We’ve found that the number one cause of irreparable carpet damage is dirt and grit and with the extensive Metrolink work currently going on in the centre of Manchester (and expected to continue until late 2014), office carpets are taking the brunt of it. When dirt builds up in the pile of your carpet (in particular the small, rough pieces of stone used by builders in the soil to improve drainage) it has abrasive properties that damage your carpet permanently. The dirt gradually works its way down to the bottom of the pile and then every time somebody walks on it, it rubs against the individual strands of carpet fibre leading to eventual bald patches.
The best way of stopping this is to have your carpet regularly cleaned, this way the bits of dirt and grit that are causing the damage are being removed on a regular basis stopping the abrasive damage. Normally this kind of damage happens mainly in the winter months when grit is being put down on roads/pavements and in Manchester city centre however it’s happening all year round at the moment.
Having an entire office carpet replaced can be very expensive. On the other hand, having the carpet cleaned twice a year by a professional can extend the life of your average carpet by up to 10 more years saving countless carpet replacements and a lot of money in the process. As well as removing the dirt from the pile of the carpet our professionals also apply a protective coating to the carpet to slow down the build-up of new dirt. Obviously with the amount of footfall a carpet gets this coating eventually wears off but it certainly extends the protection of the carpet considerably over time.