Why Is My Carpet Fraying?
Why Is My Carpet Fraying? We all want the carpeting in our homes to stay fluffy, luscious, and luxurious for the entirety of its lifetime, right? So when we begin to notice that our carpet is seeming a bit frayed and looking a smidge nappy, it’s only natural to wonder why.
If this happens, you might have a few solutions, such as DIY repairs, or simply replacing your carpeting, which we’re sure is not exactly what you want to hear. Ugh, it’s a hard knock life out here.
But hey, if you’re having to get new carpets, it’s a good idea to change up the way you’re currently doing things with your carpet. If your home’s carpeting isn’t all that old, then perhaps there are a few other reasons why your carpet might be fraying.
While Zerorez® Tucson can’t replace your carpets for you, we can provide a few bits of expert advice on why your carpets might be fraying, and what you can do differently with you’re new carpeting.
Grinding & Friction
One of the most common reasons why young carpeting frays is because the carpets are dirty or just hasn’t been well taken care of in terms of cleaning.
When the carpeting is dirty, the tiny particles of debris, dirt, and grime will work themselves perfectly into the carpet fibers, grinding-in and causing friction against the carpet fibers when walked on. It is that very same friction and grinding that causes your precious carpet fibers to fray and separate.
We recommend having your carpets professionally cleaned at least once a year. For homes with children or pets, you may even consider having the carpeting cleaned more often, perhaps every 6 months.
Professional cleaning has the ability to remove debris and dirt that’s deep within the carpeting fibers that the vacuum simply cannot reach, which will help to prevent that the grinding and friction from occurring. That brings us to our next point…
High Traffic Areas
It is fairly common for carpets to fray around the edges or in high traffic areas of your home. Saving the edges of your carpets may be possible, so you’ll want to look into some DIY methods or a professional in repairing the edges of your carpets.
As far as the high traffic areas of your home, there is really only one solution- area rugs! Area rugs are a great solution for protecting your carpeting. And they’re much cheaper than replacing your carpets, we can tell ya that much!
Not only can they save the carpets in high traffic areas of your home, but they’ll also save you from stains, spots, dirt, and grime that could be detrimental to your carpets.
Be Careful When Moving Furniture
While rugs can be a tremendous solution for your high traffic areas, you’ll need to be careful with them during cleaning. If you find yourself rearranging furniture often or moving rugs during cleaning, you’ll want to make sure you aren’t simply dragging or sliding them over your carpets, as this will also cause some damage to your carpets.
Always pick rugs or furniture up when moving them to avoid unnecessary dragging and friction across the carpeted surface. That simple act can ensure your carpeting will last for years to come!
How Low Can Your Beater Bar Go?
Most people don’t know this, but if you’re scratching your head wondering, “Why Is My Carpet Fraying?”, your vacuum likely has a large menacing role in it!
Many vacuums allow you to manually set how high the beater bar is off the floor (higher or lower). This is more important than you ever thought possible!
Vacuum brushes are designed to separate the carpet fibers, allowing the vacuum to clean the debris out between them. If your beater bar is set too low, this will cause the brush to be too aggressive on your carpeting and can actually play a fundamental role in fraying your carpets.
The brushes should be at a height where they only glance across the surface. We suggest looking into what type of carpet texture and material you have (which you can read about in our Choosing Carpet blog) so that you can choose the best course of maintenance for your carpet type.
There are of course times when there is not a clear-cut reason for why your carpet fibers are falling apart. If your carpet has been damaged beyond repair due to neglect, it may be time to replace all of the carpeting and start over from scratch.
But hey, like we said, if you’re having to get new carpets, at least you now know what might have caused the fraying the first time, and what you can do differently now with your it’s a good idea to change up the way you’re currently doing things with your new carpeting.
While Zerorez® Tucson can’t replace your carpets for you, we can provide Residue Free® carpet cleaning services in Tucson, Arizona. Remember- yearly or twice-yearly carpet cleaning is ideal if you want your carpets lasting a lifetime!