Professional carpet cleaning companies can deploy various cleaning methods for removing dirt, debris, dust, allergens and stains from your home or business carpets. Typically, these cleaning methods fall into one of three categories: hot water extraction, steam cleaning or dry cleaning. The most popular and widely used method is hot water extraction, and this method is sometimes erroneously confused with steam cleaning. The following is a quick overview on each method, some of the benefits and some of the negatives of each.
Hot Water Extraction Carpet Cleaning
The hot water extraction carpet cleaning method is commonly used by many professional cleaning companies in Las Vegas. With this method, the use of hot water and sometimes diluted detergents or cleaning chemicals are simultaneously applied and vacuumed, or extracted from the carpet fibers using a manually operated wand. Jay’s Carpet Cleaning uses the Rotovac Powerwand for deeper cleaning instead of a traditional, older two-directional wand.
Hot water extraction carpet cleaning is especially beneficial to those with concerns about chemicals and the use of detergents. Because hot water is the primary means to remove debris from your carpets, there is less use of chemicals. The hot water extraction method also provides for a very deep clean of carpet fibers. A negative of this method, however, is that it is impossible to remove all of the water from your carpeting during the extraction process. Due to the low humidity in Las Vegas, this usually isn’t a problem for many homeowners as the excess water readily evaporates.
Steam Cleaning
Steam cleaning, which is often confused with the water extraction method, uses high-pressure hot water to remove dirt, dust and debris from your carpets. Much less water is used compared to the water extraction method; however, steam cleaning uses a preconditioning agent on your carpets, such as ammonia or vinegar depending on the type of carpeting, and also uses detergent-based solutions during the actual cleaning process. This can be a concern for some homeowners.
Dry Cleaning
The third common form of carpet cleaning is dry cleaning. The dry cleaning method uses specialized carpet cleaning machines that use very little moisture during the cleaning process. Instead, these systems typically use a biodegradable dry compound that is brushed or scrubbed into your carpeting. Dust and debris binds to the dry cleaning compound and is then extracted with a special machine.
Some of the benefits of the dry cleaning method are that it uses very little moisture, which enables you to start using your living space quickly without waiting for the carpeting to dry, and, dry cleaning is usually faster than wet cleaning methods.
Some of the negatives of dry cleaning your carpets are that very dirty portions of your carpet will require the use of pretreatments or preconditioners. Homeowners with concerns regarding the use of cleaning compounds will want to discuss this method with your Las Vegas carpet cleaning company.
At Jay’s Carpet Cleaning, we use the hot water extraction method the majority of the time because it provides a reliable, deep cleaning of your carpet’s fibers. We also have the ability to perform the steam cleaning method if it better suits the customer. We would be more than happy to discuss these carpet cleaning methods with you and provide additional information on how water extraction with the use of the Rotovac Powerwand will keep your carpets looking their best for years to come!