It’s a new year, and if you’re anything like us, you’re planning out projects that you want to get done in 2019. One annual home project that should be on everyone’s list is deep cleaning carpet and area rugs throughout the home. Rug Doctor experts recommend deep cleaning your carpet at least once every 12 months. But did you know in some situations, you should be deep cleaning your carpet on a more regular basis? If you’re wondering how often you should deep clean your carpet or area rugs, read on for our expert recommendations. Have Cigarette Smokers in Your Home? If you have tobacco smokers at home who smoke indoors, it’s important to deep clean your carpet every three months in homes with heavy smokers and at least every six months in homes with moderate to light smokers. Tobacco smoke contains numerous types of gasses and particulate matter, including some that have been known to cause cancer. These harmful gasses can be absorbed into dust in a room, ending up in your carpet, area rugs, upholstery and other soft surfaces. According to this 2002 study, these toxins can then re-emit back into the air and recombine to form harmful compounds. This becomes dangerous for even the non-smokers in the household. Deep cleaning your carpet with a Rug Doctor removes these toxins and helps prevent them from re-entering the air in your home. What to Do if You Have Children at Home? If you have small children in your home, we recommend deep cleaning your carpet at least every six months. But not for the reason you may think. Yes, children cause more spills and accidents, but we have spot cleaning products and machines to help you deal with those daily messes. Our main concern is the exposure your kids may have to the bad things hiding in your carpet. Carpet is soft and warm and a great place for the little ones to play, or nap, or picnic, or build forts. The list goes on and on! Unfortunately, according to the American Lung Association, children are more likely to be exposed to pollution in carpet, both because they spend so much time playing on it and because they’re likely to place their hands in their mouths. We recommend deep cleaning more often to remove these containments and to reduce the chance of exposure. The best way to do this is to deep clean your carpet with a professional-grade machine, like the Rug Doctor Pro Deep Cleaner. What About Pets at Home? If you have furry family members living indoors, we recommend deep cleaning your carpet at least every six months. Carpet and area rugs do a fantastic job of trapping pet dander deep within the fibers. While this is great for air quality initially, simply walking on or even vacuuming can make it airborne again. Pet dander is tiny flecks of skin shed by animal with fur or feathers. (Yep, your birds have dander, too!) Because of their microscopic size, it’s easy for pet dander particles to settle deep within your carpet. Yuck! Want to hear something even yuckier? Dried saliva, urine or dust from dried feces can also flake off your pet in a similar manner and become trapped deep within the fibers. While regular vacuuming can help, it’s not enough on its own, because it doesn’t remove all the tiny particles hiding deep beneath the surface. Deep cleaning is the only way to truly and thoroughly wash your carpet and area rugs. Yes, deep cleaning is important from a cleanliness perspective, but it’s doubly important for those with pet allergies. Even if you aren’t allergic to pet dander, there’s good a chance that many of your guests may have a pet allergy. According to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, 3 in 10 people in the US with allergies have allergic reactions to cats and dogs. And cat allergies are about twice as common as dog allergies. A buildup of pet allergens can make respiratory symptoms worse and decrease lung function in people with even the slightest allergic reaction to pets. The absolute best way to remove pet allergens from your carpet is to deep clean your home on a semi-annual basis. Regardless of your deep cleaning schedule, Rug Doctor has the deep carpet cleaning machine for you. If you need to deep clean every 3-6 months, it may make more sense to buy a professional-grade cleaner that you can use as often as you need. You can now purchase our Pro-Deep Carpet Cleaner with Motorized Upholstery Tool for $150 off MSRP. Do you have carpet and hard surface flooring in your home? Take a look at our FlexClean All-In-One Floor Cleaner that deep cleans BOTH carpet and sealed hard floors. And if your home only needs to be deep cleaned every 6-12 months, you may consider renting a Rug Doctor Pro Deep Carpet Cleaner for just $39.99. This professional-grade carpet cleaner is available for rent at over 36,000 rental locations. Find your nearest rental location with our easy to use rental locator. Happy cleaning!