Maintenance and Repairs

June 17, 2024 Published by British Columbia Chapter - By Kevin Canlas

The Secret To Long-Lasting Carpets: Understanding Carpet Warranties

From CCI BC Strata Connection Magazine, Volume 02, Spring/Summer 2024

Warranties are often the determining factor behind any major purchase. Take a car - some manufacturers make it a key selling point, a 5, 10 or 15-year powertrain warranty can tip the balance for one model over another. However, all of them come with conditions and maintenance requirements - this enables the manufacturer to control how the item is used which would preserve its longevity and limit exposure to potential damage. Otherwise, people would be driving their cars with reckless abandon and avoiding basic maintenance.

In this respect, carpet warranties are the same as cars, but they are much more critical for the former’s longevity. Although out-of-pocket automotive repairs feel exorbitant when we pay them, they are usually a fraction of the cost of buying a completely new replacement. Carpet repairs, particularly as a result of disrepair and overuse, are the opposite. They often require very large sections to be replaced, which may often entail entire floors due to the need to match the right tone and avoid any ugly visual disruptions. Thus, keeping a carpet in warranty is an essential part of good strata management.

Carpet manufacturer warranty requirements are intended to avoid damaging overuse situations, which would cause carpets to fall into disrepair. The greatest threat to damage is not a catastrophic event, like a chemical spill (those can often be rectified quickly through carpet extraction, or a repair), but day-to-day overuse. While common-area carpets are made tough, they are not invincible - their relatively innocuous changes can have dramatic effects on the wear and tear they face.

What do the manufacturers say?

The main focus of carpet warranties is traffic areas: lobbies, stairwells, the hallways. This is where they get exposed to the greatest damage, unlike the bottom of your closets. Every day, if not every hour or even minute they get walked upon by multiple people, almost always bringing in environmental contaminants: mud, dirt, sand, salt in the winter, oils and grease. It’s not any one persons fault, but the sheer volume of foot traffic - tens of thousands traversing this limited space for months on end that shortens the lifespan of the carpets. With this in mind, most warranty requirements have five mandatory elements:

1. Entrance Mats must be placed to reduce the amount of dirt tracked in. They are extremely effective at reducing the amount of debris carpets are exposed to.
2. Daily Regular Vacuuming to remove abrasive debris before it cuts and scrapes the carpet fibres under the grinding action of footsteps.
3. Immediate Spot Cleaning of spills and other unexpected events. This is essential to get marks out before they are set permanently. They require a high level of technical ability; someone who can apply the right product at the right time using the right method.
4. Interim Maintenance every month for a few months. This can take several forms but is a required step for high-traffic areas in carpet lighter than a hot water extraction clean, but heavier than vacuuming.
5. Hot Water Extraction every three to six months. This is the most recognized form of carpet cleaning, also known as steam cleaning or restorative cleaning. It is a necessary step after all of the other steps are completed to keep the carpet looking its best.

Keep your warranty valid and maintain your investment by keeping your strata clean. The more you expose carpets to environmental damage, the more rapidly their visual appearance will start to age and deteriorate. They can’t be corrected by a single hastily organized hot water extraction - that only addresses the main cause of the damage (temporarily), not the damage itself. A cumulative year’s worth of neglect will have permanent consequences for the carpet, and thus all five of the mandatory elements are required to keep a carpet looking its best.

Kevin Canlas, MBA, PMP
Service Master Clean
Property Services

ServiceMaster Clean Residential is a fu lservice cleaning company established to primarily service residential property managers. Our cleaning services consist of three service lines: floor care, exterior cleaning services and janitorial. We offer our customers the ability to have their buildings on maintenance programs, where we provide a total service package. Our company offers these Annual Service Agreements for a l three service lines, which are staffed by a dedicated manager and career professionals in the field.