Some dread it to vacuum, and others think about the result of having a clean, bug-free carpet and believe they are cleaning too much. But can you vacuum too much, or should you opt for vacuuming more frequently than you thought? Is it OK to vacuum the carpets daily?
Vacuuming carpets every day is OK. Some households might not need to vacuum as frequently. Still, it depends on the living arrangements, the carpet’s traffic daily, and the possibility of pets and kids treading the carpets. With the appropriate vacuum, you won’t damage your rugs.
Some might think it damages a carpet to vacuum every day, and others say it protects your carpet. There might not be a specific number of vacuums needed per week, but each household has its own needs regarding vacuuming and how frequently.
What If You Vacuum Your Carpet Daily?
Are you someone feeling the need to vacuum every day but you are thinking that you are damaging your carpet by doing so? But you can relax; vacuuming under certain circumstances requires a daily suction. The correct cleaner is crucial to ensure it won’t damage your carpets.
Vacuuming every day might lead to wear and tear on the fiber piles of your carpets. However, the result of dust, dirt, and everything else that gets trapped inside your carpet, has a more significant deteriorating effect on your carpet. Daily vacuuming impacts your carpet’s lifetime and the residents’ health better than the dust piling up inside your carpets.
When Should You Vacuum Every Day?
The average time to vacuum carpets is twice a week. This is a general guideline, and you will have to investigate your vacuum needs before determining the number of times you need to clean. Some places require more frequent vacuuming.
- A busy walkway
- Live in a dusty area
- Job working outside
- Pets
- Residents with allergies
- Crawling babies
Vacuum A Busy Walk-Through Daily
Suppose you have a carpet in a busy walkway at the front or back door; you can vacuum daily. This is needed because people walking across a room and treading the rug at the same place each day will cause dirt, debris, and bacteria buildup.
Vacuum Daily If You Live Remotely
You might live in an open space or secluded area like a farm or in the countryside, where the wind blows in dust through any hole possible. This calls for a daily vacuum to pick up the dust particles and prevent them from turning into something else or inviting dust mites into the house.
Working Outside Requires Daily Vacuum
Suppose one of the residents has a job working outside, like a builder or farmer. In that case, it will be necessary to vacuum more frequently. Shoes walking around in different spaces and capturing particles of soil bring these into the home. The unknown particles and mixture of these stuck in the rug can lead to problems.
Having Pets Leads To Daily Vacuuming
Pets lounging around on the couches or the carpets living their best life is a definite yes for you to vacuum daily. It does not matter whether your pets shed hair or not; there are always a few hairs lost. They also wear their shoes inside the house; you never know what foreign things are stuck in those claws.
Allergies Are Reasons To Vacuum Daily
Allergies, asthma, or respiratory illnesses are very sensitive to dust, and carpets capture this quickly. A daily vacuum will keep the symptoms at bay and keep the house smelling clean and fresh, further promoting a healthy state for all. Suppose you have someone like this in the household, prone to asthma; think about investing in a HEPA (High-Efficiency Particulate Air )-filtered vacuum.
A Baby Requires Daily Vacuuming
Vacuuming every day when having a baby in the house might become necessary. They are on the floor with their hands, and those hands go to their mouth quite frequently. Vacuuming daily will ensure the carpets are clean enough that you don’t have to worry about them exploring and picking up a disease through the carpet.
Use the Correct Vacuum Cleaner For Carpets
Vacuum cleaners are excellent for releasing soil from carpets, but some rugs are not friends with certain vacuum cleaners. Loop fiber carpets, for example, won’t fair well when you use a beater brush attachment because it can rip it out and cause damage to the rug.
Use a vacuum without a beater brush function or one that can turn off the brush and only use the suction power. This is necessary with long-haired carpets and wool carpets as well.
Investing in a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter will ensure cleaner carpets. The filter picks up much more dirt than a regular vacuum and prevents the particles from distributing across the surface.
Investing in a commercial carpet vacuum will ensure it lasts longer, you can use it daily, and the cleaning is usually easier. Opt for a vacuum with different attachments to ensure you can vacuum the entire house without damaging any surface.
How To Use A Vacuum On Carpets Every Day
Just because you vacuum your carpets daily doesn’t mean you can do an amateur job. This will only cause you to add miles to the vacuum cleaner and not remove the dirt and soil appropriately. After all, the reason is to keep the carpets as clean as possible.
Here are the steps to ensure you vacuum correctly:
Step 1: Ensure you clean out the bin before you start to vacuum. The vacuum will function much better if it is clean. Check the filters regularly as well.
Step 2: Dust off the surfaces first to ensure the vacuum capture these as well.
Step 3: Walk around the area and pick up loose things like coins, paper clips, toys, or anything that should not be vacuumed.
Step 4: Move the loose standing furniture so you can vacuum under them first, and move them back as you go.
Step 5: Shake out loose rugs outside to remove the excess soil and hairs.
Step 6: Vacuum the loose rugs first. Use the correct attachment. If it is compact, solid, and has short fibers, you can use the beater brush to clean the loose rugs. Then, roll it up and put it aside.
Step 7: Start with the crevice attachment (one with a small vertical opening, perfect for vacuuming the sides of the carpet where it meets the skirting).
Step 8: Use the beater brush attachment, disable this function and only activate the suction for special fibers, and move forward in slow motion. Reverse on the same line. This ensures the brush loosens the debris and the suction power gets as much dirt as possible. Work forward and back, turn and do the same from east to west. This way, you capture soil trapped from all sides.
Step 9: Ensure the suction power is perfect. Too strong, and it might damage the fibers.
Step 10: Move the furniture back to their places as you move along, ensuring the entire carpet gets vacuumed.
Step 11: Don’t forget about carpet stairs. These can also be vacuumed every day.
What About Vacuuming Loose Rugs?
Loose rugs are one of the silent dirt trappers we see as wall flowers. They might occupy a tiny space, but boy, do they trap dirt, usually because of their location. Either placed at the door to clean the shoes that come in a little before walking on the carpet. Others in the center of a room might take up less dirt and soil but still, need cleaning.
How to clean a loose rug:
- Shake it out outside to get rid of loose debris and dirt
- Vacuum slowly in a straight line, and reverse over the same line.
- Turn the rug over and vacuum the back.
- Roll it up and place it aside to vacuum the floor underneath before you put it back.
The frequency of cleaning a loose rug will depend on the rug’s position. Use your own discretion to decide how much traffic the carpet gets. For example, suppose the loose rug is on top of a carpet you vacuum daily; you might as well clean it daily. Cleaning the back of the mat each time is unnecessary, but once a week will do.
Are There Carpets You Shouldn’t Vacuum Daily?
Most carpets can be vacuumed daily, but there are those special ones you should think twice about before vacuuming them daily.
Braided wool carpets are strong but shouldn’t be vacuumed daily. Instead, you can vacuum it twice weekly with a hard floor attachment but never with a beater brush.
Woven carpets can also be vacuumed weekly with the upholstery attachment. Work gently and ensure the long piles don’t rip out or damage. Test in a corner first, and set the height and suction power to ensure there is no damage on the carpet.
Shag rugs are sensitive, and it would be best to vacuum twice a week with a hand vacuum or set the height closer to the carpet. If you have a rake attachment, use that, or otherwise, move slowly and ensure the fibers stay intact.
Fur rugs should only be vacuumed with the suction pipe and shaken out. Vacuum a fur carpet only when you believe it is necessary, but never with any carpet attachment; it can destroy the fur. Also, keep the edges down when you vacuum to ensure the fibers stay in place.
Silk rugs can also be vacuumed twice a week, but never with a brush-like attachment. Frequent vacuuming will ensure the dirt doesn’t get trapped inside, as washing silk rugs are tricky.
Consequences Of A Dirty Carpet
Leaving the carpet too long before you vacuum can lead to many negatives. These include health risks, carpet damage, and inviting unwanted guests into your home.
A carpet’s density is high, and any small particles can get stuck or rest between the fibers. Leaving these to build up can form an environment for mold to develop and bacteria to grow. This, in turn, can lead to the deterioration of your carpet and influence its lifetime.
With this debris buildup, it won’t be easy to loosen and suction it as daily or weekly vacuum sessions would, and many problems can soon appear.
| Problems | Health Symptoms Or Consequences |
| Mold buildup | Affect the immune system and can lead to skin irritations and infections, allergies, and stomach illnesses. |
| Fungal related sicknesses | Fungi spores brought into the home can cause irritations and allergies or enter the body through a lesion and cause ringworms, athlete’s foot, etc. |
| Bacteria and dust mites | The mold buildup is an excellent environment for these micro-species to grow and multiply. They can cause flu-like symptoms or attack the respiratory tract, especially in those already prone to it. |
| Pet illnesses | Having pets inside the house makes this more probable, but even carrying pet feces or urine on shoes into the house is also a possibility. Worms, lung irritations, fleas, and ticks. |
When To Wash Your Carpet?
If you stick to a daily vacuum schedule, your carpet will only need a thorough wash one to two times a year. You might decide to do this after the windy months or after the wet months.
You can invest in a carpet washing machine if you feel the need. Having pets or kids in the house that might have an accident now and again might be a good reason to invest in your own machine. There are carpet-washing companies to hire that can do the job for you.
Ensure you or the company don’t use products that can damage your carpets. Some effects might not be damaging, but regular washing will cause the deterioration of the carpet fibers. In addition, some products can fade the color of your carpet, so best to do thorough research before attempting to wash the rug.
The carpet can end up feeling sticky and tacky after a wash. This happens because the soap was not removed entirely. Thus, if you don’t have a washer or have never used one before, watch a video or follow the instructions to a T to ensure you don’t have to redo a wash.
Conclusion
Daily vacuuming is not a bad idea at all. That is also fine if you like to vacuum two to three times a week. However, suppose you have a room that doesn’t get much foot traffic; you can reduce vacuuming to once a week. You be the judge of how much vacuuming is needed, but the daily vacuum has more pros than cons.