Carpet cleaning companies are NOT created equal. While most carpet cleaning companies promise quality service for a low price, you may not always get it.
Carpet Cleaners’ Experience and Reviews
Knowledge comes not only with education, but experience. Ask how long a company has been in business and check social media sites, search engines and places like Angie’s List for customer feedback.
Also, ask your friends and neighbors who they have used in the past and their experiences with the company. One or two bad reviews do not necessarily mean you shouldn’t use a company, but many poor reviews should raise a red flag. You can also ask the company for references if the information is not available online.
Carpet Cleaning Method
The IICRC defines the five main principles of carpet cleaning as:
Dry soil removal
Thorough vacuuming helps to remove dry soils from carpet fibers.
Soil suspension
The application of the proper pre-treatment agent to loosen soils from carpet fibers. There are four characteristics of soil suspension: application of chemicals, use of heat or temperature to speed up chemical reactions, agitation of carpet fibers to aid in distribution of chemicals and dwell time to complete chemical reaction.
Soil extraction
The most common method from removing soils from carpet is the hot water extraction method, also known as steam cleaning. This is the method used by Huck’s Carpet Cleaning and most other carpet cleaning companies.
Grooming
Grooming of carpet helps eliminate matting of carpet and distribute cleaning agents.
Drying
With normal temperature and humidity conditions, carpet should take no longer than 6 hours to dry. Use of air movers, ceiling fans and, with the right conditions, the outdoor environment (opening windows) can speed the drying process. The ideal dry time for carpet should be around six to eight hours.
A professional carpet cleaning company should follow these steps, at a minimum, on all cleaning jobs.
To find out what questions to ask a carpet cleaner, click here.
