When is it time to replace the carpet?

When should I replace my carpet? It's a common question, but not an easy one to answer. To illustrate why here are a couple of scenarios. There is a landlord whom I regularly clean for who likes to keep the carpets in the location for as long as he can, by the time he asked me if I thought the carpets needed to be replaced the carpet had holes, burn marks, large bleach spots, and in some spots so much fibers have worn off of the carpet you were walking on the carpet backing. The carpet was just a few years old, but it was trashed and, yes it needed to be replaced. On the other end of the spectrum I have cleaned bright orange shag carpet from the 60's that still looked like they did the day man landed on the moon. It's older, but in great shape. The only real answer to if you carpet needs replacing is if you think it does. Carpet does wear, it starts getting matted down, the fibers unravel, it gets stained, or damaged, and a cleaning, even a good cleaning can't make it look new again. If you want that new carpet look again, and a cleaning doesn't quite do the trick for you, then you know it's time.