What are traffic lanes in carpet?
Traffic lanes are areas in someone’s home or office where people repeatedly walk – like hallways, doorways and around furniture. These areas see the most amount of traffic and are therefore prone to soiling, creating “Traffic Lanes”. Less-used rooms or those that are least walked on, remain clean and show little sign of wear and tear.
How to clean traffic lanes
Traffic lanes see a greater amount of foot traffic, collect more dirt and often wear out a lot quicker. Professional carpet cleaning companies often have specific ways of cleaning these high traffic areas in a home or an office by: –
- Using a traffic lane cleaner supplied by a manufacturer as well as using a good pre spray solution for a more effective clean.
- An agitation method of some sort should be used, either manually or by a machine, to disturb the soiling deep within.
Dry Soil Damages Carpets
Many people don’t realise that dry soil types, such as dirt and dust, gets repeatedly ground into the carpet through foot traffic, causing further damage and accelerating the wear.
Not vacuuming thoroughly or frequently enough, however, can often cut short your carpets life. Ideally you should aim to spend between 10-20 minutes per room!
Carpet manufacturers also recommend that you have your carpets professionally cleaned at least twice a year. Although this may sound expensive, failure to do so could lead to your carpet wearing out at least 5 years earlier than expected. And as we all know, new carpets can be costly, so good carpet maintenance is the cheaper alternative.
At EasyClean Solutions, our customers often want to know if these dirty marks can be removed? Below we explain the main factors that affect carpet cleaning efficiencies.
- Dirty Traffic Lanes – This is where a high area of traffic is caused by dirt, soil or mud. Only a thorough deep clean can return carpets back to their original condition.
- Narrow Traffic Lanes – These types of lanes are ones that for years have been repeatedly travelled on. If shoes are worn in this area or it has not been frequently cleaned, then these darkened traffic lanes tend to be more a permanent feature. Although the area can be still be improved with a thorough clean, marks may still be visible.
- Damaged Carpet- Unravelling carpet fibres often give the appearance of soiled areas. Light-reflecting off the carpet provides a contrasting appearance to the fibres themselves, often making them look darker and soiled.
How Can I Avoid Traffic Lanes?
The most important way to avoid visible traffic lanes appearing on your carpet, is to keep them properly maintained. Vacuum the carpets on a regular basis and take your time whilst doing so, remembering to remove shoes no matter how clean you think they are.
Professional Carpet Maintenance
Like we’ve mentioned in a few of our other blogs, we highly recommended that you have your carpets professionally cleaned at least twice a year (more if you own pets or are prone to heavy traffic sources).
Be sure to research the company first and find out about the equipment they use. Always look for recommendations by checking the reviews from previous and satisfied customers. For more information on hiring a reputable carpet cleaning company, check out some of our other articles.
Regardless of how careful you are, traffic lanes are inevitable and will appear even if all of the above maintenance has been correctly applied.
Carpet can be hardy, but just like everything it will eventually need to be replaced. By following all of the tips in this article you can certainly prolong the life of your carpet and help save money by not having to reinvest sooner than expected.
Traffic lanes will be the first places to show significant wear. Once it’s worn out, there really is nothing that can be done to fully change the darkened appearance.
Better Quality Carpets Last Longer
The good old saying ‘you get what you pay for’ is applicable with carpets too. Cheap does not always mean cost effective and a low-cost carpet can wear out within 8-10 years of purchase. Higher quality carpets, however, like nylon or polyester have an increased life for up to and over 15 years. If you want to indulge your feet, then top quality carpets made from wool can last for over 20+ years.
Who Should I Turn Too?
For all matters relating to carpet cleaning and restoring traffic lanes contact EasyClean Solutions today.
We can discuss your carpet dilemmas with you and offer ways in which we can help, at a highly competitive price. We operate carpet cleaning services throughout Hampshire and typically save our customers over 25%, in comparison to other cleaning companies in the area.
At EasyClean Solutions we are so confident with our service and clean that we even offer a money back guarantee.
