Knowing Your Carpet's Lifespan: Learn When Cleaning Won't Cut It

If you're an optimist and find water damage in the home, you'll likely take it as a chance to ditch unnecessary clutter. When it comes to the carpets—however—ripping up the rugs is not so easy. Water damage prompts difficult questions for homeowners, which sometimes require immediate answers. What stays, what goes? As you look down at your grandmother's vintage carpet, you can't help but try to save it. Understanding the carpet lifespan can help you choose. Yes, it's a thing. There's nothing like troubled waters—literally—to make you sentimental about your possessions. Here's a full carpet rundown to find out if you can save yours.

The Carpet Lifespan

Like anything with a lifespan, learning about the carpet lifespan helps shape expectations. The life expectancy of a carpet is anywhere from 5 to 15 years, which depends on how you care for it as well as the carpet's material. If you tend to your runner religiously, you might get up to 25 years with it. Different carpet fibers will also impact its lifespan. Nylon carpet will outlast polyester, for example. The likelihood of you salvaging your carpet also depends on the level of water damage you've gotten and where it exists in your home. Basement carpets are the common victims of water damage and flooding. Ultimately, there's good news and bad news. The good news is some carpets are salvageable; the bad news is, it may not be worth the carpet mold.

How Often Should You Replace Carpet?

As you inspect your water damaged area, you might wonder, How long have we had this carpet? Has it ever been replaced? Has it ever been cleaned? Yikes. Knowing when to replace the carpet depends on a few things, starting with your cleaning habits. If your carpet houses dogs, kids, plants, or allergens, you're likely no stranger to smells, dust, discoloration and stains. The following stages of carpet cleaning show the levels in which you've likely cleaned your carpet.

DIY Carpet Cleaning

Whether you've steam-cleaned, spot cleaned, or merely vacuumed throughout your years in the home (we're not here to judge), these are the basic DIY maintenance methods for residential carpets. For a longer carpet lifespan, it's best to perform these cleanings every few months to keep bacteria at bay.

Professional Carpet Cleaning

It's best to get deep carpet cleanings every 12-18 months, which may vary depending on your pace of life. If chaos is familiar to you, it's good to add a premium carpet cleaning service to your phone's favorites list (we really don't judge). Not only does Towers Restoration & Cleaning ensure the deepest cleans, but we offer carpet protection options with fiber coatings to prevent future damage. We don't just clean to clean, but to honor what clean carpets can do for a chaotic life. Using a company with the right education, reputation, and products can relieve you from your attempts at makeshift baking soda and warm water remedies.

Carpet Symptoms

Depending on the wear and tear of your carpet—the following symptoms, coupled with your carpet's cleaning history—will tell you how often to replace it. If you've had any of the following, your carpet might be telling you it's time.

• Mold
• Discoloration
• Smell
• Wet spots
• Increased allergy symptoms
• Torn fabric
• Irreparable stains

While some of these symptoms are more manageable than others, if you have mold on carpets, you've got yourself an uphill battle.

Carpet Chaos

If you've got mold in carpets from water damage, it's like your nose found it. Keeping carpets with mold is a health risk. Even if you think you've tackled the noticeable spots, mold has a cousin named Black Mold that lives in the air unknowingly. When deciding whether or not to keep your carpet, it's good to know how long it takes mold to form and spread. If your house flooded, you've got to act fast. If you live in a humid climate, you've got to act faster. Having the facts will help you do so. After a house floods it only takes 24 to 48 hours for initial mold growth. Because it takes 3 weeks to notice mold, if you have noticed it, it's likely that's not the only place it lives. Ideally, you will notice your water damage within a 48-72 hour window and report it immediately to avoid further damage.

No More Mold

It's not news to anyone that living with mold can cause serious health issues, ranging from increased allergies to cancer and lung disease. Because some symptoms may disguise as mild aches and pains or mood shifts, it's best to assume if you've had water damage, you've grown some mold. To remove your mold concerns entirely, it's best to use professional water damage restoration services. Your health is too important to risk keeping that rug.

Care for Your Carpet

Like people, when it comes to your carpet lifespan, there are guidelines and then there's your experience. Varying factors inform your carpet's life, and water damage will likely expedite its prognosis. As is true for anything, the best way to care for your carpet is to enjoy it while you have it, knowing nothing lasts forever. When it comes to water damage in the home, staying safe is the most important. Once you come back around to the carpet, know you have options. Overall, rest in the fact that you've given it a good life. Before, during, or after water damage, there are smart ways to aim for 25 good years with your carpet. All you can do is your best and we can make sure of it. Contact us today to request your service or estimate!