Check out this self-help video posted by AOL for carpet cleaning. It's as bad as John Travoltas wife and her Kawasakis Syndrome Hype. Would hope it's aimed at homeowners with their own "steamers".
It is unbelievable what some people will say without having any idea what they are talking about. Hopefully this is not getting widespread coverage.
I would refer people to the carpet manufacturers websites (all the manufacturers I know of except Milliken) to see that they suggest cleaning "At least every 12 months." That is the minimum not the maximum. Similar comments can also be found at the Carpet & Rug Institute's website www.carpet-rug.com.
The worst enemy of any carpet is abrasive particle soils that abrade, wear and ugly out fibers by creating pathways long before the carpet would otherwise need to be replaced. These can be prevented by lots of entry mats, regular vacuuming with a quality vacuum cleaner that traps the soils and uses a brush that is not too stiff so as too damage carpet fibers.
That should cover life of the carpet arguments.
From a health viewpoint, the recommendations by EPA deputy director Micheal Berry in the book "Cleaning for Health - Protecting the Built Environment" has a chart showing that HWE (steam cleaning) removes 60 to 94% of the allergens, bio-pollutants and other contaminants from the carpet. Depending upon the circumstances (Smokers present, children present and so forth) Dr Berry recommends cleaning intervals of 2 weeks to 6 months, for best health never longer than 6 months between cleanings.
I would also show them how dry the carpets are when you finish. The comments about damage from water in the AOL video only happen if lots of water is left in the carpet. Between good extraction and synthetic fibers that don't absorb water (the video implies the fibers do absorb water) the issues raised by the videos do not exist.
