There are many different ways which you can take when approaching a carpet and upholstery cleaning task. The reason you are cleaning (general clean, removal of stains etc) as well as the kind of fabric you are cleaning both determine the kind of method you will choose. Whether you are going to use a professional carpet cleaning service or you are planning on doing it yourself, here are some basic guidelines to follow to make sure you don’t damage the material.

Types of Carpet Cleaning.

Other than the countless ‘housewives remedies’, there are generally five recognized methods of cleaning carpets. Steam (also known as hot water extraction), shampoo, bonnet or quick dry and dry absorbent compound cleaning.

Steam is the most well known of all the common methods but this is not always ideal because of the long drying time (sometimes over 12 hours depending on the material). By lightly wetting the carpet with a cleaning detergent, the steam cleaner then sucks out the debris with a high powered vacuum.

Any appliance store can offer you a wide variety of carpet cleaning machines. Many of these appliances are upright, free standing units with a solution tank for the cleaning fluid and two or three nylon brushes on the underside. The procedure is the automated version of somebody cleaning with a scrubbing brush in that the dirt is loosened by the brushes and then the dirt and dust is then vacuumed (normally with a separate vacuum cleaner) afterwards. As with steam cleaning, the carpet takes about 12 hours to dry.

Quick dry cleaning uses the same equipment as normal shampooing and actually the two methods are identical in many ways. The only different is that quick dry cleaning, instead of using nylon brushes to scrub the carpet, uses a flat, absorbent pad which looks similar to a small round mop. The carpet is first sprayed with the quick dry cleaning solution before the machine buffs the carpet (think of buffing as being the same as trying to make your kitchen floor shine). The bonnet (the pad) absorbs the cleaning fluid and collects the dirt at the same time. Drying time is about an hour which is a lot more practical for high traffic areas.

Dry foam cleaning is a hybrid of the steam and shampooing methods. A machine with rollers first spreads foam over the carpet after which a vacuum cleaner is used to remove all the remaining foam and the dirt. The foam dries quickly, often within an hour or two.

Dry absorbent compound is a powder which contains solvents and detergents, which are spread lightly on the carpet. You, or the professional you hire, uses a machine which scrubs the mixture into the carpet fibers and the carpet is left to stand for a bit. After a little wait, the vacuum cleaner is then used to suck up the compound (which has by now absorbed all the dirt) as a result the carpet stays as dry as it was when you started. This is probably the best method to use if you have thick carpets which can go moldy underneath if they stay wet for too long.

How to clean upholstery

The upholstery fabric is what normally determines what kind of cleaning method will be used. Velvets and silks, for example, can only be dry cleaned and, unless you really know what you are doing, is best left to an upholstery cleaning professional. Other more durable fabrics can be steam cleaned similar to carpets as they do not suffer any side effects from getting wet. The hot extraction method (steam cleaning) is identical to that which is used for carpets except that the nozzle is a small, hand held version. Hand shampooing can also be used but instead of using a machine the cleaning fluid is agitated into a foam and this foam is then applied to the fabric using a sponge.

Identifying the upholstery material

Many people are unaware of the best method to choose when cleaning furniture. In many cases you should find a label (possibly on the underside of one of the cushions) which will state the manufactures instructions, suggestions and warning. The most important thing to look out for is the code, either right at the top or right at the bottom of the label with either a ‘S’, ‘W’ or ‘SW’. ‘S’ indicates that the fabric should be dry cleaned while wet cleaning is indicated with the ‘W’. Materials which can be both wet and dry cleaned are indicated by the ‘SW

Professional carpet cleaning performed by the leading cleaning business Call 01276 304040 today! (www.crystalcleansolutions.co.uk) Visit the Uber Article Directory to get a totally unique version of this article for reprint.