Home Carpet Cleaning Should Always Involve Professionals

4/21/2016 (Permalink)

Frequent home carpet cleaning is the only sure way to keep carpeting in good shape, but too many people still neglect to perform it often enough. Carpeting sustains a lot of wear and tear, picking up pet dander, soils, food particles, water, chemical residues, and a number of other contaminants. If these contaminants are allowed to sit for too long, they can damage the fibers, discolor them, or even attract pests or mold. It’s a situation no homeowner wants to get into, and professional treatment is the only way to ensure it doesn’t become a reality.

Why should professionals be brought in to perform home carpet cleaning?

It’s often impossible to know just how soiled the carpeting is, so it’s best to ensure treatment is thorough. And when it comes to thorough treatment, certified technicians are a homeowner’s best bet. Store bought or rented machines are limited in their effectiveness, and don’t provide the same level of performance that a commercial machine offers. Rented machines can’t agitate the fibers as vigorously, they can’t penetrate as deeply as a commercial machines, and they aren’t as precise. This leads to inferior treatment and rapid resoiling of the carpeting. 

While operating rental machinery may seem simple, there’s more to the process than one might realize. The biggest problems untrained people have when cleaning their carpets is using too much or too little water. With too little water, it will be impossible to effectively remove soils, and detergent residue will be left behind to dry and adhere to the flooring. Too much water, and the floor will remain damp for too long, allowing mold and pests to take root, and making it easy for people to dirty the flooring again. A lack of training is not the only issue, either, as rented machinery isn’t as precise at dispensing water, nor is it powerful enough to reliably extract it. 

Professional home carpet cleaning firms do not have these issues, as they are certified in the best industry practices and have the commercial quality equipment to match their expertise. For example, certified crews have received training from the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC), and are armed with the IICRC’s sophisticated treatment practices. This includes comprehensive procedures in removing dry soil, suspending matted-in soils, and removing them as well. Soil suspension and removal is not something a homeowner is equipped to handle, and that’s a problem because most of the worst soils are matted into the flooring. 

Certified home carpet cleaning professionals have powerful technology, including water extraction machines that agitate the fibers down to the backing. Professionals can also treat the carpeting to protect it from additional soiling and extend the carpeting’s longevity. It’s much more affordable than replacing the carpet, and much less of a headache, so professional treatment should be considered an investment, and not just a service.

www.iicrc.org