Questions and Answers about Carpet Cleaning

Keeping your house tidy and clean is essential for you and your family’s health, but it’s constant and tedious work, nevertheless. Some things we have to clean daily or weekly, whereas others need cleaning only from time to time.

Carpet cleaning is a complex and challenging job, and many decide to leave it to professionals for very good reasons. Others like cleaning, so carpet cleaning is just another challenge for them to take. Regardless of where you sit on this, our FAQs will help you make a clear idea about carpet cleaning and decide if it’s a task you can handle or not.

Q: Why should you clean the carpets regularly?

A: When vacuuming the carpet, you only remove the surface contaminants and dirt for a fresher appearance. However, it’s just a matter of time until the carpet fibers become soiled with ground-in oils and dirt from spills, daily life, pets, and so on. If you don’t remove them, the contaminants make the carpet look dull, wear out faster and cause health issues, especially for people with asthma or allergies. Small children spending a lot of time on floors have a higher risk of getting sick from dirty carpets. Vacuuming the carpet on a daily basis is essential, but you should always complement it with carpet cleaning to remove whatever you cannot see.

Q: How often should you clean the carpets?

A: If you or someone in your family has asthma, allergies, or other health problems, you should call the professionals for cleaning your carpets every 6 to 12 months. The level of soiling and whether you have children or pets will count for carpet cleaning frequency.

Q: Should you hire a professional or not?

A: Different carpets take soiling differently. Professional carpet cleaners such as Concord Carpet Cleaning have the skills, experience, knowledge, and equipment to clean every rug with the best results. They know which methods and supplies they should use for pristinely clean carpets. Unless you’re also a professional carpet cleaner, the chances to obtain the same cleaning results as the professionals are significantly low.

Q: How often should you hire professionals?

A: There is no easy answer—hire them as often as you need. The tricky part is to know when your carpet needs professional cleaning. When you vacuum, but the grime and dirt are too stubborn to come out, professional cleaning is necessary. If you throw a big party and your carpets took it hard, hiring professionals for cleaning is a wise thing to do. If you notice stains that are impossible to remove, you should give the professionals a call.

Q: What’s the difference between renting a machine and professional cleaning?

A: You could rent a machine to clean the carpets on your own, but hiring professionals has numerous benefits. A rental machine won’t reach the needed high temperature or vacuum power, and the cleaning products won’t perform as requested with the devices. Excess soap residues and moisture will be left in the carpet, leading to issues like microbes, bacteria, and mold growth.

The professional truck-mounted equipment has high suction power, and the cleaners know how to use it without damaging the carpets. When the professionals clean your carpets, the carpets will wash and dry a lot faster, thanks to hot water extraction. Finally, professional cleaners know how to clean spills, stains, and fix repairs, leaving your carpet in perfect condition.

Q: Do you have to do something before professional cleaning?

A: You want the carpet cleaning to go fast and smoothly, so you should do anything that can help with that. Make sure to remove family heirlooms and small items too. Bear in mind that professional carpet cleaning is a noisy process, so you should protect your children and pets throughout cleaning.

Unless the cleaners do it for you, you could move the furniture and vacuum just before the professional cleaners arrive. If you have heavy items, the cleaners can help you move them.

Q: Can all stains be removed from carpets?

A: The type of stain, the length of time the stain has been there, the use of consumer-based stain removers, and the kind of carpet fiber will impact the cleaning efficiency. Professional cleaners will most likely remove all stains, even though some are almost impossible ever to remove. If you’re cleaning the carpets, you will need to do due diligence about stains and use all tips for removing them. Some, like mustard, will stay forever; there’s only a 2% chance to remove mustard stains from carpets.

Q: Are cleaning solutions safe to use around children and pets?

A: You can find cleaning solutions that are safe for children and pets; if you go with professionals, they will use cleaning solutions that don’t harm children or pets. Some also use certified eco-friendly cleaning products that are safe for children and pets, and earth-friendly.

Q: Wet cleaning and steam cleaning- what’s the difference?

A: Regardless of what you may think, they’re not the same. Steam cleaning uses water in steam form to remove grease, stains, and other forms of dirt. With wet cleaning, the professionals use a water extraction procedure. They soak carpet fibers with warm soapy water and scrub it with the machine before suctioning it and rinsing the fibers. The debate about which method is more effective is still on, so you should benefit from both to compare the results for your carpets.

Q: How long does a carpet need to dry?

A: You need to wait for 6 to 10 hours for most carpets to dry completely. The time of the year you clean the carpet, humidity, temperature in your home, and air circulation can significantly impact the time your carpet needs to dry.

In the winter months, you can help the carpet dry faster by increasing the heat to 70 degrees Fahrenheit or more. You can also turn on fans and dehumidifiers, like the ceiling or floor fans. It may not seem much, but even the fan in the bathroom and the vent above the stove can improve air circulation, speeding up the drying time.

In warmer months, the air conditioner is more effective than heat to eliminate moisture from the air. Don’t forget to open the windows and doors to increase air circulation.

Q: How fast do carpets dry after steam cleaning?

A: Drying time is minimal with steam cleaning, but several factors affect it. The level of soil, air circulation in your home, type of carpet material, pile, weave, and humidity levels are aspects that can make the drying time shorter or longer.

Q: Do carpets shrink after cleaning?

A: It all depends on who’s doing the cleaning. If the technicians aren’t knowledgeable, use the equipment and supplies in all the wrong ways, the risk for your carpets to shrink after cleaning is high. If the carpet is overly wet and doesn’t dry in 24 hours, you should expect it to shrink.

Q: Can you have the carpet cleaned offsite?

A: When you want the professionals to clean your carpet without them interfering with your privacy and home activities, you can ask them to clean the carpet outdoors. You will be able to carry on with your daily activities, not worry about noises or strangers coming into your home.

Q: Do professional cleaners manage water-damaged carpets?

A: A respectable carpet cleaning company should provide this service because mold and mildew are challenges for professional cleaners. Reliable cleaners should have high-tech cleaning equipment, potent cleaning agents, and get impressive results each time. They also have machines to dry the carpet completely so that the risk for future water damaged is eliminated.

Q: Does carpet cleaning remove fleas from the carpet?

A: Unfortunately, the answer is “no.” On the other hand, carpet cleaning works as an effective secondary method after having the professionals exterminate the pests (fleas, bed bugs, roaches, etc.). It’s better to have the house treated before calling the professionals for carpet cleaning. Steam cleaning is a better solution because the steam from the hot water extraction will also kill the eggs, and the living fleas will even getaway. Unless you also call pest control professionals to solve the problem first, carpet cleaning won’t help eliminate fleas in the carpet.

Q: When can you use the carpet after wet cleaning?

A: Again, it depends on the products, type of carpet, and professionals who are cleaning the carpet. The cleaning method and the kind of carpet fabric are some of the factors affecting the waiting time. Water-based methods require much more time than dry cleaning procedures. You may have to wait around a couple of hours to a day to put the items back into the room and start using the carpet as usual.

Q: Is there an odor after carpet cleaning?

A: The type of carpet you’re cleaning matters a lot, but a subtle scent is possible most of the time. A faint scent is very common with wool carpets, and odors should fade away after an hour. Heat, humidity, and air circulation affect the time needed for the scent to go away. The cleaning method is essential. Some professional carpet cleaning services don’t use soap in the rinse water, so the carpets are fresh and clean, and don’t wear any odor from the cleaning products.

Q: Is it possible to be allergic to a clean carpet?

A: Interestingly enough, some people have allergic reactions to carpets after they have been cleaned. The risk is higher when you clean the carpets on your own with harsh cleaning chemicals, allergy-causing fumes, and rough methods. Some people have allergy reactions to regular cleaning detergents with perfumes, so hiring professionals is wise because they can use hypoallergenic compounds.

An allergic reaction could happen when you react to loose carpet fabric particles ripped off throughout the cleaning procedure. It’s not common, but it does happen if rough cleaning techniques are used with fragile fibers.