The No Shampoo Carpet Cleaning Method

Good and bad news for homeowners! The three largest carpet manufacturers are now requiring the use residue-free products in order to honor their guarantees and warranties. When you clean your carpets with the conventional methods, there is soap residue that is left behind in your carpet. This sticky residue attaches to the fibers of your carpet and becomes like a magnet for soil and spills, making new dirt and stains reappear much sooner.

In the regular methods of steam-cleaning (hot-water extraction) method, the process consists of using heated water mixed with soaps and detergents. These are injected or sprayed onto the carpet to liquefy soil. Most of the liquefied soap, soil and water gets extracted with a vacuum, but there is always a significant amount of mixture that remains behind in your carpet. As your carpet dries and the water evaporates, the soap and soil dry on the carpet fibers. This creates a base for future soiling and possible wear that wouldn't happen if there was no residue left behind.

Shaw Industries, one of the leading carpet manufacturers, recently published a technical bulletin that states, "Cleaning residue is the most common cause of accelerated re-soiling complaints."

The good news is that a residue-free technology has been developed in Japan. It uses a different approach to cleaning. You can actually have your carpets cleaned without residue buildup or over wetting, something that causes premature wear. The residue-free carpet cleaning system does not require soaps, detergents or shampoos to effectively clean. Instead it relies on a non-surfactant cleaner referred to as "empowered water".

The water is applied to the carpet fibers using a low pressure spray system, emulsifying the soil in preparation for extraction and sanitization by safely exterminating a wide range of germs and bacteria. Emulsified soil is removed with a residue-free extraction wand that pulls the extraction fluid, soil and bacteria through the carpet, purging bacteria through the carpet, purging soil from the yarn. With the use of soft-water systems, carpet yarns will be left clean and residue-free, enabling them to dry quickly, with no over wetting problems.

Before you hire a carpet cleaning company to do your carpets, ask questions. Find out just what process they use and make sure you're getting residue-free carpet cleaning.

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Barbara Jennings is author of 11 decorating books: Decor Secrets Revealed, Rearrange It, Home Staging for Profit, Staging Luxurious Homes, Home Staging for Yourself, Arrange Your Stuff, Advanced Redesign, Pro Art Consulting, Where There's a Wall - There's a Way, The Art of Hanging Art, Great Parties! Great Homes!