You’ve decided to have your carpets professionally cleaned – and suddenly you have to choose between different types of cleaning methods. Don’t worry; this quick guide will have you deciding between them like a pro.

Hot Water Extraction Machine

Steam Cleaning

Also known as: Hot Water Extraction, HWE.

This is the most common method for home carpet cleaning. Hot water and detergent are sprayed onto the carpet in the first pass, loosening dirt and other debris. On the second pass, the dirty water is sucked up, or extracted, at high pressure. A third pass is usually required to rinse the carpets and remove any lingering detergent.

Pros: This is the most effective cleaning method for residential carpets. It removes most dirt and allergens.

Cons: Carpets cleaned using hot water extraction can take up to 24 hours to fully dry.

Dry Cleaning Methods

Dry carpet cleaning methods aren’t necessarily water-free, but they do feature much quicker drying times than steam or hot water extraction cleaning. Quick drying times make these methods ideal for business uses, when it would be impossible to close down for days while the carpets were cleaned.

Dry cleaning methods fall into two categories:

• Host Carpet Cleaning
• Bonnet Cleaning

Host Carpet Cleaning (also known as Absorbent Compound Cleaning) involves spreading a damp compound on the carpet. This attracts and absorbs surface dirt. Once it has had a chance to work, you simply vacuum up the compound and consider the carpet cleaned.

Bonnet Cleaning is a bit more involved than Absorbent Compound Cleaning, although it works on the same principal. First, a professional carpet cleaning team will spray the carpet with an absorbent cleaning solution. This will break down dirt deposits and loosen them from carpet fibers. Next, the cleaning team will use a buffer with an absorbent pad called a bonnet to scrub the carpet and absorb the cleaning solution in one step.

Pros: Fast drying times, because there is very little water involved.

Cons: Dry cleaning methods are not effective at removing soil that has soaked into the carpet pad or deeply ground-in stains.

About Vince Sandri

Vince Sandri is a content writer and blogger with more than 12 years of experience. His expertise is in creating content related to disaster restoration, including information about preventing and reacting to natural disasters like flooding, water damage, fire and smoke damage, mold growth, storm damage and more.
Vince has been the main contributor to RestorationMasterFinder.com since 2014. Over that time, he has written numerous service pages and blogs for disaster restoration providers featured on RestorationMasterFinder.com. Vince has done extensive research and covered a wide range of topics relating to disaster restoration to help homeowners, business owners, and property managers better protect their property. He understands the problems that disasters like flooding, fire, smoke, and mold can cause as well as the best ways to respond to these issues to limit the damage.
Vince completed his Bachelor of Arts degree at Aurora University and his master’s degree at DePaul University. He has been writing SEO website pages, blogs, and press releases since 2012. Vince is also a musician and can be seen playing in the Chicago, IL area.