Alf's Home Improvements

If you think your carpet is clean, think again. Giving your carpet the once over with a vacuum cleaner may be good for a surface clean but for a proper clean you need to consider either hiring a professional carpet cleaner or equipping yourself better to tackle the dirt and mites that lurk beneath the carpet’s pile.

There are a number of options for home carpet cleaning.  These range from using off the shelf cleaning detergents to calling in a reputable carpet cleaning service.

Steam cleaning is a process in which hot water or a solution containing your cleaning detergent is sprayed into the carpet using high pressure. The water is then vacuumed out almost immediately, which takes all the loosened dirt, grease and particles with it. If you want to do this yourself you will need to buy or hire a steam carpet cleaner. A portable unit may be the easiest for these purposes.

The days of wet carpets and carpet shampoos that flake after drying are over.  The new standard in cleaning carpets is to use a dry cleaning method.  This is most often done using very specialized machines so you would need to hire a carpet cleaning company for the job. Because this type of cleaning uses what is called a ‘very low moisture’ system, you won’t need to wait hours for your carpets to be dry.  This method is also less labour intensive and a quicker job to finish.

While you would want to have your carpet professionally cleaned at least once a year, it is important to care for your carpet the rest of the time. A good vacuum cleaner, carpet stain removers and perhaps even the regular traditional beating of your standalone carpets and rugs will keep your carpets in top shape until their next big clean.

When choosing a carpet cleaner, you may want to check to see if they are members of the NCCA.

Our thanks to Gary Holden, a professional carpet cleaners in Leeds for his help in the writing of this page.