Carpet cleaning is pretty simple when you clean a carpet based on what it is made from and what type of stains and wear and tear you are dealing with. A carpet that is heavily soiled (soil = dirt and oil) will have soil that has made it down to the underlay and will need to be cleaned precisely or “wicking” will most likely occur. Wicking is when a carpet is soiled in the underlay and after a shampoo or hot water extraction the moisture from the carpet cleaning “wicks” the soil from the underlay back up into the carpets fibers as it dries making the carpet seem as if it has not been cleaned. The thing for the owner of the carpet to know and remember is that your carpet is literally like a sponge and the sponge is the bottom layer. The best thing for a carpet is to have it treated when it is new and then after each of the deep cleans. Also clean up spills immediately and thoroughly so that the underlay does not become soiled.
When a carpet is not treated to protect it from spills that result in stains, it is open to direct contact from dirt and oils. If spills are not cleaned immediately they will seep down and soil the underlay. If you have your carpet professionally cleaned you should know that your visible carpet fibers are what is being cleaned. Know that underneath the visible carpet fibers there is still soil unless you have kept your carpet very clean and have done a good job at preventing soiling the underlay. What professional cleaners that use the extraction method do is focus on treating and extracting soil from your visible carpet fibers without using enough fluid to wet the underlay, and then dry your carpet as fast as possible to prevent any moisture from seeping down and causing wicking. If you smell a peculiar smell after a carpet clean it is a pretty good sign that the underlay is soiled and what you are smelling is a byproduct of the wicking process and the soil that has seeped into the underlay.
TYPES OF FLOOR CLEANING
STEAM CLEANING
Steam cleaning involves spraying the carpet with environmentally safe products and then the carpet it agitated to loosen the dirt and grime. Once the spray has had time to take affect the carpet is then steam cleaned as the machine injects hot water directly into the carpet and simultaneously extracts the dirty liquid. This is the highest level of carpet cleaning.
CARPET SHAMPOOING
Carpet shampooing involves brushing a foamy chemical substance into the carpet using a rotary floor machine. Once the foam has dried bonding with soil, a wet vacuum is used to pick up the foam. This usually leaves an unwanted sticky residue on the carpet which attracts dirty much faster, but for a short time give a shiny appearance to the carpet. This type of cleaning is a step above dry vacuuming.
DRY CARPET CLEANING
In dry carpet cleaning a dry compound is applied to the carpet using a rotary brush to open up the carpet fibers. The compound then attaches to the dirt in the carpet fibers. Once the compound has had time to bind to the dirt it is then vacuumed out of the carpet taking the dirt with it. The downside of this method is that not all of the compound comes out of the carpet and over time builds up leaving an unwanted residue. The positive side of dry carpet cleaning is the minimal downtime and carpets that do not have to be dried as with steam cleaning.
ENCAPSULATION CARPET CLEANING
The process of encapsulation cleaning uses encapsulation polymers. These encapsulation polymers act as a ‘vehicle’ for isolating dirt from the fibers through crystallization, so the dirt can easily be removed from the carpet. Vacuuming both before and after is crucial. After pre-vacuuming, the carpet is pump sprayed with the encapsulant, and then a machine with counter-rotating brushes is used to lift the fibers. The advantages of this method are also low moisture and fast drying times. Eventually a deep clean will be needed but this method is considered very recommended for carpet maintenance.
BONNET CARPET CLEANING
Bonnet Carpet Cleaning refers to carpet cleaning using a Bonnet machine. A Bonnet machine uses a rotating absorbent cotton pad. In some ways, the process is similar to carpet shampooing, but it focuses on the carpet surface, giving it a kind of polishing. The rotating bonnet is saturated in a cleaning mixture before being spun over the top layer of carpet about 1/8 inch deep. The Bonnet pad will need frequent changing to prevent re-soiling of the carpet. This is the lowest level of carpet cleaning.
