A recent nationwide survey, conducted on behalf of Carpet Court, has revealed the downright dirty experiences many New Zealanders have had with their carpet – and pets have a lot to answer for!
Pet excrement and pet vomit are two of the most common undesirable substances that respondents have had on their carpets, with more than 36% having had to deal with a clean up of this kind. This comes in above the number of people who’ve had red wine spills (32%) and kids’ drinks (27%) on the carpet.
But despite half of survey respondents rating carpet or flooring as the most important home investment, it would seem many of us aren’t looking after it as well as we should.
“It was interesting for us to note that 57% of people surveyed have never had their carpet professionally cleaned,” says Carpet Court’s Marketing Manager, Victoria Lloydd.
“I think many people don’t realise how critical regular professional cleans are for maintaining the quality of their carpet, not to mention a requirement of some manufacturer
carpet warranties. When dirt and grit is left deep down inside your carpet, it wears away at the fibres and will cause carpet to deteriorate more quickly than it should.
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“What’s also interesting is the majority of people – more than ¾ – vacuum their carpet only once a week or less. A good guide to go by is to vacuum your house at an absolute minimum of once per week and more often depending on the number of people living there – so if you have five people in the house, ideally you’d vacuum your high traffic areas five times per week. This may seem like a lot, but the amount of dead skin, dust and general mess that’s created by each additional person means you’ll be doing your carpet a favour to keep it maintained. Plus the survey indicated 62% of people wear shoes on their carpet, and if you throw a pet or two in to the mix, it really adds up!”
Dark grey is the most popular colour choice for carpet, but 63% of people said they’d be more likely to choose a lighter coloured carpet if it was stain resistant, as 67% say worry about stains affects their choice. When 44% have spilled coffee on their carpet, 40% have tracked mud through, 17% have had blood stains and 11% have even had spilled paint on the carpet – it’s no wonder it’s a concern.
Carpet Court’s Design Ambassador Jane Carolan, says: “If people did not have to consider the staining and wear that everyday life can bring to carpet, I believe their choices would fall outside of the standard dark palette of browns, greys and taupes – these colours are chosen to ensure a safe and risk-free decision. Unfortunately these options can often lead to the whole house taking on a darker look and feel than required. With the advent of SmartStrand this is no longer necessary, you can now have a light coloured carpet and still be risk-free! It would be great to see customers feeling confident and going for mid and light colour options in the warm stones, light silvers and sand stone browns and not feeling restricted in their decision making process anymore.”
“Considering flooring is an important investment when you’re building or renovating your home, making sure it stays looking great and stain free is really important,” continues Victoria. “Fortunately our SmartStrand Forever Clean ‘Rhino’ Carpet has built-in stain and soil resistance that won’t wear or wash off, which prevents spills from settling into the carpet and makes