If you have carpet in your home, even an area rug, then you know you have to keep it clean. You want your home looking good and smelling fresh and that starts with clean carpets. You maintain the rest of your home by keeping it clean, sparkling and fresh, but carpets are a bit harder to clean that the kitchen sink. Vacuuming on a regular basis helps but it doesn’t always get rid of things like stains or pet odors and for that you need professional cleaning. When it comes to cleaning your carpets you have a choice between steam cleaning or a dry cleaning method. You’re probably wondering the difference between wet and dry carpet cleaning and which is better, let’s explore.
Whether you choose to go the DIY route or have a professional carpet cleaning come in to take care of your carpets the goal is the same, a fresh clean carpet. Although having pros come in is far easier you can still do it yourself if you have to. Which method will do a better job? Let’s look at how each one works and then you can decide.
Dry Cleaning Method
There are a couple of different dry cleaning methods and each will require some heavy duty equipment, professional companies will have it already. The carpet cleaning company will come in and move your furniture out of the way and spray a chemical compound on your carpet that gets in the fibers and loosens up any dirt. Then they take their machine which and run it over the carpet that gets the chemical compounds further into the carpet to help lift the dirt. Next a vacuum is run over the carpet to lift the dirt and chemicals. This method of cleaning works best on carpets that don’t have a lot of ground in dirt and where the carpet is always dry. Here is a look at how the dry cleaning method works.
Steam Cleaning Your Carpet
While you can rent steam cleaners at your local supermarket or hardware store to clean your carpets, they simply don’t compare to professional deep steam clean. With the pros the water is going to be heated to around 200 and that turns the water into the steam needed to clean your carpets. A professional unit will have a vacuum attached to the cleaning tool. One part will shoot out the steam and the vacuum will remove both the water and the dirt from your carpet. These units are much better than DIY rentals since you won’t need to wait long for your carpets to fully dry.
Which is Better?
Of the two steam will get your carpets cleaner and sanitize better, but dry cleaning is quicker and easier. Which you choose should really depend on the condition of your carpet, how long it has been since it has been cleaned, the stains, the amount of traffic and whether you hire or try the do it yourself method.