Why Professional Carpet Cleaning Beats DIY
Taking care of your carpet is an involving process, that goes beyond the routine vacuuming. Carpets can accumulate loads of grime – multiple times their weight, all buried within that lush pile. By the time the colour of the carpet is changing, there will already be mounds of soiling within the fibres. Everything from dust, food crumbs, insect waste, pet fur and dander, the faecal residue of the populations of dust mites calling your carpet their home, pathogens, pollen grains, spores, to pollutants like smoke that was absorbed by the material – the carpet takes it all in. Soiling that is tracked in from the outdoors, those occasional spills that create unsightly stains on the unit – they ruin the appeal of your carpet, dragging own the décor of the house in the process. One thing is certain: a thorough cleaning is needed. But do you do it yourself, or hire a professional carpet cleaner? Let’s take a look at what sets them apart, for you to make an informed decision.
- Skill level
While the pros have been taken through rigorous training, and have years of experience providing carpet care in residential and commercial establishments, the DIYer usually reads through a couple of blogs and watches some YouTube videos. When approaching the task, they will be operating at different levels. There are different factors that come into focus when carrying out the carpet cleaning, and the room for error increases with the less amount of skill that the individual has. From how to handle the shampoos and solutions added to the cleaning machines, the techniques of manoeuvring them across the carpet including how fast or slow to wok the unit, cases where you’re dealing with delicate fibres where even using water itself would be problematic, the amount of solution to use to get the carpet cleaning without risking fabrics shrinkage or delamination of the unit – all these come into focus. A slip-up could be costly.
You don’t want the carpet getting permanently damaged, putting you in a position where you’re forced to replace the entire unit. The different types of carpets- from those with natural fabric to the synthetic material units, all have their requirements when handling them, and it is common to find DIYers using the wrong cleaning agents, including harsh chemicals that corrode the material. On the other hand, the professionals know the right approach for the different types of carpets and stain problems, working with solutions and systems that will get the it clean without putting it at risk of damage.
- The machinery used
Professional carpet cleaning business pump loads of capital in getting industrial-grade machinery for the task. These high-powered units are bulky, but given that the businesses need to work on multiple carpets on a daily basis, they need tools that can deliver on their mandate, making it worth the price. What’s more, they have the resources needed to ensure that the equipment is properly maintained. On the other hand, the DIYer is often limited to renting machines from the local dealerships. Here, in a bid to have more portable units, the dealerships stock lighter machines that are easy to manoeuvre. However, this means that the component parts, from the motors to the pumps, have less capacity compared to the machines that the professionals use. That means straight from the word go, the DIYer is operating at a considerable disadvantage.
Take hot water extraction units for instance. The rented units don’t heat the water to the high temperatures that are registered with the units used by the professionals, meaning that the cleaning will be less effective. What’s more, they have weaker extraction power, meaning more water and residue remains in the carpet. On the other hand, with the industrial-grade units that the professionals work with, the bulk of the moisture is extracted from the carpet, leaving it just slightly damp to the touch, and this will have dried off within the same afternoon that it is been worked on.
There’s also the issue of the quality of the machines. The rented equipment, having passed through multiple rookie hands, may have got beat down over time. Unless the dealership was willing to spend more money to replace the damaged component parts, the DIYer ends up renting equipment whose functionality is already compromised. This ends up translating in the task taking far much longer than anticipated, and yielding lower quality results.
- Retain your warranty
Professional contractors come with different techniques and are well versed in handling the different types of carpets. There is also the added benefit of protecting your family. The processes used will be safe for the carpets, enabling it to last. In fact, you will find that most carpet warranties come with a clause mandating that the unit gets professionally cleaned every 12 to 18 months. This is with good reason. For starters, it avoids the risks that come with DIY carpet cleaning processes, and ensures that the main threat to the unit’s structural integrity – the dirt and grime building up in the carpet – are removed.
The main drive for going the DIY route is to make savings. However, as one goes through the process, the costs incurred continue raking up. From the renting the carpet cleaning machines, sourcing for reagents, resources required when the dealing with stubborn stains that refuse to budge, cases where you repeat the process because of residue that remains in the carpet, the processes taking long due to the low capacity of the rented equipment, all through to situations where there is actual damage to the carpet like shrinkage of the material or where it gets separated from its primary backing – these force you to dig deeper into your wallet. Moreover, with the DIY route taking longer, how much of your free time are you willing to spend sweating it out with those tough stains and dirt spots? On the other hand, when you hire professional services for the carpet cleaning, they will have the task done in a fraction of the time that you would have taken, and yield quality results. It keeps your carpet fresh for longer, enabling you to avoid costly repairs and replacements.
