Keeping Your Home Super Clean

Why You Should Always Leave Upholstery and Carpet Cleaning to a Professional

by Jordan Horton

Homeowners today can easily rent carpet cleaning machines from a hardware or home improvement store and use those machines to shampoo their home's carpets and furniture upholstery. This can be cheaper than hiring a professional to clean your home's rugs and couches, but there are many good reasons why you want to leave this work to a professional! Note a few of those reasons here, so you know your home's flooring and furniture always look their best and are as clean as possible.

What are those spots?

When cleaning rugs and upholstery, it's good to first identify the cause of any spots and stains. Identifying a stain can ensure you use the right types of detergents for that spot in particular, as not all carpet and upholstery cleaners will work to remove all types of stains. In some cases, using the wrong detergent can just spread a stain around, making it worse! A professional cleaner will be familiar with the appearance of many spots and stains that are on carpets and upholstery and will then address those spots effectively.

Extraction is important! 

After you clean a carpet or any type of furniture, you need to thoroughly extract all the water and detergent used. Leaving water behind can lead to mould and mildew under a carpet's pad, or in the foam backing of a furniture piece. Residual detergent is very sticky and will attract dirt, making a carpet or furniture piece dirtier than before it was cleaned! A professional will know how to thoroughly extract all water and detergent used during cleaning, to avoid the risk of mould and mildew forming and to ensure the rug or furniture stays clean! 

Not all fabrics are the same

To the untrained eye, all carpet and furniture upholstery can look exactly alike, and a homeowner might assume that all those fabrics can be cleaned with the same brushes, tools, detergents, amount of water and so on. However, a delicate silk fabric or a very tightly-woven wool fabric may get damaged from a rough scrubbing brush, whereas a sturdy cotton fabric may need cleaning with a stiff-bristled brush.

Cleaning carpets with a thicker or taller nap and furniture upholstery with a tighter weave may require more water, for loosening dirt trapped in that thick fabric. To ensure that all the carpeted surfaces and furniture pieces in your home are cleaned properly, leave this work to an upholstery cleaning professional.

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