The carpet is one of the most common household materials used. The material is suitable for cold weather and is not only used as floor coverings, it is also used as wall coverings, as mattresses, as bed covers, even as covers for chairs and tables and other house furniture. Because the carpet is a very beautiful material and suits a variety of purpose, the matter of carpet cleaning comes about every so often, because aside from the strong and elegant material that the carpet is, cleaning it is a very tedious task that can be daunting for some.

It is a balance that any household would like to have: the balance between having an elegant household furniture and the needs and difficulties of cleaning them. For carpet cleaning, it will take a lot of ingenuity and some patience because the material is in itself very bulky and cleaning it the way ordinary fabrics are cleaned will not be enough.

The Two Main Carpet Cleaning Methods

There are two main methods used in carpet cleaning, both of which works best in a given condition and based on the requirements of the client who uses the carpet. These two methods are wet cleaning and dry cleaning. In order to distinguish the two, it will be best if we first try to dispense first with wet cleaning as it is the more familiar method although more labor-intensive:

1. Wet Cleaning. The intricacies of carpet cleaning are best reflected in wet cleaning. This is because the process is very exhaustive and perfectly captures the difficulty of cleaning the material. Moreover, the process requires time for drying. In the absence of modern drying machines, households and industries are heavily dependent upon the availability of sunshine to effectively dry the newly cleaned fabric. However, because carpets are by nature bulky, even a full day of intense sunlight may not be enough to dry the bulkiest variety.

In most households, carpet cleaning through the wet process is done by dosing water on the carpet and then applying detergent. With the aid of a brush, the cleaner will be able to clean off dust and soil and other stain on the carpet, depending on the strength of the detergent. However, more modern methods involve using a jet spray system that dispenses water at very high pressure. The pressure is deemed sufficient to knock off any dirt that might cling to the carpet. Another system that is used is the application of steam in cleaning the carpet.

2. Dry Cleaning. This is the more easier means to clean carpets, although the process may be far too costly for ordinary households to avail. Nonetheless, with the introduction of vacuum cleaners, households were given the chance to clean carpets with ease. The process essentially sucks the dust particles that may have accumulated on the carpet. On the more technical aspect of carpet cleaning using the dry method, specialized machines are used, although these are common only in hotels and industries. The process makes use of special detergents and cleaning compounds that operate in low moisture environment. The main advantage of carpet cleaning using the dry method is that it takes a far shorter time to dry than does the wet method.