Carpet Cleaning Myths You Should Be Aware Of - Part 2

Myth #4 - Home Carpet Cleaning Machines Will Ruin My Carpets

Good carpet cleaning machines do not ruin carpets in any shape or fashion. As I mentioned earlier, the key is in purchasing a good machine that is not based only on price, but in performance as well. A good machine deep cleans carpets and suctions up the water so that your carpet is completely dry within just a few hours and not days. Your best bet in finding the right machine for your home is to read up on the reviews of specific models. Look at the features and user reviews for each one. Then you'll be armed with the facts in order to make your best decision. But do not believe this myth that somehow home machines will damage carpets because it simply is not true.

Myth #5 - Steam Cleaning Your Carpet Will Make It Shrink

You may hear someone say from time to time that they have heard that steam cleaning carpets will make them shrink, or cause mold and mildew to build up. Let me say emphatically, using a home carpet steam cleaner won't cause your carpets to shrink. As for mold and mildew, unless you simply soak your carpets with water and leave them like that, a home machine does not create mold or mildew.

Myth #6 - Sprinkle-on Carpet Deodorizers Is All I Need To Keep Carpets Fresh

You've undoubtedly seen, or used, one of the many brands of those carpet deodorizing powders that you sprinkle on top of the carpets and then vacuum later. They are advertised as a way to keep your carpets smelling fresh and looking great. To some extent this is true, but they do not keep your carpet clean in any way, and I really do not recommend using them at all.

What happens when you sprinkle these powders onto your carpet is that they get embedded in the carpet fibers and never get fully vacuumed up. Repeated use only adds to the process. Next, you run a carpet shampooer over the carpets and it becomes a real mess. The powder residue mixes with the moisture and when it dries it wicks up to the surface again. You can see it in your carpets and by continuing to do the same thing time after time, can even mean having to replace the carpet much sooner than you should.

Myth #7 - Soaking The Carpets Does A Better Job At Getting Them Clean

This is perhaps the worst myth of all. Anyone that tells you to saturate and soak your carpets in order to get them clean... run away as fast as you can. Nothing, outside of a fire, could be more damaging to your home's carpet than soaking them water.

Mold, mildew and bacteria will immediately take hold. In addition, you'll ruin the carpet padding underneath and if you have carpeting under a wood floor, it can damage it as well. Simply stated, never soak your carpets with water and detergent. Use a good carpet cleaning machine and you will have no problems at all.