tips to make carpet last longer?

[Sara Noel]

We only have carpet in our living room, dining room, and stairs. The carpet is old berber but holding up ok. I don't plan on replacing it for quite some time because with young children, it just seems silly.

I'm going to make this carpet really last, so am looking for tips.

I use area rugs in both the living room and dining room and that helps a ton.

Any other tips?

[3-boys-4-me]

When we bought this house we HAD to have new carpet installed. The old stuff was pink, think Pepto Bismol. LOL Anyway, the guy told us the #1 way to make carpet last longer is to vacuum your high traffic areas daily. He also said to clean them every 6 months and to NOT use those powdered carpet odor removers. I guess they cause the fibers in the carpet to break down even faster.

[shoiji]

Have everyone remove shoes right when they enter the house. That way they won't track in dirt all over the house.

[HandyMom]

Carpet can smell like dirty feet/socks from people walking barefoot or in socks on it all the time. The carpet absorbs the oil and sweat from the feet. I wear house slippers all the time. More mats outside the doors to wipe shoes on helps to track less of it into the house.

[Marie78]

These are great tips. I just steam cleaned my 2 year old carpet and that seemed to help remove a lot of dirt that was imbedded and I vacuum daily. I like the idea of wearing slippers around the house. My fiance wears them at home because our kitten bites his feet. LOL I might have to have some now too .

[PAVallygrl]

I was going to mention slippers as well. Also, no food or drink anywhere but the kitchen dining room table perhaps? (less spills and mess to clean off the carpet.)

[MyMelody]

Dh's family lives on a farm and they use clear plastic "runners" down the hallways and high traffic areas to prevent dirt from being ground down into the carpet. Perhaps not the most aesthetically pleasing option, but definitely an effective one.

[elphie]

If your space allows rearrange your furniture about every six months so the high traffic areas aren't always th same.

[PrairieRose]

Do not use those foaming, spray on cleaners (think W@@lite). They clean but it's temporary. They actually stay in the carpet attracting more of an oily stain where you've cleaned. It's just horrible later.

[Momto2Boyz]

When we bought this house we HAD to have new carpet installed. The old stuff was pink, think Pepto Bismol. LOL Anyway, the guy told us the #1 way to make carpet last longer is to vacuum your high traffic areas daily. He also said to clean them every 6 months and to NOT use those powdered carpet odor removers. I guess they cause the fibers in the carpet to break down even faster.

Now see, when we had our carpet installed, we were actually told to do the opposite! Maybe it depends on the carpet. We were told that daily vaccuming can actually stretch the carpet causing wrinkles to appear more quickly than vaccuming less often.

We have white carpet in our house (which I hate...it was a bad choice, with 2 boys and 2 dogs in the house), when I picked it out it was a tan, when we got it installed it was white. I think it must have been the light at the carpet store, because I would not have intentionalled picked white. I was going for a nice tan.

Anyhoo, a friend gave me a steam cleaner, and it has been a blessing. I steam clean the carpets once a month. And since they are white, I use a solution of 1/2 cup of bleach to each gallon of water. Then once that is done, I go over it with a water solution, just to make sure all the bleach is out of the carpet, so it doesn't eat away at the carpet fibers. It actually does a really nice job, and my carpet still resembles white!

[Grainlady]

A flooring sales rep. from a big-name company gave me this tip. Keep sports (tennis/running) shoes and bare feet off carpets to help them last longer. The sports shoes have so much grip, that when you pivot to turn it rips fibers from the carpet. Bare feet are loaded with body oils and moisture that aren't good for carpet fibers. Sports shoes are also nortious for bits of sand being stuck in the grooves on the sole, which can do-a-number on wood/laminate flooring.

Other than that, he said regular vacuuming and professional cleaning. He had some formula for how many times a week you should vacuum based on household numbers and pets.

We use indoor shoes or slippers and change from our outdoor shoes.

My sister-in-law was always having warts removed from her feet. The physician said it was because she always went barefoot indoors.

Nothing says "you're-not-welcome-here" like a sign on the front door that says "REMOVE YOUR SHOES". You may have the sign there for your family, but it's insulting to guests who wonder if it means them. Naturally, guests who have wet or muddy shoes should have the courtesy to remove them, and you should have a proper place to seat them while they take them off and a place to put their shoes, and an old towel so they can wipe them off, but I'd never suggest guests remove dry shoes.

There's also nothing more disgusting than a pile of shoes that belong to the family at the front door. Don't people have closets?

As others mentioned - use rugs. You also need to regularly clean them or you'll just track stuff in from their surface.

Personally, I'd just as soon you keep your shoes on unless they are in some awful messy condition. In snowy weather I keep a broom outside and a boot tray inside, and a stool for guests and family to sit on while they remove boots and they can drain/dry on the boot tray. Family members dry their boots and put them away.

[Missy]

Married to the flooring business here...so I do have a few tips. Don't used the powdered odor removers...ever. Invest in a good vacuum. Vac daily. The stretching damage is far outweighed by the damages the sand does to the fibers. You can have someone come and restretch your carpet for way cheaper than replacing one that's been damaged by dirt. If you are getting a new one, invest in a quality pad. Some carpets with a glue based backing...for holding the fibers in place...are quickly ruined by steam cleaners. Know what you have BEFORE you start. If you don't know what it is, get a company to clean it FOR you. Spot clean when something spills on the carpet, quickly blot up spills. DO NOT leave carpets wet or damp.

[elphie]

Now see, when we had our carpet installed, we were actually told to do the opposite! Maybe it depends on the carpet. We were told that daily vaccuming can actually stretch the carpet causing wrinkles to appear more quickly than vaccuming less often.

We have white carpet in our house (which I hate...it was a bad choice, with 2 boys and 2 dogs in the house), when I picked it out it was a tan, when we got it installed it was white. I think it must have been the light at the carpet store, because I would not have intentionalled picked white. I was going for a nice tan.

Anyhoo, a friend gave me a steam cleaner, and it has been a blessing. I steam clean the carpets once a month. And since they are white, I use a solution of 1/2 cup of bleach to each gallon of water. Then once that is done, I go over it with a water solution, just to make sure all the bleach is out of the carpet, so it doesn't eat away at the carpet fibers. It actually does a really nice job, and my carpet still resembles white!

I think you lucked out getting white instead of tan. We had grey carpet in our old house and the guy who came to clean our carpets said white would have been better because he couldn't use a lot of things on light greys and tans since it would discolor it. If you're going for a light color white may seem horrible but is actually easier to remove stains.

[scottp999]

Got so tired of the beige carpet throughout the house I put down hardwood everywhere but the bed rooms (no more cleaning the carpet on the stairs!). I vacuum regurally and use a steam cleaner twice a year and all is well.

[Greebo]

Don't walk on it.