Chelsea Cleaning specialises in deep carpet cleaning in Cape Town and its surrounds – and with the warmer weather having arrived in the Cape, now is the perfect time to freshen up household carpets.
Contact us if you’d like to arrange professional carpet cleaning, or read on for more details about what deep carpet cleaning involves and why it’s recommended.
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What is deep carpet cleaning?
Deep carpet cleaning is any carpet cleaning process that penetrates below the surface of the carpet to remove dirt, dust, odours and other contaminants.
What deep carpet cleaning does that vacuuming doesn’t
Vacuuming only removes dust and dirt from the top layer of carpet and sometimes it doesn’t even do it very well, depending on the suction used.
Deep carpet cleaning gets much deeper into the carpet pile and removes even deeply ingrained dirt, including troublesome allergens such as mould spores and pet dander.
Deep carpet cleaning methods
There are four main deep carpet cleaning methods.
Hot water extraction
Hot water extraction uses high pressured hot water to get deep into the carpet fibres and dissolve the dirt with a cleaning agent. The carpet is then rinsed and the water is extracted, leaving it damp but not saturated.
Carpet shampooing
An older method of deep cleaning is carpet shampooing. This method does a good job of tackling heavy soiling but it can be hard to thoroughly remove the soap residue which is why it is less popular these days.
Foam encapsulation
Foam encapsulation uses a detergent that will crystalize into a powder when it dries, encapsulating the dirt. The powder it then vacuumed up along with any dirt or contaminants. This method does use less water but doesn’t handle heavily soiled carpets very well.
Bonnet cleaning
Bonnet cleaning uses a machine with a spinning pad that has been dipped in or sprayed with a detergent. It’s popular in hotels because it’s a quick fix for high traffic areas but it really only cleans the top level of the carpet.
Dry carpet cleaning
Another modern cleaning technique is dry carpet cleaning. This uses a cleaning compound or powder that is deposited deep in the carpet fibres to absorb dirt. The powder is then removed, leaving the carpet clean (at least in theory) and also dry.
At Chelsea Cleaning, we use hot water extraction, also known as steam cleaning, to deep clean fitted carpets.
Some advantages of hot water extraction
Hot water extraction is a tried and tested method for deep cleaning fitted carpets that offers many advantages. This is why we have chosen it as our deep carpet cleaning method at Chelsea Cleaning.
With hot water extraction,
- the heat kills mould or fungus spores
- dust mites and flea eggs are destroyed
- the heat and pressure help dissolve and extract embedded dirt
- little to no residue remains (unlike after carpet shampooing)
- cleaning is much gentler on carpet than methods that involve scrubbing.
When deep carpet cleaning in the Cape is recommended
Deep carpet cleaning is recommended every 6 months to a year, depending on where the carpet is (high traffic areas for example) and if you have pets and children.
Any time is suitable to clean your carpets, but there are certain times of year when deep carpet cleaning in Cape Town is particularly recommended.
Late spring/early summer
In late spring and summer, seasonal allergies are often at their worst and pollen counts are high. A deep carpet clean can help tackle pollen deposits indoors.
After winter, it’s good to clean any mould or mould spores that might have accumulated over the wet season out of carpeting.
Warmer weather can also encourage flea and mite populations to explode. Deep cleaning will kill off these populations and any eggs they have laid.
Naturally, warm weather is good for cleaning carpets. They will dry much faster than they would in the middle of the Cape’s wet winter.
Late autumn
Late autumn is also a good time to get deep carpet cleaning done. The weather is still warm enough that carpets will dry well – and it’s good to go into winter knowing that carpets have had a good deep clean.
Starting the season with dry, completely clean carpets can also reduce the growth of mould in carpet fibres over the winter months.
