Why Vacuum Your Carpet?
Beyond looking nice and being cozy, carpets also work to keep your air clean. Because of the dust, grime, hair and microscopic allergens they take in, you need to know how often to vacuum them.
According to home experts and interior designers, settling into a cleaning routine will save you a whole lot of trouble. For instance, you should sweep floors and clean all counter-tops regularly. Every few days, mop the floors, change your bedding and clean the cabinets. Every month clean vents, blinds and lights. You also ought to clear out your gutters and wash your curtains every year. The question then is; how often should you vacuum your carpet? Is daily too much? When is too long a wait?
When creating a cleaning schedule, you need to slot in time for vacuuming a carpet. This is because carpets are more than just pleasing to the eye. On a daily basis, one person loses 50-100 strands of hair. People also shed 1,000,000 skin cells every day! Carpets take in all these shed hair and skin cells, dirt, hair, small microscopic allergens, dander and dust. They also absorb spills and grime. All these might be invisible to the naked eye but they can really pile up on the fibers of your carpet and cause all sorts of illnesses. Read here: When is an appropriate time to vacuum an apartment?
So, how often should you vacuum your carpet?
There is no set rule as to how often you should vacuum your carpet. Nonetheless, vacuuming your carpet every week is standard. Vacuuming every other day is not too much either. Whatever you settle for, make sure your carpet is vacuumed at least every week or so.
Even though your lifestyle is entirely your choice, you probably should not go more than two weeks without vacuuming your carpet. Keep the sicknesses at bay. The longer you neglect your carpet, the more you put yourself at risk because they work as air filters.
When you do clean, make sure you vacuum in all directions over the whole area. By doing this, you will be bringing up dirt from the bottom that just needs to be suctioned away. An overlapping motion will prevent matting and ensure that all dirt piles are lifted. Your carpet can easily become a breeding ground for bugs like dust mites if you do not vacuum well and often enough.
Beyond this regular weekly carpet vacuuming, there are a few factors that determine how often you should vacuum your carpet.
Traffic
Experts often classify the need to vacuum depending on the traffic received. For high traffic areas like corridors where everyone passes through, you should vacuum at least twice a week. This is because these areas can harbor all sorts of germs if not vacuumed frequently.
When vacuuming high traffic areas on your carpet, you should do so carefully and thoroughly. Push the vacuum cleaner forward and backward on all areas. Make sure you do this in an overlapping manner so that you really get into the carpet and clean it all.
For low traffic areas like rooms that no one ever goes to; vacuuming every week is fine. If you neglect those places way longer than that, you risk running into more health issues. For example, debris that is unmoved will eventually become meshed with the carpet fibers and become hard to remove. This in turn can cause a flare up of respiratory illnesses.
For the safety of your family members, make sure all areas are vacuumed frequently no matter how much traffic they get.
People in the household with allergies
If the people living in your house are sensitive and suffer from allergies, you might need to vacuum more often. Because of how carpets trap particles in the air, they can be a real allergen issue if not cleaned regularly. In case of sensitive people, consider vacuuming every day.
Type of carpet
Finally, the type of carpet in your home really matters. If you have a feeble one, you might want to use it tenderly. On occasion, simply sweep and dust it. You do not have to run a vacuum cleaner through it too often.
No matter the material your carpet is made off, you should still do thorough vacuuming at least twice a month. Do not just give it a quick run-over because you will be opening up yourself to health risks. Carpets are known to hold quite a bit of debris. Give your cleaning a little more elbow grease and you will be thankful you did.
Pointers
If you are one to vacuum your carpet several times a week, there are few things you can do to protect your carpet. For one, you can consider buying carpet protecting spray to safeguard your fibers from the brutality of powerful vacuum cleaners.
You can also go for more gentle vacuum cleaners that still get the job done.
Finally, if you have the resources and time, you can go for vacuuming every day. As stated earlier, carpets work as air filters because they absorb many particles from the air. A clean every day would not be in vain. Every month, really get under the couches and cabinets to do intense vacuum cleaning. This routine will help you keep your area fresh and clean always. It will also keep you ahead. Every year remember to have your carpet professionally cleaned as well.
Conclusion
When you vacuum your carpet often, your apartment will always be looking nice and smelling fresh. You will not have any qualms about calling your friends over for a movie-run and indoor fun. A well-vacuumed carpet is healthy as well as an eye-pleaser. Going longer than a week without vacuuming your carpet can aggravate allergies and allow dust mites to thrive.
Also be careful not to vacuum your carpet too much. This can damage your carpet fibers and cause them to wear out really fast. Vacuuming your carpet every week or less is good enough. Every other day vacuuming is a sure way to keep your home ever clean. A quality carpet should be able to withstand the vacuum cleaner several days of the week.
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