negated in the absence of a maintenance plan.

A distinction should be made between cleaning and maintaining carpet.  Cleaning is the removal of apparent soil that generally occurs “as necessary” to prevent heavy soil build-up resulting in a “crisis cleaning.”  Methodology and frequency should be determined by experienced personnel having expertise in the science of carpet cleaning.

Carpet Maintenance, or a Preventative Maintenance program is a planned, ongoing daily process that helps retain the original appearance level of new carpet by anticipating the heavy soil areas and implementing a rigorous schedule for routine cleaning before soil build up can occur.  A good plan consists of daily trash pick up, vacuuming, spot cleaning, and periodic cleaning with frequency determined by traffic volume and proximity to exterior entry ways.

Preventive maintenance is the least expensive and most successful means of protecting your carpet appearance.  Walk off mats, protective mats, and signs to the users (please wipe feet, clean spills, et.) are all extremely efficient means of preventing expensive cleaning and replacements.  An important point to remember is that a maintenance plan will only be as good as the operators who execute the work.  Selecting highly trained professionals is the key to any successful maintenance plan.

TRAFFIC AREAS

There are at least five types of traffic areas that must be addressed.  These five areas are track-off areas, funnel areas, main-traffic areas, high spill/stain areas, and low traffic areas.

Track-Off Areas - These are areas where people clean their shoes.  Often in the form of track-off mats, these areas generally are found at building entrances or at locations where carpet adjoins a hard surface floor.  Track-off mats collect more soil than other areas of the carpet; therefore, they require the most maintenance.  Carpeting investments can be greatly protected by requiring and properly using a good track-off mat system.  Track-off mats should be an average size of thirty square feet and should be changed regularly as needed. 

Funnel Areas - These areas also receive higher volumes of traffic and soil.  Funnel areas occur where several lanes merge together to form one concentrated traffic lane.  Funnel areas often occur around elevators or intersections of corridors.  These areas, like track-off mats require stringent maintenance procedures.  Funnel areas are often subjected to significant pivoting traffic, which grinds soil deep into carpet fibers.

High Spill/ Stain Areas - These areas require daily maintenance.  Immediate attention must be given to spills as they occur.  If spills (coffee, soft drinks, oil, tar, etc.) are not immediately addressed, they may stain the carpet permanently. 

Low Traffic Areas - These are the least soiled and walked on carpet in the building.  These are usually individual offices or upper floors.  Low traffic areas require the least amount of maintenance.

MAINTENANCE

The use of furniture coasters to distribute the weight of heavy items is recommended, especially for furniture with wheels. Take care when moving furniture with wheels by putting a protective barrier between the wheels and the carpet.

To extend the beauty of your carpeting, close drapes or blinds during hours of direct sunlight.

Exercise extreme caution with all bleaches, tile cleaners, mildew removers, oven cleaners, drain openers and plant food. They are strong chemicals that can permanently discolor or dissolve carpet fibers.

After different types of traffic areas have been assigned a priority status and are clearly marked on a floor plan (preferably color coded), it is time to proceed with a plan.  In any good plan, all of the following elements will be included.

Daily trash pickup - This consists of gathering all of the loose particles, often referred to as “carpet litter” off the carpet’s surface daily.  Regardless of the type of traffic area involved, it is important that the litter be picked up daily to prevent complications.

Continuous Vacuuming - This is the most critical step in a good maintenance program.  Research has shown that 90% of soil tracked into a building is dry, with the other 10% being oily.  A good maintenance plan requires thorough vacuuming to remove soil particles before they work down from the surface of the pile where they are far more difficult to remove.  Track-off areas, funnel areas, and main-traffic areas require daily vacuuming.  Low traffic areas should be vacuumed at least once per week.

Thorough vacuuming for high traffic areas requires at least 6 to 8 passes using quality, well maintained, commercial vacuum cleaner or a dual motor pile lifter, to be effective.  Less used areas generally do not require as many passes.

We recommend the following minimum specifications when selecting an appropriate vacuum cleaner:

Pile Lifting - Pile lifting the carpet occasionally will enhance the cleaning efficiency and performance.  A pile lifter is a heavy-duty dual motor vacuum cleaner that picks up the pile once it has become crushed or matted.  The pile lifter has one motor that drives a brush, which grooms the carpet while the other motor provides the proper airflow and suction.  Pile lifting helps to reduce matting, crushing, and pattern walkout as well as increase the effectiveness of deep cleaning.  Pile lifting is recommended for track-off and funnel areas bi-weekly.

Sprout Clipping - This is a process of cutting off tufts, which have dislodged from the carpets surface.  The occasional sprout is not an indication of defective carpet, but an inevitable consequence of use.  Trimming of these loops will not damage the carpet and will not void any warranties.  In fact, trimming will enhance the useful life of the carpet by keeping sprouts from becoming larger and more problematic.  We recommend any sprout/pulled loop be “groomed” or gently pulled to its fullest extension and then clipped even with the surface of the surrounding carpet. We believe this to be a normal condition of installation, use and maintenance; not a manufacturing defect.  Our best recommendation for remedy is clipping as stated above.

CLEANING    

Spot Cleaning - This is a daily reaction to remove incidental spills, mud, oil tar, etc. from the carpet’s surface.  These contaminants and oil spills should be removed as quickly as possible to prevent the carpet from becoming stained.

The pH of cleaners and spotters must be understood to prevent damage to carpet dyes.  pH is the measure of acidity or alkalinity on a scale of 1-14, with 7 being neutral.  Most cleaners tend to be alkaline (pH over 7); and the higher the pH is over 7, the faster the cleaners work.  Problems can occur when pH becomes too high.  High pH can damage dyes, yarns, and even backings.  Therefore, we suggest that no cleaning solution or spot-cleaning product with a pH in excess of 10 be used when cleaning carpet.  The pH range of cleaning supplies should be from 7 to 9.

Carpet Cleaning - Carpet Cleaning is the periodic process of removing the remaining 10 percent oily soil and residue from the carpet that vacuuming cannot.  The frequency of cleaning must be adjusted to the rate at which soil accumulates; therefore, heavily trafficked areas typically require more frequent cleaning, as do areas with less traffic but more soil. 

The first indicator that cleaning time is near, is when the carpet’s color becomes slightly dull; this will likely be noticed most in the traffic lanes.  Cleaning before the carpet becomes excessively soiled permits the cleaning to be more successful and a much more easier task.  This is especially important where oily soil is prevalent, such as accessed carpeted areas near streets or asphalt parking lots and those in or near cooking or dining facilities.  Oil tends to oxidize slowly, forming a sticky residue similar to varnish, which may become nearly impossible to remove as it ages and which traps and holds soil.  Obviously, it is important to remove this periodically.

Choice of the proper cleaning system is important in that some systems may leave residues, which promote re-soiling and defeat the whole purpose.  The following recommendations represent the best current knowledge and should help prolong time between cleaning.

We endorse two types of carpet cleaning, both of which are deep extraction cleaning processes.  These two processes are hot water extraction and dry compound extraction.  Research indicates the hot water extraction system (commonly referred to as “steam cleaning” although no steam is actually generated) provides the best capability for cleaning.

Bonnet/ Rotary Systems - This system utilizes a rotating bonnet of terry cloth or other absorbent material to agitate the pile surface and absorb soil.  A detergent solution is sprayed onto the pile and is then worked with a bonnet attached to a rotary floor polisher. WE DO NOT RECOMMEND THE USE OF “BONNET” OR ROTARY CLEANING AS A CLEANING SYSTEM FOR CARPET.

MOST COMPLAINTS OF EXCESSIVE RESOILING HAVE BEEN FOUND TO BE RELATED TO IMPROPER APPLICATION OF THIS CLEANING SYSTEM.

Hot water Extraction (Steam Cleaning) - This is a process by which a solution of water and detergents flush soil/debris from the carpet.  The solution is sprayed onto the carpet pile through pressured “spray jets” and the majority (at least 80 percent) of the water and soil recovered with a powerful vacuum onto a holding tank.  This can be done from a truck-mounted unit outside the facility with only a hose and a wand brought inside or, by a portable, self-contained system brought into the facility where a truck mounted unit cannot reach.

Self contained, walk-behind machines are another type of hot water extraction commonly used.  They apply the cleaning solution at a rate, which is balanced with the recovery capability of the machine, resulting in carpet that is only damp after cleaning.  This feature prevents untrained users from over wetting the carpet to the point that drying time is unacceptable.  This type of machine is employed largely by hospitals and schools where there are in-house maintenance staffs.

We recommend that carpet be cleaned by hot water extraction and executed only by trained professionals.  When using hot water extraction systems, the following must be met: We strongly recommend the following specifications be required of any hot water extraction carpet cleaner, or operator.