Did you know that steam cleaning is the preferred carpet cleaning method for most of the major carpet mills? Chances are that your carpet was manufactured by Mohawk or Shaw. These carpet mills may actually void their warranty if another cleaning method is used.
One of the most common distortions of the truth used by carpet cleaners using the so called “dry” cleaning methods is that steam cleaned carpets stay wet for a long time causing health problems. The truth is that properly performed steam cleaned carpets dry in as little as 2-3 hours.
Speaking of dry carpet cleaning, one of the best known dry cleaners has converted its cleaning method to a water extraction method. That’s right, Chemdry Carpet Cleaning, now uses truck mounted equipment – I guess they finally had to face the truth.
With steam cleaning, it’s all about the right equipment and the right technique. The best way to steam clean is with powerful truck mounted equipment, not a weak portable unit that must be dragged through your home.
When I talk about the right technique, I’m referring to: pretreatment technique, wand technique, dry stroke technique, and grooming technique.
Proper pretreatment allows a minimum of water to be used. In the heavy traffic areas, some agitation, helps the traffic cleaning solution suspend dirt and grime for quick and easy removal. Proper wand stroking techniques also impact the amount of moisture left behind. Instead of making ‘little pine trees’, moving the wand over the same swatch of carpet, will get almost every drop of the water back out of the carpet along with all of the dirt and grime.
Once the carpet has been cleaned, a drying stroke (using just the powerful truck mounted vacuum) removes almost all of the remaining moisture from the top of the fibers.
Grooming of the carpet pile with a carpet rake ensures that drying through evaporation will completely dry the carpet in a few hours. The carpet rake causes the fibers to stand straight and sets the pile just like when it left the factory.
What can you do to help the carpet dry even faster? If it’s a humid day, close the doors and windows and run your air conditioning system to remove moisture from the surrounding air; remember that your A/C doesn’t just make air cold, it dehumidifies it too!
Keep traffic off the carpet so the pile is not disturbed. If you absolutely must have your carpets dry in the shortest time frame, alert the technician so he can alter his cleaning technique to promote faster drying.
The easiest way to make sure your carpet is dry in time for that big dinner party is to schedule your cleaning wisely, and leave extra time for preparations.
With all these considerations, there is no reason why your carpet should not be dry in less than two to three hours of the technician leaving your home.
hat is left over after the spot that created it has been removed and cleaned. If red mud is tracked on a carpet, for example, the spot can be removed and cleaned. Once the dirt or mud has been cleaned the red color left behind is the stain. While a spot is a physical substance which rest upon a carpet, a stain is a chemical reaction that the substance has with the carpet and this stain cannot be removed with normal cleaning. After the spot has been cleaned, a professional cleaner can determine the best method and products for removing the stain.
