Generally when we think of a carpet clean we are imagining the carpet looking, feeling and smelling fresh and clean and in some cases our customers have an expectation that it looks new again. Unfortunately, making it look new again is an impossibility after use as the fibres will be damaged from microscopic crushing and scratches. However, this doesn't mean that a carpet clean can't make the carpet look better than what it was dirty.

What gets cleaned in a carpet clean?

Let's first break down the structure of the carpet. Generally most carpet, except for wovens like axminster or carpet tiles, have a primary backing that the carpet fibres are attached to and a secondary backing that is glued onto it to lock the fibres in. The fibres can either be looped so they look rounded on top or tufted/plush where is feels soft and the fibres have been trimmed. This all sits on a foam underlay. Dirt and other dry particulates fall into the fibres and through the primary and secondary backing onto the underlay. The dirt that gets caught in the fibres is mainly caught their due to oils that are coated on the fibres from conatminants on shoes and also body oils and sweat from bare feet and socks.

The soils stuck on the body oils are what make the carpet look dirty and the carpet steam clean is removing these. The carpet clean is called a surface clean. It only removes or attempts to remove oily soils from the fibre only. The primary and secondary backing should not get wet except for the case of stain removal where more complex measures need to be taken. Moisture in the backings can cause excessive wicking by soils caught in the backing and on top of the underlay. This means the soils in the backing travel up the attached damp fibres. The tips of the carpet now have a light layer of soil on top which can be visible. This action happens with a noraml carpet clean, but not in a major way like when a carpet is over wet. Some customers like to impress that their carpet has not been cleaned properly by rubbing a white cloth over it to show the inadequacies of the clean. From 20 years of experience these are either neurotic, uniformed or have a case of the Dunning Kruger effect. However, light soil on a cloth is normal as not all soils can be removed as we are dealing with a multitude of microoscopic particles. Additionally, if the carpet was heavily soiled prior you can expect a lot of soil on a cloth. A visual inspection is the most rational way to identify whether the carpet is clean. 

How to remove as much dirt from the carpet as possible?

So we ahve covered the carpet fibre clean. What if you want to go further and removal 99.9% of the dry particulates. Well this is called a rug wash. This is where the carpet is removed from the tacstrip and taken to a facility where there is a wash area. The carpet is washed and rinsed and eventually spun in a machine to remove as much soil as possible. This is exactly how a rug is cleaned. Now, the issue with this is that the carpet cleaning cost has now gone from a room rate to the rate of the whole property being cleaned (if not more) for just one room which of course includes attending site, removal of carpet, transport, cleaning, delivering and reinstalling. Of course we hope that no damage occurs to glued and taped sections in al of the processes.

To conclude the carpet clean is only the fibre. To make sure you have the best results from your carpet clean ensure that vacuum regularly.