As your local professional cleaners, Pristine Cleaners fields many questions about keeping a home sparkling fresh. For example, “How often should a carpet be cleaned?” and “How long for a carpet to dry after cleaning?” are fan favorites.
In this article, we will answer both of these questions.
How Often Should Carpet Be Cleaned?
The answer depends on how much foot traffic the area gets. However, we recommend it at least every 12 to 18 months for the best results. So now that you know the answer to “How often should a carpet be cleaned?” let’s answer, “How long for carpets to dry after cleaning?”
How Long for Carpet to Dry After Cleaning?
Many clients ask, “How long does carpet take to dry?” It’s a good question because wet rugs act as dirt magnets. You don’t want your kids to undo all your hard work by streaking over the moist surface.
The answer to how long to let carpet dry after cleaning depends on a few things, such as the following:
- Cleaning method
- Fabric
- Pile
- Quality
For example, hot water extraction uses powerful vacuum suction to remove as much water as possible. As a result, it works much better than using a standard wet and dry vacuum. Dry cleaning, however, doesn’t use water at all, making it the quickest to dry.
When in doubt, consider hiring a professional cleaner at least once and see what they recommend.
However, the following usually holds true:
- Wait at least 6 to 12 hours
- It’s better to give it 24 hours in cold weather, high humidity, or where you have poor circulation in the room
- It may take longer without an industrial-grade vacuum
How Long Until You Can Walk Across the Carpet?
The idea is to let it dry completely. Then, if you have no other choice, walk across it in clean socks without shoes and along the edge. However, we don’t recommend this as it will compress the pile and may leave a dirty trail.
When Can You Move Your Furniture Back In?
You should only move your furniture back when the carpet is completely dry. Work on a timeframe of between 6 and 24 hours to be on the safe side. You can place a plastic barrier between the furniture’s feet and the carpet if necessary.
Pet-Friendly Tips for Newly Cleaned Carpets
We advise keeping your pets out of the space for 24 hours if possible. Consider sending them to stay with a friend or family overnight or boarding them with a vet where you can. Failing that, try to clean one room at a time and keep them out of that space until the carpet dries completely.
Kid-Friendly Ways To Speed Up Drying Time
Children don’t always understand the importance of allowing sufficient time for a carpet to dry. For this reason, you can work to speed up the drying time as much as possible. Fortunately, this proves relatively easy if you can improve air circulation in the space.
Fans
When we get the question, “Carpet cleaning, how long to dry?” we always recommend turning on a fan first. A ceiling fan or high-velocity fan comes in handy.
Open Windows
We recommend opening the windows on a hot, sunny day as long as the humidity stays relatively low. We don’t recommend doing this on a cold or overly humid day.
Dehumidifiers
A dehumidifier is one of the best tools to use, so put it to work if you have one. Of course, you should still open the windows and switch on the fans for the best results.
Air Conditioning
Turning on the air conditioning may seem counterintuitive. However, it does tend to dry the air. While less effective than a dehumidifier, it can still help in highly humid situations where you cannot open the windows.
Clean More Often
Regularly vacuuming the carpet and cleaning it every four to six months means that you need less water when you wash it. Following this routine also makes your professional service far more effective.
Use Odor Busters Regularly
Another helpful tip involves sprinkling sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) over the carpets after they dry. Leave the powder for a few hours or overnight and vacuum it up. The baking soda will absorb odors, leaving the carpet smelling fresh.
Consider Hiring the Professionals
You can rent carpet cleaning machines reasonably inexpensively. However, these machines do not reach the high temperatures you need to sanitize your carpet. Instead, the devices use water from the faucet and detergent.
These appliances do a reasonable job but are nowhere near as powerful as industrial machines. Therefore, they cannot suck up as much dirty water. As a result, your carpets will be cleaner, but not as clean as they could be.
At Pristine Cleaners, we use the latest technology to achieve outstanding results. Our team works quickly and thoroughly, completing the task in a fraction of the time it would take you. Thanks to our expertise, we transform even the most tired-looking carpets.
Achieving similar results at home feels virtually impossible, considering the cost of industrial vacuum cleaners. Even if you have something suitable, you should consider the time cost of having to spend hours cleaning every rug.
Our clients opt to have us in regularly thanks to our outstanding service, affordable pricing plans, and consistent results. Don’t you have better things to do than spend your weekend washing rugs?
Contact the Professionals for the Best Results
If you live in the greater Sacramento area, you never need to ask, “How often should carpet be cleaned?” again. Instead, contact Pristine Cleaning for professional carpet cleaning. We use state-of-the-art equipment to clean and disinfect your carpets.