Serving King, Pierce, and Snohomish Counties

WHY USE STEAM TO CLEAN CARPET

HOW Carpet Hot Water Extraction (HWE) Works:

Answering the Question: Does HWE Really "Drive Dirt Deeper?"

Others have advertised that 'Steam' (HWE) Cleaning drives dirt deeper into the backing and pad of carpet. It is literally a half-truth, because after driving and loosening the soil the principles of evaporation and wicking take place. Simply speaking this means that the loosened soils migrate back to the surface of the carpet and can then be extracted with proper equipment and trained personnel.

How HWE Cleans Carpets

Figure 1 Soiled Carpet Preconditioned

1. Preconditioning (Figure 1) is sprayed onto the soiled carpet. The pre-conditioner has a minimum of detergent, but is heated to increase reactivity in the water. As it is sprayed down, it surrounds and, after a brief dwell time, softens most soil. Excessive application of solution is not required unless the level of soiling is great.

Figure 2 Groomed Carpet – Soils Dropped

2. Grooming (Figure 2) drops the softened soil to the lowest parts of the carpet into the solution applied. The carpet from the surface looks clean immediately after the raking, but must now be extracted.

Figure 3 Extraction And Evaporation

3. Fresh Water with a rinsing agent is now sprayed down and immediately extracted (Figure 3) by a powerful suction. Multiple passes rinse heavier soiled fibers. Dry passes extract solution, which was not absorbed by the fibers or picked up after the initial application.

Figure 4 Cleaned & Dry

4. Now the carpets dry using company and customer-assisted procedures (Figure 4). The deepest soils are re-cleaned just before wrap up since they have migrated to the surface since the cleaning began, and will continue to wick up until drying is complete.

 Figure 5 Residue or soil dries on top if not fully rinsed or cleaned.

NOTE: Cleaned Carpets Dry Last at Fiber Tips. This is proof of how thorough HWE cleaning is and why your health is at stake if you do not clean regularly!

Should any spots reappear (Figure 5 – usually the result of abused carpet or over-soiling without cleaning), the customer can blot as they appear and the applied blotter will collect any soils not originally extracted. A professional cleaner willingly returns to clean these qualified conditions. Many customers prefer to have protector automatically reapplied each cleaning. We use and recommend Maxim.

Buckling & Delaminating

Others have advertised that 'Steam' (HWE) Cleaning causes buckling and delaminating of the backings of carpets. This is again another half-truth. Some carpets do expand because of the natural or synthetic carpet properties, but the original state of most returns upon complete drying with proper cleaning.

King County 206-355-2488 Snohomish County 425-743-5853

A BETTER CARPET CLEANER

Serving King, Pierce, and Snohomish Counties