MISCONCEPTION No.1:

 "Should I wait as long as possible before having my carpet cleaned"

 

No. Dirt is an abrasive, like sandpaper.  Every time you step on your carpet, you grind dirt into the carpet fibres.  This cuts your carpet. Just as if you had used a knife.  This cutting causes your carpet to wear out faster.  A dirty carpet will not last as long as a clean carpet.  While vacuuming helps, by itself, it’s simply not enough.  The longer you wait to have your carpet cleaned, the more damage you do to your carpet and the faster it wears out.

                                       MISCONCEPTION No.2 :

                     The only reason to clean my carpet is to make it look clean"

 

No. As you probably know, outdoor air contains pollens, fungus, bacteria, air pollution, cigarette smoke, car exhaust – and hundreds of other chemicals.  When you come into your home, you carry those pollens, bacteria and chemicals in your hair and on your skin,

clothing and shoes.  Not surprisingly, all those chemicals and toxins wind up in your carpet.

If you have allergies, asthma, emphysema, or other breathing problems – one major source o your problem is the droppings of house dust mite that lives in your mattresses and pillows!

MISCONCEPTION No.3 :

 "One method of carpet cleaning is as good as another".

 

No.  The dry cleaning methods – which are dry foam, dry chemicals and dry compound – do not rinse your carpet in any way.  Instead, they may leave a dirty residue.  These are good maintenance methods to keep clean carpet clean, but you have to use them every few weeks.    The most effective cleaning method is hot water extraction, which is the most popular method used today.

 

Hot water extraction means a hot water cleaning solution, under high pressure, is forced into your carpet and then sucked out of your carpet.  Shaw Industries, the world’s largest carpet manufacturer, recommends hot water extraction as the primary method of cleaning carpets, along with an IICRC approved firm.

MISCONCEPTION No.4:

"Having the right equipment is all a company needs to clean my carpets properly".

 

Not true.  Many companies own hot-water cleaners but very few companies teach their employees how to use them properly.  This is why it’s important that you choose your carpet cleaner carefully.  The best cleaning companies are those that have been certified by the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification,

known as the IICRC.  Before you choose a carpet cleaner, ask to see written proof of the company’s IICRC certification AND also the certification of the technician who is going to do the job!  If they don’t have them – don’t use them!

MISCONCEPTION No.5:

"I should use the company that offers the lowest price"

 

No.  I’ve seen so many problems arise from lowest-bid companies that I suggest you NEVER hire the company that just quotes the cheapest price.  The two most common problems are:

 

1   The price may not be for the services you want performed.  The company may be equipped to remove only the dirt from your carpet, but you want bacteria, fungus, pollens, Dust Mites and tobacco residues removed also.

 

2   The price you may see advertised might not be the price you pay.  Many homeowners have learned that the low price they saw advertised lasted only until the carpet cleaner got into their home.  Then they were pressured into paying a lot more for a variety of add-ons.  (Some carpet cleaners even break the law by using illegal ‘bait and switch’ tactics)

Carpet cleaners use one of two types of hot water extraction.  If they use a large unit that operates from a van or truck outside your home/facility, it’s called 'Truck-Mount' extraction.  If they use a smaller unit that can be brought inside, it’s called a portable extraction unit.  However, I would only recommend the larger portables such as our ALLTEC™ ‘Twin Vacuum’ machines which are much more powerful than the machines you can hire from stores. 

The problem with the smaller ‘hire-machine’ type is that although they can break up the dirt, bacteria, chemicals and pollens in the carpet, they don’t have enough suction (or what we call ‘Air-Flow’) to draw the dirt and chemicals out of your carpet.

MISCONCEPTION No.6:

 "Any honest carpet cleaning company should be able to give me an exact price quote over the telephone".

 

I wish this were true, but it isn’t.   Honest, reputable carpet cleaning companies almost never price over the phone for carpet cleaning.  Nor would they ‘price-by-the-room’.

 Instead, professional carpet cleaning is usually priced by square foot (or for the metric people per 30 CM²).  But cleaning is not priced just on the size alone.   To give you an idea of how we estimate the cost of cleaning, here are three other things we consider before we give you the price:

 First, the type of carpet.  Certain types of carpet are harder to clean than other types.  But more importantly some carpets can not be wet cleaned!  You can only tell which they are by seeing the underside of the carpet – try doing that over the phone!

 Second, the age of the carpet and the amount of soiling.  Carpet that hasn’t been cleaned for ten years will take longer to clean than a carpet that we cleaned within the last six months.

 Third, the amount of furniture we have to move.  If you move your furniture, you’ll save money.

So remember if you’d like me to tell you the exact cost of cleaning your carpet, I need to know the exact number of square feet that you want cleaned - plus carpets type, it's approximate age, the amount of soil on it and the amount of furniture to be moved or cleaned around.   Not as easy as some would make you believe - is it?

 In addition if someone’s offering low prices are they fully insurance, using the latest equipment and highly trained staff, and approved by the IICRC, NCCA? 

6 Costly misconceptions about carpet cleaning