Why Does my Carpet Look Worse After Cleaning?

You expect your carpet to look brand new after it is cleaned. Have you ever cleaned your own carpets, anxiously awaiting to see the final result and then they look… not great? What a disappointment! It seems like spots and stains reappeared a short time after cleaning! This occurrence is actually quite common, especially when a carpet is cleaned using the traditional shampoo and rinse method. Let’s look at the two reasons why:

Wicking

Stains can resurface from below the fibres of the carpet. In a case like this, the original stain has soiled the carpet fibres and also penetrated into the backing and underlying pad. When trying to get rid of a stubborn stain, it’s likely the carpet received too much moisture during the rinsing phase. This led to saturation, which allowed water to penetrate into the carpet backing and pad. The excess rinse water then mixes with a deep stain and becomes discoloured and dirty. Yuck! The worst part is…all of this just stayed down there!

While some of this dirty water is removed from the carpet while you cleaned it much of it remains behind in the backing and pad. Then, as moisture evaporates and the carpet dries, the dirty water wicks upward into the carpet fibres. As a result, the stain that was deep into the floor rose to the carpet surface where it became visible. Essentially, the stain was never actually gone at all- just hiding from you!

Residue

Sometimes, a bit of the soap, shampoo, or other cleaning agent used in the traditional cleaning process was left behind in your carpet. As a result, this soapy residue has remained well after the cleaning is over and the carpet has dried. Remember, soap and shampoo residue is sticky. This means it attracts dirt and other grime. Every time someone walks on the carpet, soil from their shoes sticks to the residue in the carpet fibres. Even if you vacuum the carpet, it is not enough to release the soil stuck to the residue within the fibres. Right after cleaning, your carpets look dirtier than ever!

This explains why carpets that are cleaned with traditional methods become re-stained and soiled again so quickly. How frustrating! The same spots will seem to reappear, and you may feel your carpets will simply never be clean. Thankfully, this isn’t true.

These are just a few of the reasons spots and stains can reappear a short while after you’ve cleaned your carpets. What can you do to prevent this from happening again? Bring in the Kirkland, WA cleaning experts at Green Steam Carpet Cleaners! We don’t use shampoo to clean your carpets, but rather “Encapsulation Cleaning.” Encapsulation cleaning is a true minimum-moisture method that crystallizes oils and soils. This type of cleaning leaves the fibre in a state where oils and soils have a more difficult time attaching to the carpet fibres. The majority of soil will be vacuumed away much easier during routine vacuuming after the use of encapsulation cleaning. This method provides you with a clean carpet that resists re-soiling and wicking of stains, keeping your floor cleaner for a longer period of time by coating the fibre with anti-re-soiling polymers.

Contact us and let us know you’d like to have your carpets cleaned, seriously cleaned! You can call us at (206) 819-2722 or fill out a simple online contact form and tell us a little about you. We’ll get back to you shortly!