How Often Should Interim Carpet Maintenance Be Done?

If vacuuming is performed daily and extraction is performed annually, how often should departments perform interim carpet maintenance? The answer is not written in stone. Experts suggest departments consider the amount and types of soils when determining frequency. It’s also important to note that a consistent schedule for carpet care (vacuuming and interim maintenance) will reduce the need for extraction.

“Depending on soiling conditions, interim cleaning can be performed on a monthly basis, or even a quarterly basis,” says Yeadon. “The frequency of the cleaning allows less aggressive maintenance methods to be used to decrease the number of times restorative cleaning (hot-water extraction) is needed.”

Luallen goes so far as to say, “if you follow the daily maintenance schedule and a robust interim carpet maintenance program, you should never have to fully, deep clean a space.”

He qualifies this by emphasizing that techs really need to know the facility and how it is generally used. Luallen also acknowledges that space use has changed recently because of the pandemic.

“We used to define areas as high, medium, and low traffic,” he says. “That still applies, but workplaces have reshuffled so those designations have to shift, too.”

For instance, pandemic restrictions have resulted in workers sitting at their desks for longer periods of time, even taking breaks and eating lunch in the same spot. This means the once medium-traffic area should now be considered high-traffic, while the once heavily used racetrack around workstations could shift to a medium-traffic designation.

Techs should also take special note of conference rooms. In the past, these rarely used spaces were considered light traffic, but the rise of hoteling, where workers dynamically schedule their use of desks and specialty areas, may see conference rooms hosting different workers all day long.

“Facility cleaning managers need to be aware and adapt,” says Luallen.