The advantage of carpet tiles is that they are not fixed to the floor and…
Carpet Cleaning Wars: Steam vs. Dry Cleaning
Do you have carpets or rugs in your home? If you do then you already know how important it is to keep those carpets looking fresh. Dirty carpets can be a haven for germs and bacteria and leaving these parasitic pathogens to breed freely in your carpets can become a serious health risk to you and your family.
Vacuuming your carpets regularly and giving them a wash every six months or so will not only brighten up your home, but it will also help to keep your family free of the cesspit of bacteria and germs.
This poses a question: Which cleaning method do you use? There is a number of carpet cleaning methods on the market, but out of the lot the two that top the carpet cleaning league would have to be steam and dry cleaning.
Alright, so we’ve established the winner and the runner-up, but which one is which?
Steam Cleaning
Let’s start with steam cleaning. The biggest misconception about steam cleaning is that the steam cleans the carpet. This is not exactly true, because this method cleans carpets with hot water, not steam. The steam is obviously a by-product of the hot water and that is how the name “steam cleaning” came about. This method used to be called hot water extraction, but nowadays it’s referred to as steam cleaning.
Steam cleaning is great because it easily cleans stubborn dirt and disinfects the carpet at the same time. You can even clean your carpets yourself; you just need to hire the equipment. The only downside of this method is that it will leave your carpets slightly damp, and you may have to wait for 24 hours before you can use them.
Dry Cleaning
That was a pretty bold stand by steam cleaning, let’s see if dry cleaning can take the cake. Dry cleaning was established in the 70’s and to be honest the equipment hasn’t changed much since then. Dry cleaning will not produce the same cleaning results as steam cleaning; however it is ideal for well maintained carpets.
The great thing about dry cleaning is that it takes very little time to dry because of the dry solutions and powders which are sprinkled onto the carpet before they are vacuumed up. Herein lays another drawback. These solutions contain chemicals which can be harmful to your family and pets if not removed correctly.
All in all, we think that steam cleaning pips dry cleaning by a nose hair. Steam cleaning will remove the toughest stains while dry cleaning may be touch-and-go, and let’s not forget about those harmful chemicals.
Ultimately it’s up to you, but if it were us; we’d be getting our carpets steam cleaned.