"Does your carpet need cleaning?" When you ask people this question, their knee-jerk response is often "no, of course not." But if they go home and think about it a little more, they often start to consider that their carpet really may need cleaning. When you're living with carpet day after day and it slowly gets dirtier over time, you don't always notice the signs of that dirtiness unless you set out to look for them. If you're now wondering whether your carpet needs cleaning, here are the subtle signs to look for.

It's a different color where it has been covered by furniture

Look around your room. Which pieces of furniture have been in the same place for a while? Shuffle one or two of those pieces of furniture to the side, and look at the carpet they were sitting on top of. If that carpet is a different color than the rest of your carpet, that means your carpet is fairly dirty and could benefit from cleaning. After a good cleaning, the carpet should mostly be restored to its original color that you see beneath the furniture.

Other people notice odors

You probably would not notice if your own carpet smelled. People grow nose-blind to odorous carpets pretty quickly. So, ask someone you know and trust to come over and smell your carpet. Make sure this is a person who won't be offended by the strange request! If this person thinks your carpet smells, then it probably does. A good, thorough cleaning will remove the pet dander, skin oils, food residue, and other materials that could be contributing to the stink.

Your fibers are starting to look frayed

When a carpet gets dirty, grime gets caught in the fibers and causes more friction between those fibers. Over time, the fibers start fraying and breaking down. You can see this happening. The fibers will look fuzzier on the ends than a little further down. Having the carpet cleaned will not undo any damage that has already been done, but it will help keep this sort of damage from getting any worse. It will also extend the life of your carpet.

Every once in a while, evaluate your carpet for these signs it needs cleaning. They are too easy to miss if you are not looking for them! Get in touch with a carpet cleaning company near you, and they'll get you set.