To Steam Clean or not to Steam Clean by:David Roth
Steam cleaning carpets seems to be a booming business
. Advertising circulars boast super specials on x-number of rooms or whole house cleaning.
Perhaps you've wondered once upon a time just how a steam cleaner works and if you should do it yourself or if you should hire a company to do it for you.
'Wet' carpet cleaning, as opposed to just vacuuming, is available in three different methods. You might hear these terms used interchangeably by home owners, although they are not at all the same.
The first method uses a rotary brush shampooer rather than a steam cleaner. This method basically scrubs the carpet fibers, pushing shampoo all the way down to the bottom of the fibers. One downside to shampooing is the difficulty in getting all the shampoo residue out of the carpet. Have you ever shampooed your hair and missed a spot when rinsing it out? Or perhaps your child has ended up with sticky hair when they didn't rinse well enough in the bath. It's the same way with shampooing your carpets. Carpet shampoo can leave the same kind of sticky residue if it's not rinsed out thoroughly. The problem with this is you won't feel the sticky on the surface, but dirt and grime sticks to the bottom of the carpet, near the backing, making your carpet dirtier even sooner.
The second method is dry cleaning and has three cleaning options of its own. Dry cleaning carpet can be done with dry foam, dry cleaning with carbonated water, or using a dry powder mixed with a cleaning agent.
Not all dry cleaning products will clean to the bottom of the carpet fibers, however. So, it can be good for a quick cleaning before company or a holiday, for example, but not as effective as a deep down cleaning.
Steam cleaning is the last, and best, 'wet' carpet cleaning method. Steam cleaning heats water to the point that some of it is steam. The steam cleaner forces the steam and hot water into the carpet under pressure, to reach deep down and is then immediately sucked back up with all that dirt and grime.
Steam cleaning, too, has a few methods. Home steam cleaners look like large vacuums and will clean your carpet, but just not at the high temperatures professional steamers reach. Plus, if your cleaner doesn't extract well, it can take a few days for the carpet to completely dry if you don't use fans to help dry. Days of moist carpet can lead to mold or mildew formation.
You can also hire someone to come in with a portable machine, but it's pretty much the same as the home cleaner. They will leave your carpets much cleaner than when you started, but you might have to help them dry thoroughly with fans.
The best method is a professional truck mounted steam cleaner. Professional cleaning machines heat the water to about 200 degrees (much hotter than home units) and deliver the spray under much higher pressure. And, they have far more suction power than home and rental units, so they not only suck out more dirt, they suck out more moisture, leaving your carpets dry enough to walk on in just hours.
All the carpet cleaning methods will work, but whichever you choose, help the cleaning process by thoroughly vacuuming first. It will get out loose dirt and create less 'mud' in the carpet, helping you have the cleanest carpet you can.
About the author
Dave Roth owns and operates Vacuum Cleaner Talk, a website devoted to reviews about the many different vacuum cleaners available. See reviews of Eureka vacuum cleaners, Kirby vacuum cleaners, Hoover vacuum cleaners, and much more.
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