How to Maintain Your Commercial Carpet

Regular carpet maintenance can enhance your indoor air quality and prevent your carpet's appearance form deteriorating prematurely. Because preventive maintenance is less expensive and more effective than infrequent restorative cleaning, We recommend that you:

1. Vacuum and spot clean you carpet daily.
2. Implement a preventive maintenance program.
3. Use hot water extraction to restore heavily soiled carpet.

1 Vacuum and spot clean your carpet daily

Accelerate carpet wear occurs when traffic grinds imbedded soil into 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. 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. perchlorethylene)
• detergent solution (a teaspoon of non-bleach powder in a cup of water)
• ammonia solution to neutralize acid stains (a teaspoon of ammonia in a cup of water)
• vinegar (or citric acid) solution to neutralize alkaline stains (1/3 white vinegar, 2/3 water)
• white absorbent cloths or paper towels

Spot Removal Guide

1 Implement a Preventive Maintenance Program

An effective carpet maintenance program keeps soil below the threshold of visibility. If the program is working satisfactorily, the carpet should never look soiled. Cleaning frequency and cleaner expertise are more important than the particular cleaning procedures selected. To assess a cleaner's professionalism, inquire about his or her references, training, and

certification. Test-evaporate sample chemicals (particularly final rinse additives) in a pan, to ensure they dry to powder, rather than leaving a greasy residue. When You confidence in a professional cleaner, ask him to help You devise a maintenance plan that suit your particular site.

This chart below shows a hypothetical maintenance plan for a multicolor, medium shade, patterned, loop carpet installed throughout a typical office building. This plan is nothing more than a starting point, to be modified based on site condition and periodic visual inspections. Your carpet requires more frequent and intensive cleanings (such as hot water extraction) if it is a light, dark or solid color, or if your site includes:

• heavier traffic (e.g. frequent visitor such as retail customers)
• interior soil sources (e.g. industrial processes)
• neighborhood soil (e.g. winter conditions, construction)

3. Use Hot Water Extraction to Restore Heavily Soiled Carpet.

While various cleaning procedures can help prevent visible soil accumulation, your carpet must be deep cleaned once heavy soil appears. Hot water extraction usually cleans deeper and removes more soil than other methods. Select a cleaner carefully, because improper cleaning can cause accelerated resoiling. Over-wetting, particularly over cushion, will cause decreased lamination strength.

For best results in heavy soiled areas, follow these guidelines:

• Power pile lift and vacuum before wet extraction to remove insoluble soil (80% of total soil).
• Before extraction, remove spots and treat soiled areas with an alkaline emulsifier (pH not to exceed 9.5).
• Hot water extract thoroughly, emphasizing heavy soil areas. Caution: Do Not Over-Wet.
• Use pure hot water (with only an additive to neutralize pH) in the final rinse.
• Touch the carpet after extraction. If water beads on your hand, extract more thoroughly.
• Carpet must be thoroughly dry before any traffic use.
• When a particular spot persists despite thorough extraction, try spin bonnet cleaning the effected area.