What effects your cleaning results?
MAY 2022
Published by Tanya van der Linde for Amega Cleaning Service clients
On the surface, carpet cleaning seems pretty simple and easy. Well you can rent a carpet cleaning machine. Fill the tank with water. Pour in some detergent, flip the switch and start cleaning. Soon you carpet looks fresh and clean. However, as anyone who has actually cleaned their own carpets or upholstery before you soon realize there is more to it than that.
Here are some interesting facts that affect cleaning results:
Some of the most common questions asked about carpet cleaning are:
- Will the spots come back?
- Will the dents from the furniture come back>
- Will the traffic areas look better afters its done?
- Will these stains come out
- How long will the carpets take to dry?
The answers depends on several factors that we consider when we at Amega Cleaning Service cleans your carpet. Carpets are made with a variety of fibers, each having its own cleaning characteristics. Every fiber responds to traffic differently. Spills that are easily removed from one fibel may permanently stain another. Various styles such as loop pile, frieze, shag, saxony and vervet plush all spond to traffic in different ways. The quality and density of the cushion is another factor that determines how well a carpet performs in traffic areas. Even the way the pile yarns are twisted and how tightly packed they are in the carpet backing makes a difference in durability and cleanability.
An experienced cleaner will assess the condition of your carpet, asking questions such as, “How old is the carpet?”, “How was it cleaned in the past, and how often?”, “Was protector applied during the last cleaning?”, “How old are the spots, spills and stains, and have you tried anything to
clean them?” With all of these variables, it’s not an exact science. BUT there are some things we know about carpet, fibers, soil and stains that give us a clue as to what we can anticipate from the cleaning process. The most important consideration is the type of fiber. Wool carpet has excellent resilience, so those crushed traffic areas and furniture indentations have a good chance of coming out. Wool is more easily stained by proteins than other fibers, so some foods, pet urine and other protein sources like blood will be difficult to remove. Olefin carpets don’t have the resiliency of wool, so high traffic areas tend to pack down and lose that fluffy texture over time. Olefin has excellent stain-resistance and color-fastness.
Stain-resist nylon has excellent resilience and good stain
and soil repellency, so carpets made with nylon tend to be the best overall performers. However, depending on how the fiber was dyed, Nylon may be bleached by some household
chemicals or sunlight.
