What is the Secret to Carpet Longevity?

Some carpets look like new for years and others get ratty in no time. Vic Joffe and Bill Gordon, two carpet cleaning professionals from Ann Arbor, Michigan, with forty-five years experience between them, have cleaned every type of carpet under every condition imaginable. Their advice: pick a fiber, texture and color according to the use and amount of foot traffic you expect in each living area, catch spills promptly, vacuum frequently and clean periodically.

To get yourself off to a good start, both experts said that a good installation and a good pad are essential. The three most commonly used materials for padding are solid urethane, rebonded urethane, and synthetic fiber. All work well as long as you get one with a good density, which is designated by the number of pounds per cubic foot. Some pads are so thin and unsubstantial, they feel "wimpy" and you can tell they won't do the job, Gordon said. In areas with heavy foot traffic, such as a hallway, a lightweight pad will quickly collapse to the thickness of cardboard and loose its ability to cushion the impact of footsteps on the carpet. When this happens, every step will pound the carpet directly against the floor, causing the carpet fibers to loose their "memory retention", their ability to spring back up after being crushed under a footstep. The carpet will quickly look ratty and no amount of cleaning expertise can restore it.

But, don't judge a pad by thickness alone, Joffe cautioned. A thicker pad may look more substantial, but if it doesn't have enough density, the carpet will flex, stretching up and down like a trampoline when you walk on it. These will eventually break down the carpet backing, and cause it to delaminate. You need at least a six-pound pad and preferably an eight pound one with a thickness of 3/8-inches. Since a production builder's base grade pad many only be a four-pound type, you should upgrade it even if you decide not to upgrade the base grade carpet.

The key to a good installation is adequate stretching, which must be done with a power stretcher. If this is not done correctly, you may not notice anything amiss when you move in. But, wrinkles can appear the first time the carpets are steam cleaned because the hot water and heat relax the backing. The wrinkles may disappear as the carpet dries; if they don't, the only way to get rid of them is to restretch the carpeting. This can get expensive if the wrinkles appear in doorways, or in areas where the carpet has seams.

You'll get the most value for your money when you match the fiber type, color and texture to the use and amount of foot traffic in each area of your house. Wool wears well and dirt comes out easily with cleaning, but this natural fiber also stains easily. Moreover, the stains can be hard to remove and, Joffe noted, some do not come out at all. In a high traffic area where you won't be eating such as a hall way or low traffic area such as a formal living room, wool can be a good choice, but think twice before putting it in your dining areas, especially if you have pets and small children who spill frequently.

Of the synthetic fibers--polyester, nylon and olefin--, polyester is the hardest to clean and olefin the easiest. It is also the most stain resistant because unlike wool, its fibers do not accept dyes and colors easily. Though not as strong a fiber as nylon, olefin wears well when used in a berber style carpet with a looped fiber instead of a cut one. Another plus with a berber style-- its knobby textured surface and flecks of color hide dirt.

A carpet with a light color will make a smaller space look larger, but you will see every spot. If you really want the lighter colors, Joffe suggested a carpet style that will hid the dirt and spots such as a berber or a sculptured type with a speckled color and a sculpted surface pattern created by mixing cut and looped pile. If neither of these types of carpeting appeal, consider the multi-colored pattern approach, a strategy long been favored by decorators for heavy traffic areas such as hotels lobbies and commercial dining rooms. The dirt- hiding subterfuge here: the dirt blends in because you can't focus on six different colors at once.

Even if you make prudent carpet choices, wear and tear will eventually show in the way that light reflects off the carpet fibers. When a carpet is new, the surface will be flawless because all the fibers are uniform and light reflects off them evenly. But as you walk around your house, the hundreds of thousands of dirt and sand particles that are on you shoes or your dog's paws will be ground into the carpet. The grinding action cuts the fibers, making thousands of microscopic scratches. As these accumulate, the light will reflect in "a million different ways" and the carpet will start to look worn.

You can reduce the grinding action with frequent vacuuming. For heavy traffic areas, some manufacturers recommend doing this every other day. You probably won't be that vigilant, Joffe advised that you vacuum at least twice a week in heavily used areas.

Frequent vacuuming won't remove all the abrasive particles that can accumulate there, however. The only way to remove the dirt build-up is to clean the carpets every six to eighteen months, depending on the number of people and pets in your household and the colors that you pick--lighter colors need cleaning more frequently that darker ones.

You can rent a machine and do the cleaning yourself, but and experienced, professional carpet cleaner will have a bigger, more efficient machine, and with it he can remove more abrasive dirt particles. This will help the carpet to look newer longer. If you get a high-density carpet with a face weight above 50 ounces, however, you should engage a professional and not try to do it yourself. The carpet fibers will be packed so closely together that only a professional's truck mounted, hot water extraction equipment will be powerful enough to penetrate all the way through to the backing and get out all the layers of dirt that can build up. If you don't get out all that dirt, the carpet won't wear as well or last as long.

Between carpet cleanings, both cleaning experts emphasize that vigilance in cleaning up spills--the faster you get them up, the better. Many people interpret "stain resistant" to mean "stain proof", but , Gordon explained, "the treatment only makes the carpet easier to clean and buys you time; you still must attend to the spill right away". Since a carpet disaster can always occur, even with the most conscientious care, Joffe suggested that you ask the installers to leave any remnants for future use as patches, should the need arise.