Many homes and offices have several carpeted rooms, and trying to keep all this carpet clean is a daunting task for a homeowner or business. That’s why many private homes and commercial establishments rely on professional carpet cleaners to beautify their carpets by removing dirt, stains, grit, sand and allergens. You can find good professional carpet cleaners everywhere. For instance, if you live in the UK, you can find carpet cleaning in Kettering, a town 130 km from London.
Most people agree that a clean carpet is visually attractive, longer-lasting, and healthier than its dirty brethren. Modern techniques are used by the better carpet cleaners, including green technologies such as encapsulation. In the UK, the National Carpet Cleaners Association (NCCA) is the only nationally-recognized trade association devoted to carpet cleaning.
Here is a brief synopsis of the five leading carpet-cleaning methodologies:
- Hot Water Extraction – often mislabeled as “steam cleaning”, this method uses equipment to spray hot water, often mixed with cleaning chemicals, onto carpet while simultaneously vacuuming up the (now) dirty water, along with any chunks of dirt. Hot water is kinder to carpet fibers than is steam, as it is less likely to cause damage or shrinkage. By keeping the cleaning solution dilute, hot water extraction can avoid leaving behind a detergent residue, which can attract dirt from shoes. Families with children appreciate the relative safety of the solutions used in hot water extraction, as do individuals sensitive to chemicals. Sometimes, not all the water can be vacuumed away, leading to possible mold problems. But a good professional carpet cleaner uses high-end equipment (employing a rotating high pressure spray and extraction disc) to avoid this problem.
- Dry Compound – this is a biodegradable absorbent cleaning compound that is spread over carpets and brushed in using a cylindrical counter-rotating brushing system that doesn’t include a vacuum cleaner. Like all dry carpet cleaning systems, this one has a very rapid drying time. Sometimes, pretreatment of heavily soiled areas is required using special detergents or emulsifiers.
- Encapsulation – developed in the 1990s, this technique uses polymers that crystallize soil particles into dry residues. These crystals act like tiny sponges to lift out dirt, which is then vacuumed away.
- Bonnet – this is a round buffer that scrubs a deposited mists consisting of club soda and cleaning products. The applicator looks like a floor buffer. This method is not as anti-microbial as some others.
- Shampoo – a rotary machine wet-shampoos the carpet, followed by wet vacuuming. This method has become less popular with the advent of dry-cleaning techniques.
When choosing a carpet cleaning service, always make sure the firm is reputable first – by doing so, you are more likely to be satisfied with the final result.