How Often Should You Vacuum?

Vacuum Twice a Week

Most homeowners aren’t interested in carpet maintenance because their busy schedules leave little time to worry about those abrasive soils slowly accumulating-that is until carpet replacement time arrives!  Then, like New Year’s resolutions never kept, we vow to “do it differently this time”!

But what if the job could be accomplished with better results in less time!?!  Janitorial contractors must vacuum quantities of carpet nightly.  If we used their techniques, time spent vacuuming would be cut by half…OK, one third!

I’m tempted to suggest daily vacuuming; hoping that some will be accomplished every other day.  I’ll be practical, however, recognizing that your home’s as active as ours, and you’re lucky to get to the carpet twice a week without your teenager accusing you of “getting carried away with this vacuuming thing!”  Point is, you’re better off doing a thorough job bi-weekly than a “half-way” job more frequently.

Traffic lanes should be vacuumed twice and entry areas four or five times.  Semi-annually, you should consider hand-vacuuming entry areas with a crevice tool.  It’s amazing how this will improve the appearance of the carpet and greatly extend its life.

 Here’s How

1. To save time, select a vacuum with a 30-foot electrical cord and plug it into an outlet near the center of the area being vacuumed.  Begin near that outlet, constantly working away so the cord never gets in front of your vacuum.  Develop a procedure, and you’ll be surprised how efficiently the job can be completed.

2. Finally, clip sprouting tufts as soon as they appear, particularly on a loop-pile carpet.  This avoids pulling out an entire row (Similar to a run in your stockings).  Raking or combing the nap of shags in traffic areas is essential to prevent the formation of hard, matted rows of yarn (corn-rowing).

3. The average carpet contains 79% gritty soil which, at least in theory, can be vacuumed out.  Let’s concentrate on keeping the sand box in the back yard-not in the carpet where it cuts life-expectancy in half!