How to Maintain Your Commercial Carpet
Regular carpet maintenance can enhance your indoor air quality and prevent your carpet’s appearance from deteriorating prematurely. Because preventative maintenance is less expensive and more effective than infrequent restorative cleaning, we recommend that you:
- Vacuum and spot clean your carpet daily.
- Implement a preventive maintenance program.
- Use hot water extraction to restore heavily soiled carpet.
1. Vacuum and spot clean your carpet daily
Accelerated carpet wear occurs when traffic grinds imbedded soil into the carpet fiber. You can extend your carpet’s life by placing walk-off mats at exterior entrances and vacuuming traffic areas thoroughly every day.
Only about 20% of carpet soil is soluble in water or solvent. You can remove much of the remaining 80% (fibers and particles) by vacuuming thoroughly every day, emphasizing heavy-soil areas like entrances (refer to the maintenance plan on the back for more guidance). Your vacuum should have a powered brush and strong suction.
To ensure spots are removed promptly, give your daily cleaning staff a carpet first aid kit containing:
- Dry cleaning solvent (e.g. perchloroethylene)
- Detergent solution (a teaspoon of non-bleach powder in a cup of water)
- Ammonia solution to neutralize acid stains (a tablespoon of ammonia in a cup of water)
- Vinegar (of citric acid) solution to neutralize alkaline stains (1/3 white vinegar, 2/3 water)
- White absorbent cloths or paper towels.