I see TV commercials for home carpet cleaning machines; with 3 kids and 2 dogs my carpets really take a beating. My husband says we should buy one to keep our carpets clean. Do they really work that well?
Carpet cleaning machines sold on TV can do a fair job; but I consider them more as a good way of spot cleaning your carpet (between professional cleanings) as there are some drawbacks.
Directions for most machines require mixing the liquid soap solution with water and then pour into the clean water tank add de-foamer into recovery tank and you’re all set. As you clean soapy water is applied to the carpet and extracted into the waste tank. Visually it appears that some cleaning is taking place. Woohoo job done pack up machine and have a coffee.
Whoa hang on you’re not done yet. As a result of cleaning with soapy water all you really accomplished was removing some superficial soil from the surface. You also filled the carpet with soap residue. Soap residue attracts dirt.
To remove the soap residue you must go back over the carpet with water only. Rinsing out the excess (dirt-attracting) soap residue from the carpet is crucial. If you fail to perform this step you will begin to see a dirty area within a couple of weeks and have to repeat the process over and over. Not rinsing may also lead to pH burn (a brown tinge) from the soap.
So one quick pass on TV now leads to a two-step process and a lot of hassle. These machines are not very powerful so you’ll have to make several dry passes to remove as much water as possible. The tanks are small and the machines are clunky so aside from spot cleaning; plan on spending a lot of time if cleaning larger areas of your carpet.
After spending a day or two cleaning your carpets with one of these machines you may need to visit a Chiropractor. Save yourself the hassle and call us instead.