Carpet
Cleaning Consumer Education Message
Misconception #3:
One method of carpet cleaning is as good as another.
No. You can choose from two primary methods: Dry cleaning or hot
water extraction.
First, I'll explain dry cleaning. Many people believe that dry
cleaning your carpet is like dry cleaning your clothing. This is not true. All carpet
cleaning methods use water in one from or another. Here are the three methods of dry
cleaning carpet.
When a carpet cleaner uses dry foam, he applies shampoo to your
carpet, allows it to dry, and then sucks the dried shampoo into a vacuum. Can you imagine
applying shampoo to your hair, allowing it to dry and then removing the shampoo from your
head with a vacuum? This method can leave a residue in your carpet, which is one reason
dry foam is not very effective.
The dry-chem method is similar to dry foam. The major difference is
that when dry-chem is used, the company sets a large cotton bonnet on your carpet. Using a
machine, the bonnet spins from side to side, absorbing the dirt that's in the carpet.
After the bonnet is saturated with dirt, another cotton bonnet is applied. Bonnet cleaning
is like trying to use a large towel to rub the dirt out of your carpet. Like dry foam,
it’s not very effective.
The dry-compound method spreads an absorbent mixture that looks like
wet sawdust all over your carpeting. Then the machine brushes the mixture into the carpet,
which in theory causes dirt to absorb into the mixture. When the mixture has dried, a
vacuum cleaner sucks the material out of the carpeting. Because the carpet is not rinsed
in any way, this method is not very effective.
The second carpet cleaning method is called hot water extraction.
This is a fancy way of saying that a hot water cleaning solution under high pressure is
forced into the carpet and then sucked out of the carpet. This method is also referred to
as steam cleaning even though steam is not used.
Shaw Industries, the world's largest carpet manufacturer, recommends
hot water extraction and you can choose from two different types: Portable extraction,
which is done with a small machine. Or truck mount extraction, which means the large
cleaning machine, is mounted in a truck or van.
Not surprisingly, the truck mount extraction cleans much better
because it heats the water to a higher temperature -- and shoots the cleaning solution
into the carpet at higher pressure -- which breaks up the dirt, bacteria and pollens. Then
the machine uses high suction to draw the dirt out of the carpet. This is the method my
company uses.
No question, the most effective way to clean carpeting is with a
hot-water unit mounted in a truck. It's the most powerful cleaning machine on the market
and the only machine that thoroughly cleans your carpet and rids it of dirt, harmful
bacteria, fungus, chemicals, pollens and tobacco residue.
Methods that use cold and even warm water remove dirt -- but are not
as effective as the hot-water truck mount method.
Some people believe that hot water damages your carpet, but this is
not true. By washing and then rinsing your carpet with hot water, we clean your carpet
completely -- in the same way that the person who showers and then rinses off the dirt and
soap will be much cleaner than the person who takes only a sponge bath.
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