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Carpet Steam Cleaning. 5-1/2 Techniques Used by the Best Cleaners

By Fred Terlaak

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 28Jun2009 Word count: 480 Viewed: 344 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

Chances are that your carpet was manufactured by one of the largest mills in the world. Shaw, Mohawk and other well known manufacturers recommend "steam cleaning" and they may actually void their warranty if improper cleaning methods are used.

It is also a fact that most carpet cleaners use this hot water extraction method commonly referred to as steam cleaning. That being said, there are 5.5 components to a thorough and effective carpet clean:

1. Use hot water: This is the same principle of using hot water to clean yourself, your dishes, your clothes, etc. Water-soluble substances dissolve more quickly in hot water than in cold water because hot water molecules have more momentum than cold water molecules, which translates to more reaction with the cleaning solution. Truck-mounted equipment heats the water to temperatures beyond boiling (hence "steam" cleaning).

2. Use products to dissolve and suspend: Cleaning products (and most detergents) chemically have a head and a tail, the head is water-soluble, and the tail reacts with grease and soil, etc. The head reacts with the heated water from our truck-mounts while the tail reacts with whatever substance to be removed from the carpet. Professionals use carpet cleaning detergents that are specially formulated for use on carpets with hot water.

3. Allow products to work: Dwell time is important for the chemical reaction to take place. Think about when you wash your casserole dish; doesn't it take some soaking before that cacciatore comes off willingly? Experienced carpet cleaning technicians know just how long to let a product do its job.

4. Agitate carpet fibers: Sometimes carpet fibers are so dirty, such as in high-traffic areas, and need to be scrubbed. Carpet cleaners use a special carpet scrubber to agitate the carpet fibers to ensure that the cleaning products are as effective as possible.

5. Thoroughly rinse with clean water: The most important component to cleaning a carpet is to rinse everything out. Most cleaners prefer to use highly pressurized, clean, hot water to rinse the cleaning products, along with any grease, tar, sand, dirt, or other contaminant, out of the carpet fibers.

5-1/2. Remove the dirt, detergent, and water. You need a powerful vacuum generated by a truck-mounted unit to suck out and dispose of all the residue that is now suspended in the water and carpet fibers. Over 90% of the water will be removed with this process.

In addition to these steps, pretreatment of stains can make the main clean progress more smoothly. A carpet rake should be used to align the carpet fibers to hasten the drying process.

A skilled technician will know just how much or how little of these five steps to apply to different cleaning situations in your home.

It's a little known fact that the carpet mills can test samples of your carpet to determine if your carpet was properly cleaned or whether the terms of their warranty were violated.

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