With winter in full force, its natural to want to hire a professional steam carpet cleaner. Shoes of all kinds track dirt and germs in from the outdoors. Those irritants can get caught in the fibers of your carpet, where they wait to be kicked into the air. Your carpets may be about to see a lot of foot traffic during the holidays. You may not be hosting, but the snowy weather causes your and your familys shoes to bring in more dirt than usual. Try as you might, its hard to completely avoid staining that beautiful white carpet. Even though you have towels laid down in front of the door and a shoe rack in the foyer, miraculously, somehow, someone ends up walking their dirty snow boots into your home and leaving stains on your carpet.

Because winter is here, you decide its time to invest in a professional steam carpet cleaning, a process in which a cleaning solution is steamed into your carpets fibers through water jet nozzles. You may be thinking, when should I hire a professional steam carpet cleaner, before or after Christmas? You want to welcome your guests to a clean and tidy home, but you also know your carpets are going to be worse off after the holidays, once everyone has already walked all over them. There are a few different factors to consider.

If you’re hosting Christmas brunch or dinner at your home, you’re going to have more foot traffic than usual. Family and friends will walk their shoes into your home, tracking all kinds of foreign invaders onto your carpet. In this case, it may be wisest to wait until after Christmas, once the worst damage is done, to hire a professional steam carpet cleaner. Before your party, spot clean your carpet to get rid of any preexisting stains, before dry vacuuming like you normally would.

If you’re not hosting family over your house this holiday season, you might want to consider other things. When was the last time you hired a professional steam carpet cleaner, or steam cleaned your homes carpets yourself? You should wait between four and six months between steam cleanings. How much of your home is carpeted? Do you have pets? Kids? Regular guests? The amount of traffic your carpets receive, area of carpeted floor and rate you clean your carpets are all things to consider when making this decision.

Ultimately, the decision is up to you. Some people like to show off a pristine carpet to guests, then attempt to clean the residual mess themselves after the holidays. Others would rather hire a professional steam carpet cleaner after the guests have left, resigning to clean the carpet the best they can before the holidays. There are benefits to doing it both ways, but it comes down to personal priorities.