Preventative Care

Preventive carpet care includes anything you attempt to prevent the appearance of soil or to prevent the process of carpet cleaning. For our household, the purchase of spill-proof cups for our two-year-old was the most effective preventive carpet care method we have ever initiated. Preventive carpet care can include anything from banning the use of staining food items like Gatorade® or banning eating in carpeted areas, the use of entry mats at exterior doorways, removal of shoes at the door for house members, or any other proactive step to eliminate the need to clean.

In homes, dry soil, tracked in from exterior areas, attaches to oily soils originating from inside the home. Once this soil enters the home, it is far more difficult to remove in a residence than in any other facility because homeowners rarely have effective product care equipment. While vacuuming typically removes dry soil, interior oily soils create an oily binder that necessitates a two step process to remove this combination soil. Oily soil requires an emulsification process that only can be achieved with the use of powerful carpet cleaning agents. Dry soil, which is typically not dissolved with wet cleaning agents, only can be removed through vacuuming. In order to remove both dry soil and oily soil, wet cleaning must be performed on a regular basis to break down oils. In the interim, dry soil must be removed through vacuuming.

To minimize the need for two-step carpet cleaning, dry soil should be restricted to outside entries. Most soil is tracked in on the soles of shoes, so sweeping or blowing sidewalks, using a snow blower or shoveling snow rather than using ice melt chemicals, or installing entry mats traps soil before it enters your home. Of course these mats must vacuumed on a regular basis to limit soil accumulation. Once these mats become filled with soil they then become a source for soil.

Did you know?

There are preventive carpet care methods that will enable you to reduce the amount of maintenance required for carpet.

About the Author
Michael Hilton was the original creator of Carpet Buyers Handbook. Having owned and operated a carpet wholesale company, Hilton has a vast knowledge about all-things carpet related as well as other types of flooring.