5 Things You Must know about DIY carpet cleaning

A Typical DIY Carpet Cleaning Machine

So DIY Carpet Cleaning seams like a pretty good idea, right?
 
Well if you’d witnessed what I have then you might not think so.
 
Here’s the Top 5 Reasons DIY carpet cleaning can be a disaster for you and your carpet and why it may cost you. Big Time!
 
So do the hire machines suck?
 
Well the short answer is not very well. They can put water into your carpet but they aren’t very good (and that’s being kind) at removing it because they have tiny vacuum motors not very suitable for removing the water. That’s a big potential problem!
 
Over wet carpet causes the following problems:
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​1. Would you like Mould Spores with that ???

In short, mould is really (and I mean really) bad for your health. Not to mention anyone who may have a predisposition to bronchial issues. Mould spores can germinate within 12 hours and some grow in 24 to 48 hours. Once mould is in your carpet it’s a general consensus within the industry that they should be replaced immediately. That’s costly for even 1 room of carpet let alone a whole house full.

2. The Law of Attraction. Dirt Attraction.

So with a limited ability to remove water from your carpet because of a tiny vacuum motor in DIY Carpet Cleaning Machines comes the inability to remove detergent residue as well.
 
Oh well! So What? You may say.
 
Well any detergent residue left in the carpet settles onto the fibre surface of your carpet and creates a sticky residue. You may not even feel it. But it will absolutely be there. This sticky residue attracts dirt like a magnet and will make your carpet even dirtier than it was before within weeks.
 
I can always tell a carpet that’s been DIY cleaned because the soiling is so consistent across the carpet because dust and allergens have attached to most of the exposed fibres. Not to mention the amount of foam that I pull out. I once had to reclean a carpet for a tenant twice because they had left that much residue after their DIY attempt.
 

3. I hope you like Brown ???

In short if you over wet your carpet because you can’t extract what you’ve put in then there is a high chance that your carpet will turn brown.
 
Why though? Well on the backing of most carpet is a brown hessian material. Its what holds everything together. You’ve most likely seen it.
 
When the brown hessian is wet, it releases the brown dye colour that sits in the bottom of the carpet. But!  When the carpet dries it dries on the top surface of the carpet first and basically drags the water up from below up to the top like a drinking straw. You guessed it. It also drags the brown dye and it stays on the top giving you what we call Cellulosic Browning.
 
In most cases this can be rectified by a professional carpet cleaner but unfortunately it won’t be cheap to do.

Here is an example "Cellulosic Browning" as a result overwet carpet

4. You Google it. We’ll fix it. Maybe !!

Oh my goodness! Have I seen some horror stories from people that Googled home carpet cleaning remedies and tried to remove stains from their carpet.
 
Anything from using the wrong chemistry on the wrong fibre and ruining their carpet to my old favourite Bi-Carb Soda. There’s a thousand different home remedies publicized by a million different websites who really have no idea about what they’re advising you to do. Not to mention they aren’t going to pay for your carpet replacement or a professional clean.
 
I get why people do it. But seriously if you’d seen some of the stuff I have you wouldn’t do it. Trust me they exist. Not too many people put a FB post of their home remedy gone wrong and the fact it cost them $5K to replace their carpet.

5. Do you know what your carpet is made of ??

So why in the world would you care what your carpets made of?
 
Its true you don’t need too. Most people don’t.
 
Until……
 
The day you decide to clean your expensive carpet (or worse) the land lords carpet with something that shouldn’t be used on it. Something that can cause permanent damage.
 
The worst case I’ve seen was someone that used the wrong chemical on a wool carpet to spot clean over 30 spots throughout the house. That resulted in permanent, unfixable chemical burn on the fibres. End result was total replacement at a very pretty penny.
 
So there you have the real low down on the risks of DIY carpet cleaning & stain removal.

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Hopefully you don’t spill anything on your carpet and just need a routine clean every 12-18 months. But either way we can assist with carpet cleaning and/or stain removal for clients in the Newcastle & Lake Macquarie NSW area. 

TIP 1: Pet urine on wool carpet will cause irreversible damage to wool carpet within 48 hours.
 
TIP 2: Dragging Furniture on Polypropylene carpet can leave permanent friction burn marks because Polypropylene has a low melting point.