House Cleaning Information

Do It Yourself or Hire a Professional?

Typically it is strongly recommended that you have a professional carpet cleaning instead of instead of doing it yourself. According to Shaw Industries the carpet manufacturer the steam cleaning method, also known as hot water extraction provides the best capability for cleaning household carpets. The process icalled steam cleaning due to the fine spray of water used to force dirt out of the carpet, however real steam is seldom ever used. This process consists of spraying a solution of water and detergent into the carpet pile and recovering the water and the soil with a powerful vacuum into a holding tank.

Benefits of Hiring a Professional

Strictly from a health stand point the truck-mounted system used in the hot water extraction method is preferred because the dirty air and humidity are exhausted outside rather than recirculated around the house. Additionally truck-mounted systems usually are more powerful than more portable units and in turn they typically do a much better job cleaning the carpet. As an added benefit your carpet will dry more quickly.

Now you may think the cost of professional cleaning is prohibitive but in the long run  “Do-It-Yourself” carpet cleaning has many potential problems that can occur especially when using rental equipment such as yellowing of the carpet, overwetting, fiber tip damage, severe resoiling , overuse of detergents etc.

Ask yourself these questions the next time before you rent a portable extractor: Do you have any real expertise in evaluating the type of cleaning your carpet needs?  Are you sure your lack of expertise will not cause irreversible damage to your carpet?  Have you ever had your carpets cleaned with a portable extractor and it looked good the day you cleaned it, but as the carpet dries (drying time is generally two to eight hours) the stains seem to reappear?

Among other things carpets are soiled by active children, indoor pets, even people who forget to wipe their feet when they enter the house, therefore to maintain the carpet in good condition as long as possible the choice of the proper cleaning system is very important. The best protection against soils, mold spores, dust mites, carpet beetles and all types of pollutants that accumulate in carpets over time is a regular maintenance plan.

When having your carpets cleaned what results are you looking for? The hot water extraction method is classified by carpet fiber producers as “deep cleaning” and all other methods are considered  “light surface cleaning” because they are incapable of removing soil deep in the carpet. Also most portable cleaners leave large amounts of cleaning agent in the carpet after cleaning and soap residue on your carpet, which can be a magnet for dirt.

Steam cleaning sanitizes your carpet and kills all pollutants, dust mites, and carpet beetles.   The old harsh cleaning chemicals once used in carpet cleaning have been replaced by people, pet and environmentally friendly cleaning agents.

Hands down having your carpets cleaned professionally is they way to go.