Carpet Cleaning Method
Carpets often need maintenance and frequent cleaning. There are various methods to clean carpets or area rugs but if homeowners need a fast carpet cleaning method, then they can opt for dry cleaning. It is a method that uses little to no moisture when cleaning the carpets.
There are several ways to clean carpets but the most common are wet and dry cleaning procedures. Wet cleaning is straightforward as it uses water and a cleaning agent to clean the carpet. On the other hand, dry cleaning has various methods and procedures that are differentiated by the method or cleaning agent used.
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Dry cleaning is a procedure where it utilizes a cleaning agent to break down the accumulated dirt on the carpet. In some cases, the textile is immersed in a liquid cleaning agent. Even if it is immersed in liquid, it is still considered dry cleaning since no water is involved in the process.
History of Dry Cleaning
Dry cleaning’s history came as an accident. In 1855, a dye-works owner in France named Jean Baptiste Jolly was the first to introduce dry cleaning. The story goes when Jolly’s maid accidentally overturned a kerosene lamp and spilled turpentine over a dirty table cloth. When the turpentine dried on the cloth, the stains were gone. This gave him the idea of dry cleaning.
After witnessing the ordeal, he experimented on an entire tablecloth. He filled a bathtub with turpentine and placed an entire tablecloth on the solution. Once he dried the cloth, all the stains were gone. This method led Jolly to open the first known dry cleaning shop which is called “Teinturerier Jolly Belin” in Paris and made him the father of modern-day dry cleaning.
Early dry cleaning services utilized solvents such as kerosene or gasoline when cleaning clothes or fabrics. In the United States, the advent of other chemicals used in dry cleaning came out after the end of the second world war.
Solvents such as trichloroethylene and tetrachloride led to the creation of the product called perchloroethylene or perc. Perc became the number one choice for dry cleaning. This solvent can provide fast carpet cleaning and can be used in other fabrics as well. It is also safer and does not require using massive machines. Perc did a better job in cleaning fabrics or clothes without taking so much space and can offer great cleaning quality within an hour.
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Dry cleaning is a fast carpet cleaning method and it is efficient as well. However, multiple methods use varying procedures when implementing it.
Here are some dry cleaning methods:
Dry Ice
The dry ice method employs a beam that removes the dirt from the fibers. The beam contains dry ice and placed on the fabric’s surface. This is quite an effective process. Unfortunately, this method is more expensive compared to other dry cleaning methods. Moreover, it also carries a large CO2 footprint which is bad for the environment.
This method still has moisture since the CO2 particles are still small droplets of liquid that evaporates in less than a minute. The dry ice method is not advisable to be done at home.
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Dry Compound
This method needs some moisture due to the solvent it uses in the procedure. When using the dry compound method, a compound cleaning agent is used to spray on the carpet. The next process is to brush the surface and allow the carpet to absorb the chemical. It is left for a few minutes to let the solvent attract the dirt embedded on the fibers of the carpet.
The next procedure is to let the carpet dry. Since there is very little moisture involved, it only takes a short time for the drying procedure to be finished. At this point, the chemical that attracted the dirt will evaporate. It is vital to remember that the carpet needs to be dried first before vacuuming to allow the evaporation process to come in. Without the evaporation process, the liquid solution will remain trapped on the carpet along with the dirt resulting in an unfinished cleaning procedure. Once it is dry, the nested procedure is to vacuum the carpet.
Before using any solutions or compounds, the carpet cleaner must read the labels carefully to know the instructions of the application and if there is a dosage needed to be followed for a specific chemical.
Encapsulation
The encapsulation process makes use of polymers that “encapsulates” particles to dry residues. For more deep cleaning attributes, the detergents are combined with polymers to remove the particles on the carpet fibers. The detergent, the polymers, and the dirt turn into a solid matter which is vacuumed to remove the dirt from the fabric or carpet.
Depending on the chemicals used, this method can take some time before proceeding to the vacuuming procedure. Other cleaning products do not require any drying time. The compounds can be brushed by rotary brushes or vacuumed with equipment that has strong suction. This method is prevalent in offices, hotels, or locations where the carpets are needed to be cleaned fast.
Dry cleaning is a fast carpet cleaning method. It can take just an hour or more depending on the method and chemicals used. It can be done through a professional cleaner or at home. If the homeowner insists to do it at home, he or she must be very knowledgeable about the chemicals or procedures to avoid messing up the carpet’s colors and not finishing the cleaning process.
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