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What is carpet protector? In all my years of cleaning carpets for others, I rarely found it easy to convince people of the importance of using a good carpet protector. They either didn’t understand what I was trying to tell them or didn’t want to pay the extra fee for the carpet treatment. There are many different types of carpet fibers and blends. These factors do weigh heavily on areas such as wear factor, look, feel, and even stain resistance. How the carpet is made is also a key factor. Take DuPont Stainmaster™ for an example. This is not a brand of carpet nor a high quality carpet protector. This is a process of saturating the fibers with a colorless dye which makes them resistant to further dyes (stains) which has made it possible (among other things) for people to use lighter colored carpet without fear of visible stains. However, a problem arises when people rely solely on this technology for full carpet protection.
The carpet treatment may protect against stains, but is doesn’t protect against soil and wear. This is why most quality carpets are further treated with a quality carpet protector and we don’t all have Stainmaster treated carpets. Carpet protectors bond to individual fibers creating a protective barrier. Acidic liquids (including pet urine) do not penetrate the barrier and the fibers are protected from fraying and other types of damage. I can always tell whether or not carpet has a good amount of protector by how easily it comes clean. Even heavily soiled, cheaper carpets are easy to clean when they have a good coat of carpet protector. However, carpet protectors do wear off. Foot traffic and carpet cleaning will remove a certain amount of any carpet protector. Over time your carpet becomes more vulnerable to stains, and wear. This is evidenced by what we call high traffic areas where the carpet becomes dingy and warn. These areas get more foot traffic and require more frequent carpet protector treatments. I recommend regular vacuuming (you can’t vacuum too much), regular cleaning (at least twice a year), and the application of a carpet protector like Teflon after each cleaning. This may cost a little more but will keep your carpet in good condition for years to come
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