Eco-Friendly Carpet Cleaning Methods
Eco-Friendly Carpet Cleaning leaves your carpet, upholstery, and rugs looking their best. It provides an easy and effective way of combating stains, spots, odors, and impurities. The reason is, unlike their conventional counterparts, they are devoid of scary poisonous and harmful chemicals. The technique, therefore, makes you feel good knowing your carpet cleaning leaves the environment pristine, not only inside but also outside your home.
Eco-Friendly Carpet Cleaning
Eco-Friendly carpet cleaning follows the vacuuming, conditioning, and pre-treatment, extraction, nap-setting, and finally drying. Vacuuming eliminates most particulate soil and sand, conditioning and pre-treatment breaks down soil using an eco-friendly solvent cleaning agent, extraction rinses away the detergent while nap-setting and drying serve the purpose of allowing the residual cleaning agent to vaporize and hence dry up.
Should any of the steps be skipped, there is a high possibility that indoor air quality will be compromised. The result is a serious health concern to the individuals involved in the cleaning and those residing in the home.
1. Dry cleaning
Dry cleaning is somewhat misleading because the process involves the use of a minimum amount of liquid (not the complete absence as the name suggests) and a blend of environmentally friendly compounds. It is most appropriate for a restorative cleaning, emergency cleanup, and regularly scheduled maintenance.
The process
Dry carpet cleaning uses a homogenized mixture of solvents that include a neutralizing agent, a cleaning agent, and a rinsing agent, which re first heated to approximately 200 degrees Fahrenheit before being applied to the carpet. When the mixture is put on the carpet, they act collectively to break down whatever dirt they find leaving your carpet sparkling clean.
Advantages
Dry cleaning saves time. You will be able to use your carpet again almost immediately after it is dry-cleaned. The reason is since a minimal amount of liquid is used, the time your carpet takes to dry is far much less. Dry-cleaning compounds are, therefore, commonly used in retail and industrial settings.
2. Steam Carpet Cleaning
In Steam Carpet Cleaning, contrary to what the name alludes, steam is not used. Instead, the home and commercial machines utilize hot water which produces steam during cleaning. The steam does in no way clean the carpet. Steam carpet cleaning involves the use of a truck-mounted system and uses the same eco-friendly chemicals used in dry carpet cleaning except that the rinsing agent is mixed in the truck-mount, and a larger quantity of water is used when rinsing.
The process
The machine sprays the cleaning solution on your carpet. Hot water actuates the solvent already sprayed on the carpet. Alkaline solutions are used for synthetic carpets while acidic solutions are used for natural fiber or Woolen carpets. A wet-vac is finally used to eradicate the bulk of water on your carpet.
Advantages
The hot water suction rinse employed by steam carpet cleaning is very effective in removing the cleaning solution and leaves the least amount of residue (less than that of the dry-cleaning method) behind. It is, therefore, most appropriate for persons who have certain health concerns like asthma and allergies.
Factors to consider when buying carpet cleaning solutions
Avoid acid rinses like hydroxyacetic acid and chemicals such as formaldehyde. They are intended to kill micro-organisms, but they are also poisonous to human beings too. When shopping for eco-friendly cleaning agent and then notice any of these chemicals among the ingredients, do not buy.
Before buying any carpet cleaning agent, check its ingredients and find out more about the same in the relevant certified organization’s Household Products Database. Some ingredients information is available on the product label. Make sure that all of them are marked as Eco-Friendly by such a credible database.
Toxic spot cleaners containing glycol ether solutions such as butoxyethanol can be absorbed through the skin thereby poisoning your blood, liver, and kidneys. They have also been found to cause reproductive harm. While ideally, no sincere Eco-Friendly solvent manufacturer uses such toxic carpet spot cleaners, it is always advisable to be on the lookout since they have serious health effects.
Expert recommendations while cleaning
Do not use too much cleaning solvent. Some people use too much (of the solvent) thinking that doing so will their carpet cleaner. Other than the possibility of the detergent remaining even after rinsing (disturbing allergic members of your household) it leaves behind a sticky deposit that attracts more dirt.
Using a stronger solvent than the one recommended by the manufacturer is also highly discouraged. Consider even diluting it more than recommended. If you use too much water, and your carpet gets too wet, the subfloor beneath and the carpet itself can get damaged and encourage the growth of mold. Eco-Friendly carpet cleaning machines ideally extract moisture enabling the carpet to dry up within 6 -12 hours.
Should your carpet take longer than this, hasten the drying process with the help of fans, the AC system, or dehumidifier.
Benefits of Eco-Friendly Carpet Cleaning
1. Healthy benefits
The process is healthier for you and the members of your household. Traditional carpet cleaning leaves behind a concentrated vapor that hangs in the air causing indoor air pollution. Indoor air pollution causes sneezing, nausea, asthma attacks, headaches, irritation of the nose, eyes, and lungs, congestion, coughing, fatigue, and several other health concerns.
2. Eliminates mold growth
Eco-Friendly Carpet Cleaning reduces the possibility of mold growth. The reason is since they use little water, the environment where mold would otherwise sprout and grow is nonexistent. Once mold sprouts in a carpet, it is very hard to remove (the only viable option is to replace it.
3. Environmental benefits
How you treat the environment today has a huge impact on the coming generations. Traditional carpet cleaning uses cleaning agents that take many years to degrade. The chemicals get into the water supply, the air, and soil causing serious harm to plants, animals, and fellow human beings. The containers holding these harmful chemicals are costly to recycle. Customers, therefore, have to spend a lot of money to have them reduced.
Conclusion
Eco-Friendly carpet cleaning uses biodegradable products that are environmentally safe. Since the cost of storing and packaging these eco-friendly products is minimal, no cost is passed onto customers. The cost of cleaning your carpet is, therefore, reduced and your carpet will be cleaner for longer periods of time. You have absolutely no reason to continue using traditional cleaning methods to clean your carpet.
