Carpet Cleaning Equipment: The Cleaning Methods They Employ
Carpets have covered our homes with elegance and luxurious style. It has been part of almost any home decoration and complements well with interior design. But no matter how much care you put with carpets, it will always accumulate dirt and stains, and cleaning becomes inevitable. It’s this cleaning chore that gives us headaches and so many problems. Most carpet cleaner experts will advice you in having your carpet professionally cleaned to get the best cleaning quality. Carpet cleaning equipment employs different methods in restoring the beauty of your carpet, and it is only proper that you have some idea on what these cleaning methods are.
Carpet cleaning is commonly classified into five methods. They include shampooing, dry foam, bonnet, dry powder and hot water extraction. Shampooing involves scrubbing your carpet after applying a foaming solution which draws in dirt and soil. This solution will dry after a few hours, and only then can the foam residues containing the dirt can be vacuumed to make the carpet clean again.
The dry foam cleaning method uses the same process; the only difference is that this one literally uses dry foam. Unlike the former which gets the carpet wet a lot, this one uses little or no water at all, speeding up the drying time for it to get vacuumed. Both these methods just clean the surface of the carpet, leaving the dirt that’s burrowed deep in it untouched. It is for this reason they are considered poor methods of cleaning.
The bonnet method gives a better fight with carpet dirt and stains, although still not good to enough for deep cleaning. This type uses very little water, which translates to faster cleaning times. A cleaning solution is dispensed from a spray nozzle that transforms the liquid into mist. This is applied to an absorbent pad connected to a rotary brush and goes over the carpet, just like using a mop. These absorbent pads are changed immediately upon collecting enough dirt and the process is repeated until the carpet is fully clean.
Next is the dry powder method. As the name implies, it uses dry powder that contains the cleaning agents, which is also distributed all over the carpet. A rotary brush then goes over the carpet, which forces the dirt and soil to get collected by the cleaning powder. This method dries the fastest, at an astounding rate, after which the residue is also vacuumed until the carpet is fully cleaned.
The problem with this method is that you need to carefully vacuum every trace of cleaning powder that is visible in the carpet. This is because these granules can easily damage and stain your carpet when left over time, not to mention the way it can affect your air quality at home.
With the hot water extraction method, you are literally extracting stubborn dirt and soil from your carpet as hot water and cleaning agents are combined. They are sprayed into your carpet at high pressure and at the same time, a powerful vacuum sucks all the solution that contains all the dirt and grime from your carpet.
The cleaning solution is mixed with hot water and sprayed directly onto the carpet which forms a steam-like texture. This is simultaneously vacuum-collected into the equipment’s tank which holds the dirty solution coming from the carpet. In this process, dirt and soil are completely rinsed off the carpet, both the surface and inner areas.
It is essential to be able to learn these carpet cleaning methods that are commonly used. With so many carpet cleaning equipment available in the market, it is good that you have an understanding how they work and clean your carpet. This will also help you in making a decision whether to clean your carpet yourself or to get a professional carpet cleaner to get the job done effectively.