If you decide to rent a steam cleaning machine and clean your carpet yourself, you'll need to choose your equipment carefully. Most rental units available do not adequately clean and may actually damage the carpet. Check several cleaning systems before making a selection and consider the following:
Make sure the carpet will dry quickly
The cleaning equipment you select should have enough vacuum power to allow the carpet to dry within 6 to 12 hours after cleaning. Units that do not have the power to extract the cleaning solution from the carpet adequately may actually damage the carpet due to over wetting.
Do not over wet the carpet
Most problems in do-it-yourself cleaning are due to one of two problems, and this in one of them. Prolonged dampness may promote growth of mildew and bacteria in the carpet or cause separation of the backing. A carpet that is wet for more than 24 hours could experience these problems.
Do not use excessive detergent
This is the other problem most commonly experienced by do-it-yourselfers. You should use a cleaning solution with a pH less than 10, preferably near 9, and with a minimum of non sticky residue. The attraction between the detergent and the soil and oil particles is critical during the cleaning process. However, if it isn't rinsed completely, the detergent residue continues to attract the particles after cleaning. Increasing the amount of cleaning solution beyond the recommended level does not increase cleaning performance, but makes the removal of detergent more difficult. Because buildup of detergent residue is the most common cause of accelerated re-soiling complaints, We also recommend a clear water rinse after cleaning.
Know your warranty guidelines
Carpet with stain resistant treatments must be cleaned with products formulated for this purpose, or the stain resistance will be impaired and the warranty voided. Do not use cleaning or spotting solutions that contain bleaches or optical brighteners because they can discolor the carpet.
Do not use silicone-based anti-soil treatments
The only anti-soil products we would reccommend after the cleaning process are either DuPont Teflon® or 3M Scotchgard™.
Use fans to speed drying time
Reduce drying time by using several fans to move air across the carpet in combination with a dehumidifier or air conditioner to pull moisture out of the air. Carpet should be dry within 12 hours; even fewer hours is better.
We do not recommend Bonnet cleaning systems.
These systems employ a rotating bonnet of terry cloth or other absorbent material to agitate the carpet pile and absorb soil. A detergent solution is sprayed onto the pile and then worked with the bonnet attached to a rotary floor polisher. The Bonnet system has very limited capability for soil removal and leaves much of the detergent in the pile since it employs no real extraction. As a result, rapid re-soiling often occurs. Another disadvantage is that the spinning bonnet may distort the fibers of cut pile carpet, fuzz the pile, and leave distinct swirl marks.
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