Professional carpet cleaning companies tend to use different methods in their services. It is important for you to know a little more about these methods, so that you can choose the one that suits your requirements in the best way possible. Here is an overview of some of the most frequently used methods with all their advantages and disadvantages.

Steam cleaning – it is also called hot water extraction or wet cleaning. This is maybe the most popular method used by professionals. How does it work? Well, a hot water is injected into the carpet under high pressure. And after 10-15 minutes a vacuum sucks it out along with all the dirt. The main advantages of this method are that it gets out deep down grime and allows the use of various chemical concentrates. Negative sides can be the long drying time and the required expensive equipment.

Dry cleaning – this method uses chemical cleaning solutions to extract dirt from the carpet. There are two popular types of dry cleaning:

Dry compound – a powder mixed with different solvents is spread all over the carpet. After that a machine brushes it into the carpet fibers to absorb the dirt. You have to leave the carpet like that for 10-15 minutes and then just vacuum the mixture out, taking the grime with it. The positive sides of this method include fast drying and the use of a very simple system that anyone can handle. However, it is not suitable for carpets with deep down dirt and stains.

Dry foam – Professionals also call it the rotary shampoo method. What does this mean? A shampoo is applied to the carpet in order to suspend dirt. And again the machine fitted with counter-rotating brushes works it into the fibers. In the end, the shampoo (and all the dirt) is extracted with a vacuum. This scheme is fast, easy to apply and allows fast drying of the carpet. Unfortunately just like the dry compound method, it cannot thoroughly remove dirt below the carpet surface.

Bonnet cleaning – This method is also called cleaning with an absorbent pad. It requires vacuuming the carpet in the beginning. A chemical solution is sprayed all over it and left to stay like that for a little bit of time. In the next step the absorbent pad or bonnet is placed on a special floor machine which spins over the carpet surface. The action aims to ensure that the chemical solution will get into the fibers. And after a few hours everything ends with one last vacuuming. Bonnet cleaning is a fast and relatively cheap method. Its main negative side is that it only cleans the top carpet fibers and can’t reach the deeper levels.

So, there you have it. These are some of the most utilised methods in professional carpet cleaning. Hopefully this information will help you pick the one that might do the best job for you and your carpet.