Carpet Stream Clean | Best Carpet Cleaning



If you own a carpet washer do you still need a vacuum cleaner? It’s a good question the answer to which is – yes you do. Although they look very similar – at least at first glance – vacuum cleaners and carpet washers work in a different way.

Vacuum cleaners remove loose dirt and dust from the upper layers of the carpet using suction. Most modern types use brushes to agitate the fibres of the carpet. This is designed to agitate and free the maximum possible amount of dirt so that it can be effectively removed by suction. There’s a huge variety of different vacuum cleaner designs nowadays, cylinder and upright, bagged, bagless, cordless – even robotic ones, but they all operate more or less as described above.

If you wish to keep your carpet looking fresh, clean and free from odours, then you must vacuum on a regular basis. What you should try to do is to remove as much dust and dirt as you can before it has a chance to get trapped deep in your carpet. However, regardless of how diligent you are, it’s inevitable that some dirt will be ground deep into your carpet and become trapped. That’s when you need to use a carpet washer.

Carpet washers use a mixture of water and detergent to free dust and dirt which is trapped deep in the fibres of your carpet. The dirt and dust clings to the detergent which is then sucked out, together with the water. Many carpet washers make use of pre-treatment sprays for heavily stained areas. The majority of them also use brushes to scrub the carpet in order to better free the trapped dirt.However, you don’t need to – and in fact you shouldn’t – wash your carpet as frequently as you vacuum it. The actual required frequency will depend on a variety of factors – but, for the average family home, once every six months should probably be enough.

Most carpet washers include a selection of tools so that they can be used for cleaning stairs and also curtains, upholstery – and even car carpets and seats. Apart from being very useful for cleaning up any accidental spills before they get established and become stains, you’ll find plenty of uses for your carpet washer around the home in between “big cleans”.

So, in order to keep your carpets in tip-top condition and to maximise their lifespan, vacuuming alone isn’t enough and using a carpet washer alone isn’t enough either. You need a twin pronged approach employing both types of carpet cleaners as detailed below:

1. Use a conventional vacuum to clean your carpets twice a week so as to remove loose dirt and dust before it has a chance to become established. Heavy traffic areas – hallways, passages, the floor near doors, hallways etc. – may need to be cleaned even more often.
2. Every six months or so, you should give your carpets a deep clean using a carpet washer. It can also be used to treat any accidental spills – whether on upholstery or carpets – quickly before they turn into stains.

If it sounds like a lot of hassle, then console yourself with the fact that, as well as looking good and being odour free, even if you have pets, your carpets will last longer – so you will save a lot of money and hassle in the long term.