Carpet Cleaning HQ Blog The Different Phases Of Carpet Cleaning

The Different Phases Of Carpet Cleaning

Carpets are very important things in a home which make your house elegant and nice.

living room

They are also a very good flooring option since they are warm and soft.

To show your appreciation and to make them durable, it is very important to clean them on a regular basis. Carpets will always attract dirt even if you try to make sure they are always clean.

If a carpet looks dirty, it will negatively affect the appearance of the whole room and make it look untidy. This is one of the major reasons why you have to make sure you clean your carpet. Whether residential or commercial, you can do carpet cleaning on your own or you can hire out the carpet cleaning services to a local company.

A vacuum cleaner is one of the most effective carpet cleaning equipment. They suck out dirt trapped within the fibers of the carpet leaving your carpet stain free. This is a very good equipment to use when you want to remove, allergens, solid particles, and dust.

There are very many cleaning chemicals in the market to help you clean your carpets. Some of these, include deep steam, carpet shampoo, carpet powders, carbonated water and protectors. The products can help remove stains and soils accumulated in the carpet.

When cleaning a carpet, there are 3 phases you need to follow. The carpet is a very delicate thing and should be cleaned properly. If you do not follow these phases, you may need up worsening the condition of your carpet. Here are the three phases you need to follow

Pre-treatment

This is the first phase of carpet cleaning. It is very important and should not be skipped as it prepares and conditions your carpet so that it will be very easy to clean the carpet. During this phase, the carpet is sprinkled or sprayed with a particular solution which helps in cleaning carpeting.

It will let the soils, solid particles and dust trapped inside the carpets resurface to the surface. This will make the cleaning process easy since all you have to do is wash away the stains.

Cleaning process

This is where the removal of the resurfaced dirt is done. There are different ways of cleaning a carpet including hot water and/or dry extraction, and extraction using cold water. These methods are used depending on various carpet types. This is because of the fact that different types of carpets have different carpet fibers.

Make sure you research first about the different methods and the type of carpet they can be used on. This will make the cleaning process effective since the right method of cleaning will leave no dirt behind.

Neutralization

This is the last phase of carpet cleaning. It involves the process of neutralizing the carpet leaving the carpet as clean as it should be. This process is very important since carpet cleaning methods usually leave some cleaning materials on the carpet.

If this process is not carried out, the carpet will look dirtier and unattractive. Neutralization will even make the carpet feel as soft and as new as it should be.

It is very important to never underestimate the amount of accumulated dirt, dust, microorganism and bacteria in your carpet.

Regular carpet vacuuming should be carried out for general carpeting housekeeping and maintaining good indoor air quality in your home.

Here’s a video of a cleaning procedure on carpeting. It makes you wonder how they let this carpeting get this dirty in the first place. As you can see, steam cleaning alone can make a huge difference …

These are some of the things you need to consider when cleaning your carpet. Carpets are very precious and we should never fail to clean them. Use the most effective cleaning methods and materials and the carpet will make the room tidy and beautiful.

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Carpet Cleaning – Rent, Hire, or Buy?Carpet Cleaning – Rent, Hire, or Buy?

Comparing the Costs of Carpet Cleaning

On the fence about which option is the most viable: buying a carpet cleaner, renting one, or hiring a professional carpet cleaning service? Well, it all depends on your budget and your schedule. To give a better perspective on the costs, we evaluated the options for a house in Kansas City, Mo., with 1,600 square feet of carpeting in a living room, four bedrooms, two hallways, and an office.

Why Carpet Cleaning

cat on a carpet

Carpet cleaning is intended to get rid of ground-in dirt and debris in your carpet fibers. Consider adding a carpet cleaner to your cleaning equipment as it goes a long way, especially if your house experiences a lot of traffic and has many carpets. It quickly deals with embedded dirt and tough stains which can be impossible to achieve even with the best vacuums.

Renting

Rug Doctor allows you to rent a machine from partner outlet, for example, Home Depot or Walmart, for about $30 a day. The cost of 48 ounces of cleaning solution is around $17 and for the 1,600 square feet of carpet, you’ll need three bottles. The pretreating solution goes for around $6 each.

Total: $87 per cleaning

Hiring

Hiring a carpet cleaning service that takes care of everything – as well as moving your furniture – charges by room. The minimum cost is $99, however, this amount can vary depending on where you reside.

Total: $257 per cleaning

Buying

The cost of the carpet cleaners we utilized in our tests ranges from $100 to almost $500. However, getting a spotless carpet doesn’t have to cost an arm and leg. Our second-choice carpet cleaner, the Hoover Dual Max Pet, goes for $150. The detergent required to clean 1,600 sq ft of carpeting in our house goes for around $60.

Total: $150 + $60 per cleaning

Even though the initial cost of buying a carpet cleaner is higher, you will have incurred approximately the same cost when renting around the fifth cleaning session. Hence, at the sixth cleaning, it will be cheaper to own. In comparison, buying will always be cheaper than hiring.

Carpet Cleaning Methods Commercial Cleaning Companies UseCarpet Cleaning Methods Commercial Cleaning Companies Use

Top Four Carpet Cleaning Methods Commercial Cleaners Use

If you aren’t sure of which carpet cleaning technique would best suit your carpets, then this article is for you. In this piece, we’ll be weighing the pros and cons of each so you can have an easier time deciding which option is right for you.

Professional commercial cleaning companies employ several carpet cleaning techniques to clean different types of carpets. Each method used has its own set of advantages and disadvantages. With that being said, how does one choose between the options available? This list of pros and cons should help you decide which cleaning method would best suit your carpet(s).

Carpet cleaning methods can be categorized in one of two cleaning techniques: dry or wet cleaning. The latter involves hot water extraction and may include cleaning with absorbent pads. Dry carpet cleaning, on the other hand, involves the application of chemical foams or powders by special cleaning machines with counter-rotating cylinders, brushes, or pads.

demo of man brushing carpet

1. Wet Cleaning

How It Works

Also known as steam cleaning or hot water extraction, this technique involves pre-conditioning the carpet with a chemical reagent that dissolves oil-based substances and soils present in the fibers of the carpet. The water inside the cleaning machine is heated to a point near its boiling point before being pressurized and getting injected into the rug or carpet. After about ten to fifteen minutes, the solution is extracted from the carpet using a vacuum.

Pros
– Eliminates dirt and stains that sit deep in the carpet
– Allows the use of chemical concentrates, high temperatures, and high pressure
– Allows for cleaning solvents to sit for an extended period so they can react with soils, particles, and other stains inside the carpet
– Chemical reactivity is facilitated by agitation using an extraction wand or grooming tool.
– Most commonly used carpet cleaning technique
– Recommended carpet cleaning method by industry cleaning professionals/experts and carpet manufacturers

Cons
– Requires the use of expensive equipment for maximum efficiency
– Relatively-long drying periods (however, this can be reduced by powerful drying equipment operated by competent cleaning technicians)
– Relatively-high cost factors

2. Cleaning with Absorbent Pads

How It Works

This cleaning technique is also known as bonnet cleaning and is generally used for light, routine maintenance. However, it can still be used as a regular carpet cleaning method. The process involves vacuuming the carpet first before spraying a chemical solution on to it using either an electric sprayer or a hand-held pump. The solution is then left to sit on the carpet for some time, so it reacts with the dirt, grime, and stains inside the carpet.

The bonnet or absorbent pad, which looks like a regular towel, is then placed on a rotary floor machine’s drive block and spun over the surface of the carpet at 100 to 300 rounds per minute. This action impregnates the carpet’s fibers with the cleaning agent before picking it up with the soils and grime.

Pros
– Excellent results with lightly-soiled carpets
– Simple, fast, and inexpensive

Cons
– Only cleans the carpet’s top one-third – it cannot reach any deeper
– Leaves chemicals and dirt on the carpet causing them to accumulate at the bottom

3. Dry Cleaning with Absorbent Compounds

How It Works

A powder that’s been mixed with special cleaning agents and solvents is spread over the surface of the carpet before being worked deep into the carpet’s fibers using a carpet scrubbing machine fitted with counter-rotating cleaning brushes. The unique powder, which is left to sit in the carpet for about ten to fifteen minutes, absorbs all the dirt and particles trapped inside the carpet before it is vacuumed up.

Pros
– A simple cleaning system that requires no specialized technical training
– Faster drying times. The carpet should be ready for use within about 20 minutes

Cons
– Can cause dust build up inside your home
– The absorbent powder could end up getting trapped inside your carpet, building up over time if not taken care of properly
– This technique is not suitable for deep cleaning a carpet

4. Rotary Shampoo/Dry Foam Cleaning

How It Works

A cleaning agent that helps suspend dirt and dust particles is first applied to the carpet before it is whipped up into a soapy froth and worked into the fibers by the rotating brushes of a unique cleaning machine. The foam is left to sit in the carpet for a while before it’s extracted using a vacuum.

Pros
– Rotating brushes agitate dirt and particles very well
– Fast and simple to apply
– The carpet dries much quicker as it is exposed to minimal amounts of moisture
– It is inexpensive

Cons
– This technique cannot achieve thorough soil and particle extraction below the carpet’s surface
– High temperatures are often not achieved
– High chances of excessive wetting i.e., should the equipment malfunction

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HQ Advanced Carpet CleaningHQ Advanced Carpet Cleaning

HQ Advanced Carpet Cleaning

How Do We Test Different Carpet Cleaners?

Running just one carpet cleaner completely through our set of tests measuring cleaning performance takes three full days.

Our engineers start off the process by taking off-white nylon carpet and soiling large areas of it using red Georgia clay. The second thing they do is run a carpet cleaner across the pieces. They do this for four wet cycles, as well as four dry cycles. This simulates the conditions of consumer cleaning on an especially dirty spot in a high-traffic area. Our engineers then repeat this test on at least two more swatches.

During the test, our team uses a colorimeter to get 60 different readings on each piece of carpet for each test.

A colorimter is a device which measures how light wavelengths are absorbed.

We do 20 measurements of the carpet in its ‘virgin’ state, before doing 20 more after the carpet was soiled, followed by the final 20 after cleaning. Sixty readings across three carpet samples means a grand total of 180 cumulative readings for each model.