How often carpet should be cleaned in the Seattle area

The standard advice is to have carpet professionally cleaned every twelve to eighteen months. In Puget Sound we shorten that to six to twelve months for homes with pets or kids and twelve months for everyone else, because the wet season does more damage than a dry climate does.

From October to May, shoes are wet every day. Wet shoes carry more grit than dry shoes and they deposit moisture into the carpet that takes hours to dry in a closed-up house with the furnace running. That moisture cycles in and out of the pad and is what makes a carpet smell like a basement by February even if it looks clean.

The best time of year

Late spring, after the rain lets up, is the single best time. The wet season's grit and moisture come out, the carpet dries fast with the windows open, and it goes into summer clean. A second cleaning in early fall before the house closes up is worthwhile for pet households.

Signs it is time now

Traffic lanes visibly darker than the rest of the room. A smell when the furnace starts. Allergies worse indoors than outdoors. A pet accident you have been meaning to deal with. Carpet that feels matted or crunchy underfoot. Any of these means the carpet is past due.