Carpet Cleaning Guide

On page 14 of the IICRC Reference Guide for Professional Carpet Cleaning (IICRC S100) there is the following information you should find interesting.

According to the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration (IICRC) you should have you carpets cleaned AT LEAST 1 TIME PER YEAR depending on the amount of traffic.  The IICRC is a professional association that trains & monitors cleaning technicians throughout the United States.  To help you decide how often your carpets need to be cleaned, see the following graph.  These standards provide the guidelines used by the Carpet Industry to give you carpet the longest life possible.

Traffic Soil Rating	Carpet Owner Maintenance		Professional Carpet Cleaner
	Vacuuming	Spot Cleaning	Heavy Use Area Cleaning	Restorative Cleaning
Light Soil	1x per week	Daily or as soon as the spot are noticed	Traffic areas every 12 to 18 months	Every 2 years or per manufacturer warranty (usually listed as annually)
Normal Soil(families with children)	1 to 2x per week	Daily or as soon as spots are noticed	Traffic areas every 6 to 12 months	Annually
Heavy Soil (families with pets, smoking)	2 to 4x per week	Daily or as soon as spots are noticed	Traffic areas every 3 to 6 months	Semi-annually (2x per year)
Extreme Conditions (large families, multiple pets)	Daily	Daily or as soon as spots are noticed	Traffic areas every 2 to 3 months	Quarterly (4x per year)