Depending on whom you ask, you will get different answers for this question. Some will say steam clean the carpet once every six months, others once per year, once every twelve to eighteen months, and every twenty-four months. These answers could all be correct, depending on the conditions one’s carpet is exposed to.

Foot traffic and how often the carpet is vacuumed are the main factors effecting the frequency of the carpet cleaning. So, how often the carpet should be professionally steam cleaned depends more on carpet foot traffic and how often it’s vacuumed more than the time.

Vacuuming removes soil particles from the carpet, helping prevent soil accumulation, and thus keeping the carpet clean longer. All things equal, a carpet that’s not vacuumed regularly will need to be steam cleaned sooner than a carpet that’s regularly vacuumed. There is no set standard for how often to vacuum, but a manufacturer, Shaw Industries, recommends to “vacuum, vacuum, vacuum.” (haha, we apologize if that particular recommendation didn’t provide clarity, but we hope you get the point, which is to vacuum as much as possible. 😊)

Also, carpets with high volume traffic may need to be cleaned more regularly than a carpet which gets very little traffic at all, because more soil particles are being deposited on the carpet and the carpet is being exposed to more natural wear. The easiest test of whether the carpet needs steam cleaning is if you see soil accumulation. If you vacuum regularly and your carpet does not get much foot traffic, Shaw Industries recommends steam cleaning the carpet once every twenty-four months minimum.

So, in summary, you should vacuum the carpet as much as possible, professionally steam clean the carpet as soon as it looks like it needs it, or definitely once every twenty-four months.