Carpet Manufacturer Warranty Requirements

 
Cleaning Requirements

An often overlooked and unknown issue today is the mandatory cleaning requirements fiber and floor covering manufacturers have placed on their warranties for their products.  Starting January 1, 2008, the three largest carpet manufacturers, Shaw, Mohawk, and Beaulieu, began to require that their carpets be cleaned by IICRC Certified Technicians to maintain the warranty.  As a result, be sure to look at the warranty requirements on your floor and fiber products to be sure that you are following their mandatory cleaning requirements.  If you do not follow them, you will void the warranty on your new carpet.  Here are cleaning requirements from the three largest carpet manufacturers in the United States.

Mohawk – “requires professional hot water cleaning every 18 months using cleaning products, equipment, or systems that carry the Carpet Rug Institute Seal of Approval.”

Shaw – “Professional service must be performed by an IICRC Certified Firm.  Shaw warranties require that the homeowner be able to show proof of periodic cleaning by and IICRC certified cleaning professional.”

Beaulieu –“Select a service that uses the deep extraction method; vacuuming, pre-spray, agitation, rinse and hot water extraction.”

Carpet Protectors

In addition, many of the new carpets today come with a stain protector built into the fiber, with a 15 to 25 year warranty.  Why do you need to know this?  No carpet cleaners should apply a protector to these as their protector may not match the factory protector, causing them to counter act with one another. This will void the warranty on your carpet.