How can I Clean my Home Carpet so it Looks Great Again?

When you clean your carpet at home, most people would like to have it restored to a “like new” condition. As you likely know, this requires you have them professionally cleaned. While there are many factors involved in getting them to look great again, the most significant factor that will determine how your carpet will respond to professional cleaning is its fiber content. Most residential wall-to-wall carpet is made from either nylon, wool, polyester or olefin fibers.

How Clean Will Your Home Carpet Your Will Be is Based on Two Primary Factors

  1. Resilience – Is the natural ability to bounce back or to be able to regain their fluffy texture. A resilient carpet fiber will fluff up after a heavy object has been removed from the carpet or the soil has been removed. Once carpet fibers with poor resilience have become matted, even if the original cause of matting has been removed (furniture or soil), they will remain matted.
  2. Color stability – is the other important fiber characteristic. How does it respond to fading, bleaching and staining from spills containing food color dyes?

How do the Different Home Carpet Fibers Compare?

Both nylon and wool dominate over polyester and olefin in their natural resilience. However, the colors in nylon and wool are vulnerable to color loss and staining. Their colors can be permanently changed from bleach, sun fading, pet urine, food coloring (i.e. Kool-Aid), coffee and medications. Once polyester and olefin fibers have been flattened from foot traffic, furniture indentations, or soiling they will never regain their fluffy appearance, even if well maintained. Polyester and olefin are definitely the winners for color stability. They never loose their color due to fading or bleaching and it is extremely difficult to stain these carpet fibers.

Generally the most important characteristic for a residential carpet to have is “good resilience.” Which fiber is best? Nylon is the most practical carpet fiber for residential use, unless you have color stability or staining concerns.

 

Ken Hart – Abreeze Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning
www.abreezemaintenance.com