Not long ago we had our carpet replaced after about 81/2 years. When the carpet was pulled up I expected to find piles of dirt on the floor underneath. To my surprised, I was surprised at the amount of dirt that wasn't under the pad! As I spoke to Mitch, the carpet installer, about what he had found (over his 9 years in the business) that makes a carpet last longer. I was surprised again! I discovered that most of the things that I had done over the years turned out to be the best things after all. . . . .

I have always, or have had kids, vacuum every day, except Sunday. To me, if the carpet is clean, the whole house looks better. I had heard from some sources of reliable "gossip", that vacuuming every day was beneficial for keeping your carpet looking new, longer. These sources stated that it was the dirt in the carpet that actually wore out the carpet fibers. On the other hand I heard others claiming that the vacuuming often wore the carpet out faster. I went with my gut feelings and chose to keep things clean.

I don't know if you have ever had a vacuum demonstration by one of the more expensive vacuum companies, if so you will know what I am talking about. The demonstrator tries to make you feel like you really are a crumby housekeeper. Their hope is to prove to you that you have to have their machine to have a really clean house (floor). Then they proceed to show you that you need the expensive vacuum so that you can keep your house clean. The last demonstration that I had used a line like, "You're carpet is one the major investments and you need to invest in an expensive vacuum to take care of that investment." At that same demonstration, I found that they couldn't get too much more dirt up with their expensive model as opposed to my used, beaten, less-expensive vacuum. The demonstrator ended up somewhat speechless (which may have been a first for a carpet cleaner salesman). Needless to say, I never could get myself to purchase that expensive vacuum, at around $2000, for more gadgets that I probably wouldn't ever use in the next ten years.

As I spoke with Mitch, the carpet installer, these are the things that he relayed to me as ways to give a carpet a longer life:

• A. Vacuuming every day is helpful to keep your carpet looking new. It keeps the dirt from then breaking down the fibers. It also helps the dirt from getting deeper into the carpet and padding.

• B. It is better to buy an inexpensive vacuum, and vacuum every day, than to purchase a $2000 vacuum and only vacuum once a week. Too many times if you buy an expensive vacuum you do think that you don't have to vacuum as often because it does "such a better job of cleaning".

• C. Don't steam clean your carpet. When you add water to a stain, you are cleaning it of from the top layer of the carpet but the water also take to substance down deeper into the carpet. Say that there is catsup on the carpet. When you wash it with water, the catsup goes deeper into the carpet and the catsup that is deeper will then work its way up again, and the stain will appear again. Of course, with catsup you would have to wash it out, just be sure to use as little water as possible and get all of the excess water out.

• D. If you steam clean your carpet, use as little water as possible and without heat. Then, and this is the key, don't walk on the carpet for a couple of days. Even if the carpet feels dry to touch, it is still wet deeper. When you walk on the carpet, you are mashing the foam pad. In a sense you are gluing the pad and carpet down onto the floor. Also the heat with effect the carpet fiber and how it looks.

• E. Take care of spots on the carpet right when the spot occurs, before it has a chance to sink deeper into the carpet.

• F. When installing new carpet, choose your pad wisely. The thicker pads feel nice to walk on, but they also help your carpet wear out faster. The thinner the pad, the longer the carpet will last.

I hope these suggestions will be of help in taking care of your carpet.

Wishes for a long (and clean) carpet life!!

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