CONFUSED BY ALL OF THE DIFFERENT METHODS OF CLEANING?

CARPET CLEANING

In 1963, on February 23, I cleaned my first carpet.  The cleaning method at that time was either DRY CLEANING (the old Host Method that we still use sometimes in our plant) or SHAMPOOING the carpet with a rotary scrubber.  The problem with dry cleaning was that  it would never get a really dirty carpet clean and most of the stains remained as well as lots of the powder that was used during the cleaning process.  With shampooing, even if you used a wet pick-up vacuum immediately afterwards, little if any shampoo was sucked out of the carpet so the shampoo remained and, being on the alkaline side, it left things “sticky” and this ultimately attracted soil, hence quick re-soiling.

About 10 years later, STEAM CLEANING arrived and to this day, no steam is involved in this process, just hot cleaning solution that is injected into the fibers and simultaneously extracted due to a strong vacuum system.  However, this method too does not get out spots and spills all of the time and it does not get really dirty carpets cleaned when used without other important steps in the cleaning process. Portable units are easily brought into your home or office but, as you will read, more is needed in most cases.

A few years later, the TRUCK MOUNT system was invented in order to get more power and to allow a technician to do a job very quickly and not have to spend time on what I believe are still essential steps to get a carpet really clean.  Truck mount cleaning generates enormous heat and really good suction but when the carpets are really dirty and/or there are bad stains or spills, then yes, you guessed it, it is going to be my method that will prevail.

What my workmen do is work on all of the spots, spills, stains or discolorations first, with the requisite chemicals, then SHAMPOO FIRST TO GET THROUGH THE OILS IN ORDER TO LOOSEN THE SOIL AND GET IT INTO SUSPENSION, AND ONLY THEN UTILIZE THE STEAM CLEANING UNIT AS THE RINSING ACTIVITY.

Why is this so important???   WHAT IS THE MAIN COMPLAINT THAT EVERYONE HAS ABOUT CLEANING RESULTS? 

THE EXACT SPOTS OR STAINS COME BACK and your cleaner will often respond by saying that he got the carpet clean when he left and you now have new spots!

LET”S FACE IT, YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR AND IT TAKES TIME TO DO ALL OF THE EXTRA STEPS.  Spots and spills might disappear when the other firms do the cleaning because they cleaned the top surface but did not remove the substance (usually oily in nature) that will cause the “return” of the spot when you start to walk over that area, usually in 2 to 3 weeks. 

Further, let me elaborate about the TRAFFIC PATHS they may be the very reason that you called to get your carpets cleaned in the first place.  Just using the steam cleaner will not get all of the soil out because of the tremendous amount of oil that is in those paths.  That is why you have the extra dirty paths in the first place.  The shampooing first is always the answer.  And, something else to think about- each time the guy with the truck mount goes over an area, he may be extracting only 40% or 60% of what he just sprayed in, so that each time he goes over an area he is getting it wetter and wetter.  With our method, we only need to shampoo once and then use the steamer.

You do the research.  Call other firms and ask them specifically what steps they use for their cleaning.  See how detailed they are with their answers and determine how much they really care.