Carpet cleaning for either beautification purposes or for the removal of dirt, stains, and other allergens can be attained by various methods, both modern and traditional. A clean carpet is infinitely more visually appealing, longer lasting, and much healthier than a poorly conditioned carpet.

Only recently have chemical developers started to create new technologies in order to better care for your carpet. If you're interested in knowing if you should go for carpet steam cleaning services or hot water extraction ones, keep reading to learn more about your options.

Hot Water Extraction

This cleaning method makes use of equipment that sprays very hot water with added chemicals onto the carpet, while also vacuuming the residue and any dislodged dirt that might have found its place on your carpet. Because actual steam might damage manually made fiber carpets, and even shrink carpets made out of wool, this method has become a very popular carpet cleaning solution.

The main advantage of this hot water extraction method is that by using heated water, it provides an effective cleaning solution while completely avoiding the problem associated with detergent residue that might have remained stuck on your carpet from other cleaning solutions. Detergent residue, especially on carpet fibers, can attract even more dirt from shoes as people walk by, ultimately causing the carpet to become much dirtier, much quicker.

The hot water extraction method also has its own disadvantage. Not all of the water used in this process can be removed. Because of this, if the water extraction service was poor in terms of quality, if associated with conditions of high humidity, it can greatly increase the risk of mold forming onto the carpet's fibers. With high-end commercial water cleaning equipment, this is usually not a problem, however.

Carpet Steam Cleaning

The steam cleaning service uses solutions based on detergent most of the time. The surface of the carpet is saturated, usually taking a day to dry. During this process, it is also possible to apply anti-stain and anti-soiling products to the carpet, and this is one of the reasons the steam cleaning services have become widely used.

Since the hot water method uses more water, the proper extraction and the air flow are critical in order to avoid drying issues. The drying time of the carpet might be decreased by using additional fans or ventilation.

Older carpets, such as loose rugs with natural-foundation yarns may shrink after being subjected to steam cleaning. Newer carpets with synthetic fibers do not have this problem, and they are able to smooth easily. For these newer carpets, wrinkles might show an underlying adhesive issue. Cleaning experts like Hercules Carpet Cleaning will be able to let you know how to react to the carpet cleaning techniques based off of the type of carpet in question.