How often do you clean your carpet? You probably vacuum it once a week, and maybe you even shampoo it every other month, but how frequently do you give it a nice deep clean? You’ve probably never done it yourself because the task seemed daunting. And your natural reflex is to wait and have it done in warmer weather, so you can maybe hang it outside and it’ll dry faster. As it turns out, you’re actually better off washing the carpet in winter.
In other western countries, the choice is driven by snow, blizzards, and excess precipitation. We don’t really have that here, but being the coldest time of year, winter still gives you the best shot at professional carpet cleaning. Demand is low, prices are good, and it’s just a more sensible thing to do. Here’s why.
You have more company
Cold weather makes us want to stay indoors, so instead of going out and hitting the town, we’re likely to have more intimate dates at home. Whether you’re entertaining a potential lover or hanging indoors with your friends, you’ll probably have more house guests over winter than you ordinarily would. Assuming you want to make a good impression, it’s a good idea to have your house cleaned before your guests arrive. That includes your carpet.
Your guests probably won’t notice the carpet as much as other parts of your living space, especially not at first. But there’ll always be that lull in conversation when their eyes will wander round the room and settle at their feet. Or maybe as they get increasingly comfortable, they’ll sidle onto the floor. You want that rug to be spotless when their attention shifts onto the ground.
It’s healthier
Carpets are great for muffling sound and warming up a room, both physically and psychologically. A carpet makes a space more homey and welcoming. It also traps heat, raising the temperature of the room. Unfortunately, that same quality also retains dirt, dust, food particles, moisture, dead skin cells, pet dander, and other unseen substances floating around your home. They can easily trigger allergies and asthma. So now that you’ll have more people traipsing through your house, it may be a good idea to get rid of allergens.
Everyone that comes into your home will bring their own germs, which will then soak up into the carpet. Having it deep-cleaned will make the whole space healthier, both for you and your guests. If you hire a professional carpet cleaner, they can use steam cleaners and specialised equipment that will remove the surface dirt as well bacteria, germs, dust mites, fungi, and other organic contaminants. Many professional cleaners finish with a layer of carpet protecting sealant to repel liquid spills and soil smudges for a few weeks.
It dries faster
It’s logical to conclude things dry faster in warm weather. However, in the same way your skin dries out in the winter, your carpet will too. You’ll probably have the heating on a lot, and you might have insulated roller shutters, or extra padding on the walls. Add that to higher human traffic and humming electronics. These factors combine to raise temperatures in your home, which means any moisture in the carpet will dry faster.
This matters because slow drying leaves your carpet – and the rest of your home – with a damp lingering smell. Worse, it could develop into mould. Some professional cleaners use high-pressure washes and promise your carpet will be dry in four to six hours, under standard conditions. With higher indoor temperatures leading to increased evaporation, your carpet will dry even faster than that.
It improves your mood
All around the world, people experience SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) during the colder months. It’s not necessarily about the snow – scientists believe it’s more closely linked to dark skies and low light levels. That’s why one of the prescribed treatments is light therapy using a SAD lamp that produces full spectrum white light. Either way, between the gloomy weather and general lethargy, your moods are likely to dip.
Having a clean house will cheer you up, and your carpet is a big part of that. When you look at a dirty rug, it brings the whole space down, because it covers so much of the room. It can make you feel like everything is a mess. So as you make plans for your winter cleaning, make sure the carpet is a key part of the process. Just be sure to clean the rest of the house first, because starting with the carpet just means the dirt from everywhere else will settle onto your now clean rug, making it dirty all over again.
