What is the Difference Between Steaming and Dry Cleaning Your Floor Covering?

Getting a clean and nice-looking carpet from the best carpet installation Phoenix AZ can make any area look welcoming and comfortable. Whether it’s an office lobby, hallway, waiting room, or a more personal space, a beautiful rug is a great way to add a sense of serenity and comfort. Moreover, besides adding an aesthetic appeal to your commercial area, clean carpets are a great way to uplift your employees’ mood and provide them a clean environment to work in.

However, carpets in high-traffic areas attract dirt and grime, especially in winter when leaking roofs and muddy feet ruin them beyond repair. Moreover, when particulate matter gets trapped in the carpet’s fibers, conventional cleaning methods no longer work on them. 

If you’re looking to have your carpet cleaned then there are two main choices – steam cleaning or dry cleaning. Most carpet cleaning companies have neither the skills nor the equipment to operate both systems and naturally promote just the service they operate. The truth is not so much about which system is best – there’s definitely a place for both – but which is more appropriate depending upon circumstances.

Steam Cleaner

Most people when they refer to steam cleaning actually mean hot water extraction since it is actually little or no steam involved in this process. In this procedure, the carpet is first given a thorough vacuum to remove any dirt and debris. Meanwhile, hot water is heated in a truck-mounted cleaning machine. Trained carpet cleaning professionals then use a powerful cleaning machine to inject hot water and a cleaning solution into the carpet. The force helps to loosen any dirt and grime (sometimes helped by agitation) after which the same machinery is used to extract the dirty water and residues from the carpet. The carpet is then left to dry naturally for a few hours. Although there may be signs of steam coming from the water, it’s actually the water that’s doing the cleaning and not the steam.

This type of cleaning is very thorough and is recommended by most carpet manufacturers. The obvious drawback is that the carpet needs to dry out before it can be walked on. Factors that determine how quickly the carpet dries include the air temperature, airflow, humidity, amount of water used, and the proficiency of the carpet cleaner. If the carpet is taking several days to dry then far too much water has been used.

Dry Carpet Cleaner

There are a few systems that fall within this category but basically, they all involve chemicals (and a small amount of moisture) that are sprinkled in the form of crystals or sprayed onto the carpet as a liquid. The carpet is left for a while while the crystals or liquid absorb any dirt or dust, after which the carpet is given a thorough vacuum to remove the residues. This type of system is best for surface cleaning only and doesn’t do a deep clean as steam cleaning does. It’s ideal for maintenance cleaning and is popular with hotels and offices.

So Which is the Best?

Steam cleaning is probably the way to go if your carpets are heavily soiled and you have a few hours to spare.

Dry cleaning, on the other hand, is better suited to carpets that are lightly soiled or simply need freshening. The main advantage of this type of carpet cleaning is that the carpet can be walked on right away, making it ideal for foyers and bedrooms in hotels as well as for reception areas and individual rooms in office blocks.