While many people are turning to hard floors for a variety of reasons, there are still seven excellent reasons to choose carpeting for your home.
Carpet is beautiful – Carpet offers limitless varieties of textures, colors, patterns and styles; there is a carpet available to suit almost any taste.
Carpet is a good value – The average cost of synthetic residential carpet with pad and professional installation is around $2.50 to $5.00 per square foot.
Carpet is warm – Carpet insulates, typically resulting in 10% or more of energy savings. Not only that, but carpet makes a room feel warmer too.
Carpet is quieter – Carpet absorbs sound, making a house quieter and more relaxing. If you have ever heard a 75 pound Golden Retriever running on a wood floor, you understand this benefit.
Carpet is safer – Carpet reduces the occurrence of slips and falls and the severity of injuries from these accidents. This is especially important in a home occupied by the elderly and small children.
Carpet is healthier – According to the EPA, carpet traps pollutants instead of allowing them to be distributed in the air. The result? Homes and buildings with properly maintained carpets generally have better air quality than those with hard flooring.
Carpet is easier – Interim care of carpet is accomplished simply by vacuuming. Depending on the number of people and pets, this may be done in as little as three or four hours a month in the typical household. Aside from prompt attention to spills, this is usually all that is needed between professional cleanings.
6 Tips to Help Your Carpet Stay Beautiful Longer:
- Vacuum. The single most important maintenance step is to vacuum your carpets regularly- at least twice a week in high-traffic areas, preferably more often. Everywhere else should be vacuumed a minimum of once a week. Some households need to vacuum more often depending on the number of occupants and pets and lifestyle considerations.
- Control soil. One way is removing street shoes when entering the house. Wear house shoes, socks or slippers rather than going barefoot as sweat and oils from your feet attach to carpet and attract soils.
- Keep hard floors clean. Sticky or oily residues tracked onto carpet from hard floors bond to soils. This leads to obvious dirty traffic patterns leading from areas like the kitchen, garage and even bathrooms.
- Respond quickly to spills. Clean spots and spills by blotting with an absorbent towel. The longer a spill sits, the harder it is to remove.
- Don’t wait until your carpet looks dirty. By the time carpet is visibly soiled, permanent damage has already occurred. Although every home is different, you should never go more than 18 months between professional carpet cleanings. Most carpet warranties are voided if you wait that long. In homes with children and pets, smokers, or allergy sufferers, you should have the carpets professionally cleaned twice a year at a minimum. Most homes do well with one to two professional cleanings a year.
- Have your carpet protected. Modern carpeting has soil retardants such as 3M Scotchgard, DuPont Teflon and stain resistors factory-applied, but these finishes do not last forever. Periodically, your carpet needs to have the protector professionally reapplied so that common food and beverage spills are easily blotted up and your carpets stay cleaner longer.
For more information about how to maintain your carpets or to schedule your next cleaning, call Bluegreen today.