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Carpet And Upholstery Cleaning.

There are many different ways which you can take when approaching a carpet and upholstery cleaning task. The reason you are cleaning (general clean, removal of stains etc) as well as the kind of fabric you are cleaning both determine the kind of method you will choose. Whether you are going to use a professional carpet cleaning service or you are planning on doing it yourself, here are some basic guidelines to follow to make sure you don’t damage the material.

Types of Carpet Cleaning.

Basically there are five basic methods of cleaning carpets namely, steaming, shampooing, dry foam,quick dry, and dry absorbent compound cleaning.

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Steam cleaning (a.k.a hot water extraction) is probably the most popular of all the different methods but not always the best since the drying time, depending on the material, can be as long as 12 hours. A high-powered pump sprays a cleaning fluid into the carpet which is then sucked out immediately by a strong vacuum.

There are many different types of carpet shampoo machines available on the market. Many of them stand upright with a tank for the solution and a couple of nylon brushes underneath. If you can imagine somebody manually cleaning with a scrubbing brush, this is basically the same that happens with a machine. The carpet is scoured with the nylon brushes loosening the dirt which is then vacuumed up later after the carpet has dried. This method has the same unfortunate downside in that it can take over 12 hours for the carpet to dry

The quick dry or bonnet method might seem to be the same as shampooing the carpet, in fact the machinery is very similar. Instead of the two or three nylon brushes, the machine has a couple of highly absorbent buffing pads. A special quick dry cleaning solution is firstly distributed over the carpet and the machine then buffs the carpet clean by absorbing the solution as well as the dirt. It only takes about an hour to dry so this method is a must for high traffic areas.

Dry foam cleaning is a hybrid of the steam and shampooing methods. A machine with rollers first spreads foam over the carpet after which a vacuum cleaner is used to remove all the remaining foam and the dirt. The foam dries quickly, often within an hour or two.

A powder called dry absorbent compound containing detergents and solvents which are lightly spread over the carpet. Either the professional or you use a machine which brushes the mixture into the carpet fibers after which you leave the carpet for a short time while the powder encapsulated the dirt. Once a bit of time has passed, a vacuum cleaner is used so suck up the dirt as well as the remaining compound. This method eliminates the chance of your carpets going moldy since no water is ever applied.

How to clean upholstery

The material to be cleaned is the deciding factor when choosing what method you will use to clean. Velvets and silks, for example, should only be dry cleaned and are therefore best left to a professional cleaning service. Some stronger materials, however, can be wet cleaned and this can be done using steam in the same manner that you would use with carpets and rugs. The only difference in the machine is the size of the nozzle which is small enough to be hand held. Most fabrics can also be shampooed but we recommend that you only use the foam of the solution not the liquid and then apply this with a damp sponge.

Identifying the upholstery material

When it comes to cleaning fabric furniture, most people don’t know what the best method to use should be. Search for the manufacturer’s instructions label. You should find it lurking at the bottom of one or all of the cushions and this should contain the manufactures suggestions, warnings and instructions. Apart from all the other images and text, look out for one of three codes: ‘S’, ‘W’ or ‘SW’. ‘W’ indicates that wet cleaning is permissible while the ‘S’ states that the material should only be dry cleaned. ‘SW’ indicates that the material is suitable for both wet and dry cleaning methods.

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