How do carpets wear?

Many people think that carpets wear down when in fact, they actually wear out, they go bald!

Carpets are constructed from thousands of intertwined fibres fixed to a backing. When we are outside, we walk on pavements and roadways constructed of sand and cement. When we return home, we then walk these particles of sand and cement into our homes on the soles of our shoes. The sand and grit falls to the base of the carpet fibres and cuts them.

If you imagine interlocking your fingers, sprinkling sand and grit between them and then rubbing them together.  Those fingers would become sore and cut very quickly indeed.

Carpets fibres don’t become shorter over time, there are simply less of them as they are cut from the base and the carpet starts to develop bald spots.

Have you ever noticed how stair carpets always seem to wear the most on the bottom steps and then wear less and less as the steps get closer to the top? This is because most stairs are near the front door and the nearer you are to the entrance of the house, the dirtier your shoes are likely to be. You also walk upstairs one step at a time, so the whole of your body weight is on a single foot and most of the dirt is deposited on the first steps with less and less on each further step until you reach the top.

Have you also noticed that when occasionally you decide to move the furniture around to rearrange your living space, you realise that the difference between carpet that has been walked on and the protected bit under the furniture. It’s amazing to see.

The heavily walked on walkway areas are so stark when you put the furniture back where it was and you then you end up with a situation where the carpet is deciding where the furniture is situated and not you!

Many people use a Shake ‘n’ Vac type product to mask the smells in their carpets. These types of products should never be used because most of them contain highly scented sand that is designed to fall deep into the carpet. To mask the scent of your carpet with a new stronger scent, the product must stay in the carpet for as long as possible.

Sand is used because it is too heavy for all but the most efficient vacuums to vacuum from deep inside the pile. You receive the benefit of the new scent for a few weeks, but the sand stays in the carpet forever, cutting the pile every time you walk on it.

So, how do we combat this? By keeping our vacuums operating at maximum efficiency with routine maintenance and regular annual servicing by professionals. To find out more about the PHC award-winning vacuum service & repair, get in touch at enquiries@phcvacuumservice.co.uk or call us on 0333 533 7220