Your vacuum cleaner can pull up your lovely carpet fibers thanks to its rotating beater bar or brush.
Here’s how to prevent it:
Continue reading for a detailed guide on how a vacuum can tear your carpet and what you can do to fix it.
🤔 Can A Vacuum Tear Up Carpet?
Yes, a vacuum cleaner can tear up your carpet if:
Also Read: Why Is My Vacuum Burning?
🧐 How To Vacuum Without Damaging Carpet?
✅Select the Right Vacuum
All vacuum cleaners are not the same. They differ in terms of their function from one to another. Some vacuum cleaners are made for running on hard surface floors, like canister vacuums, while others are best for soft surfaces, like upright vacuums for rugs.
Replacing one in place of another will not only mess up the cleaning but also result in scratches on the hard surfaces and pulling of fibers from the soft surfaces.
Also Read: Can You Vacuum A Wet Carpet?
⚙️Customize Settings
Modern vacuum cleaners come with specific settings for different surfaces.
Proper settings before putting it ‘ON’ prevent your vacuum cleaner from applying excessive suction on soft surfaces and prevent tears.
Always put the setting of your vacuum to bare floors before cleaning your carpet.
🪠Vacuum Slowly & Don’t Over Vacuum
Some people have a myth that running a vacuum cleaner fast over any surface tidies up the surface thoroughly. But it’s not true.
Running a vacuum cleaner slowly traps more soil from the carpet or any other surface. Also, careful vacuuming doesn’t allow you to overlap the paths.
It’s best to run the vacuum in one direction (for example, from east to west). Repeat the same at a right angle from north to south direction.
👉Adjust the Height & Prepare the Beater Bar
To better trap the soil and dirt from the floor or carpet:
Also, engage/disengage your vacuum’s beater bar based on the surface (hard floor surface/carpet surface) you want to clean. Keep the beater bar engaged when cleaning soft surfaces like carpet surfaces, and disengage it while you clean the hard surface floors to save the surfaces from getting dents and scratches.
Also Read: Is It Safe To Vacuum Hardwood Floors?
🧹Clean the Vacuum Regularly
Dirt accumulates on your vacuum cleaner’s brush roll, filter, or dustbin over time, which can weaken your carpet fibers. So clean your vacuum after every use or whenever you see dirt on your brush roll.
Pro Tip:
Place doormats near the doors of your house and vacuum entrance areas regularly. It will keep most of the dust away from the carpets, thus reducing the need to frequently clean the carpets.
Also Read: Why Is My Vacuum Spitting Dirt?
✅ Best Tips To Prevent Carpet Shedding And Fuzzing
Here are some useful tips for preventing carpet shedding or fuzzing:
Also Read: How to Clean Heavily Soiled Carpet?
💡Vacuum Pulling Up Carpet Fibers: FAQs
Why does my carpet come up when I vacuum?
Your carpet comes up when you vacuum when its settings are not adjusted properly according to your carpet type. You can resolve this problem by clipping the sprouted fibers to a height parallel to the surrounding pile instead of pulling out the sprouts.
Why is my carpet shedding so much?
Carpet shedding mainly happens if:
1. Your carpet is manufactured with staple yarn.
2. You don’t vacuum your carpet regularly.
3. Your carpet is made of poor-quality fiber.
You can prevent shedding of your carpet by vacuuming your carpet regularly in proper settings.
Can a vacuum ruin a high-pile carpet?
No, a vacuum doesn’t ruin your high-pile (very soft) carpet unless you use a concentrated/sealed suction vacuum. This suction power is too high, damaging your carpet from the root and making it nearly impossible to move the vacuum across the carpet.
Why does my carpet look worse after vacuuming?
Your carpet will appear worse after vacuuming if:
1. You are using the wrong vacuum cleaner for your carpet
2. Your carpet has stubborn stains
3. You are overusing water to clean the carpet
4. You are making use of a clogged vacuum cleaner
5. You are in a rush and not rinsing the carpet thoroughly
Does vacuuming every day damage the carpet?
No, vacuuming every day or frequent vacuuming never damages carpet fibers if one does it with proper adjustments and settings.
Instead, leaving dirt in your carpet breaks down the fibers or underlay of your carpet, leading to its overall wear and tear. Also, the dust within your carpets may allow the dust mites to thrive and invite diseases. So, experts always advise you to vacuum every day.
Adarsh is a Health Science graduate with expertise in environmental health and wellness. He is a Neat Freak who constantly looks for ways to keep his surroundings clean. At Clean Homies, Adarsh is focused on researching and sharing information on how you can maintain hygiene at home for a happy life.
