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Is Your Carpet Bullet-Proof?
I'd like to share with you 8 questions new clients commonly ask about carpet cleaning.:
Question #1: Doesn’t carpet cleaning make carpet get dirty faster?
Answer: This is the most common question that I hear from clients. This question stems from out-dated beliefs. Twenty years ago, a company would come into your home with residue leaving carpet shampoo, ignorant cleaning technicians, and under-powered cleaning machines. They would dump a bunch of shampoo on your carpet and then try to vacuum it up with their weak machine. They had no idea how to get out most spots and would leave behind lots of glue-like shampoo residue for all of your tracked in soil to stick to. Today, most companies do not even use carpet shampoo. It has gone the way of the dinosaur in the carpet cleaning industry. You’ll usually only find it where those little carpet shampooers at the grocery or hardware store are rented or in outdated janitorial supply houses.
Question #2: But my new carpet looked great for a long time before it finally got dirty, then I had it cleaned and it got dirty much faster than it did before. Why is that?
Answer: New carpet, such as “Stainmaster”, has a protective coating on it. This coating protects the carpet fibers from soaking up spills or allowing soil penetration. It acts as a shield against the abuse from you, the carpet owner. However, over time, foot traffic wears this protection right off and your new carpet finally becomes dirty. If you wait too long to clean it, it will become damaged and will never look new again. The reason it seems that cleaned carpet gets dirty faster than it did before it was cleaned, is because often people choose not to have protection re-applied after cleaning. While initially this saves them money, in the long run they will have to have it cleaned sooner and it will wear out faster without that “shield” protecting it from abuse. Carpet manufacturers put that protection on carpet for a reason. IT WORKS!
Question #3: Shouldn’t I wait as long as possible to clean my carpet?
Answer: Dirt is an abrasive - like sandpaper. Every time you step on the carpet, you grind dirt into your carpet fibers. This cuts your carpet, just as if you had used a knife, causing it to wear out faster. A dirty carpet will not last nearly as long as clean one. While vacuuming helps, by itself it simply is not enough. Then, the longer you wait to have your carpet cleaned, the more damage you do to your carpet and the faster it wears out.
Unhealthy Carpet? The Sooner It's Cleaned, The Better
Question #4: My carpet doesn’t really look dirty, should I still get it cleaned?
Answer: As you probably know, outdoor air contains pollens, fungus, bacteria, air pollution, cigarette smoke, car exhaust, and hundreds of other chemicals. When you and your family come into your home, they bring with them all those pollens, bacteria and chemicals on their skin and in their hair, as well as on their clothing and shoes. People shed skin and lose hair strands and fibers from their clothing constantly. Where does all of this material go? Day after day gravity forces it all into your carpet. Not surprisingly, all those chemicals, pollens, and bacteria also wind up in your carpet. If you have allergies, asthma, emphysema, or other problems, one major source of your problem could be the pollens, fungus, dust mites and their feces and chemicals in your carpet.
In addition, as you may know, tobacco smoke contains over 4000 different compounds, 43 of which cause cancer. Even if you don’t smoke, those chemicals get in your clothing and hair and on your shoes. You track them into your home and leave them in your carpet. If your sensitive to cigarette smoke, you might find that you’ll breathe easier after you hire a company to get those harmful chemicals out of your carpet.
So as you see, in addition to getting rid of dirt, another important reason to clean your carpet is to get rid of pollens, fungus, bacteria, chemicals and the residue from tobacco smoke.
Question #5: It seems like there are all kinds of different ways that companies clean carpet. How do I choose between them?
Answer: There are really only two main methods: Dry cleaning or hot water extraction (steam cleaning).
First I’ll explain dry cleaning. Many people have been led to believe that dry cleaning your carpet is like dry cleaning your clothing. This is not true. All carpet cleaning methods use water in one form or another. Here are two methods of dry cleaning your carpet:
Carbonated method: A carbonated water solution is lightly applied to your carpet surface. In theory, the bubbles “explode” the dirt out of the carpet and then it is vacuumed out. This is similar to your mother-in-law’s soda water remedy for removing stains. It’s advantage is very quick dry time. However, without the extreme heat of a hot water extractor (ours cleans at 275 degrees) it’s cleaning effectiveness on heavy, deep soiling is questionable.
Bonnet cleaning method: This is the other “dry-chem” method. Shampoo is applied to the carpet and then a large round cotton pad (bonnet) is set on your carpet. Using a rotary floor machine, the bonnet is spun from side to side, “absorbing” the dirt that’s in your carpet. After the bonnet is saturated with dirt, another bonnet is applied. Bonnet cleaning is like trying to use a large towel to rub the dirt out of your carpet. It just isn’t very effective.
A Deep Down Clean
The second carpet cleaning method is called hot water extraction. This is a fancy way of saying that a hot water cleaning solution under high pressure is forced into the carpet and then sucked out of the carpet. This method is also referred to as steam cleaning, because the water is so hot that it creates steam.
Shaw Industries, the world’s largest carpet manufacturer, recommends using the hot water extraction method on a regular basis. There are two different types: Portable extraction, which is done with a small machine that plugs into your wall, or truckmount extraction which means the large cleaning machine is mounted in the truck or van and is powered by it’s own engine.
 Not surprisingly, truckmount extraction cleaning is much superior to anything else. It heats the water to a very high temperature (ours cleans at 275 degrees) and then shoots this cleaning solution deep into your carpet at high pressure. This breaks up the dirt, bacteria, and pollens. A split second later, the machine uses high suction vacuum to power the dirt out of the carpet. At left is the machine we use at Cleancare Inc.
No question, the most effective way to clean carpeting is with a hot water unit mounted in a truck. It’s the most powerful cleaning method in the carpet cleaning industry and the only machine that thoroughly cleans your carpet and rids it of dirt, dust mites and their feces, harmful bacteria, fungus, chemicals, pollens, and tobacco residue. Methods that use warm and even cold water remove some dirt, but they just cannot compete in effectiveness with the hot-water truck mount method.
Some people have been led to believe that hot water damages your carpet, but this isn’t true. By washing and then rinsing your carpet with hot water, we clean your carpet completely. Think of it like this: a person who showers and then rinses off the dirt and soap will be much cleaner than the person who only takes a sponge bath.
Question #6: So I should just make sure a company has the right equipment and then schedule an appointment, right?
 Answer: Whoa, not so fast! You should choose your carpet cleaning company carefully. The best carpet cleaning companies are those that have employees who are certified by the Institute of Inspection Cleaning Restoration Certification, known as the IICRC. A carpet cleaning company cannot buy this certification. The carpet cleaner must earn the certification through study, experience, and the successful completion of formal written examinations. Cleaners who are certified by the IICRC have, in effect, earned a degree in carpet cleaning. The IICRC provides written credentials to the cleaners it certifies. So before you allow a carpet cleaner into your home, ask to see their certification card.
Question #7: I’m on a tight budget, so shouldn’t I just hire the cheapest company?
Answer: Maybe, but not always. Carpet cleaning is more a question of value than price. Here are two important points to consider:
Point #1: The price you see offered may not be for the services you want performed.
Before you select a company, decide what you want accomplished. If you want the carpet cleaner to remove only some of the dirt, you can choose from hundreds of companies that use small shampooers or other cleaning methods. Fly-by-night, “$11.99 per room” type companies are a dime a dozen. You can even rent a machine at the grocery store and do the job yourself.
On the other hand, if you want your carpet thoroughly cleaned, if you want to remove the harmful dirt, dust mites and their feces, bacteria, pollens, chemicals, and tobacco residues, then you need to hire a company that uses a hot water cleaner mounted in a truck. This is the only way to assure that your carpet remains healthy and free from dirt, dust mites and their feces, disease-causing bacteria, and harmful chemicals.
So remember that the price you see offered may not be for the services you want performed.
They Shocked Us. They Outraged Us. They Ripped Us Off!
Point #2: The price you see advertised may not be the price you pay. Many people have learned that the low price they saw advertised was not the amount they were charged. If you have ever hired a carpet cleaner, you too may have been the victim of false or misleading advertising. You probably learned the hard way that some carpet cleaners offer a cheap price -- usually between $9.95 and $11.95 per room -- and then pressure you into paying a lot more once they get inside your home. Some of them may even break the law by using illegal bait and switch tactics.
Cleancare Inc. is a trusted, premium member of Ethical Services, the best place on the planet to find honest, reputable cleaning companies.
As in all businesses and professions, the carpet cleaning industry has its share of bad apples. Some are unethical and sadly, a few are dishonest. Watch out for them! By their misleading advertising and false promises, they cast a dark shadow on our entire industry.
Here’s one last point: I know that many consumers are skeptical about carpet cleaning companies. Before I got into the business, I was skeptical too.
Always Insist On A Company That Backs Their Work With An Iron-Clad Guarantee
As a matter of fact, add this question to the list. Question #7 is: “Do you guarantee your work?” Not all companies do. In fact, when representatives from other carpet cleaning companies have heard about my guarantee, they’ve looked at me in horror and told me I’m nuts! Before you make your decision, its important that you know that many companies don’t trust themselves enough to guarantee their work.
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