Should an old carpet be cleaned or replaced?

Like all other things in this world, carpets get dirty and they get old. Having your carpet cleaned regularly will help make it last longer, but the day will come when it will have to be replaced. How do you know when that time comes? Here are a few guidelines:

  • If the carpet still looks unclean after a professional carpet cleaning by a reputable carpet cleaning company, it will probably never be effectively cleaned again.
  • If the carpet is matted, i.e. it looks “crushed”. Carpets made of synthetic fibers are made to be resilient to pounding, but once they lay flat, they can never be revived.
  • If your carpet has stains that cannot be removed. Again, synthetic carpets made today are manufactured to resist staining, but they will eventually lose that property
  • If  your carpet is beginning to get rips and tears. Rips and tears can be fixed to a degree, but if they start happening more frequently, it means something else is wrong–usually the carpet backing or padding.

Note that there are times that the carpet should be replaced if it is not at the end of its life. For instance, if you are selling your house you may want to replace the carpet even it has a few years left in it. Another problem is with pet stains. If your animals have been going on the carpet for a long time and the stains have not been removed, the carpet may not look bad but will be unusable.

Written by, Derek Beyer.