Carpet steam cleaning vs Dry Cleaning

Having fresh clean carpets is essential to keeping your house looking and feeling its best. If you’ve been living in a carpeted house for a while, or even just looking into getting carpet, you’re probably aware that there are two main methods for carpet cleaning– steam cleaning and dry cleaning.

While professionals from each industry will try and tell you all the ways in which their method is superior, we offer both services so we can give you all the facts and help you make an objective decision about which cleaning method is going to work best for your home. To get you started, we’ve broken the two methods down into a pros and cons list for you.

Steam cleaning

The steam cleaning process involves hot water being plunged into your carpet with high pressure, and then being rapidly extracted. As the water is extracted, any dirt or other unwanted fibres will go with it. To enhance the process your carpet will be treated with a cleaning solution before hand, which will breakdown the dirt, making it come away from the carpet with ease.

Pros

The upside of a steam clean is that it is very thorough. The pressure, combined with the hot water takes away an incredible amount of dirt and when done properly and regularly it can hugely increase the lifespan of your carpet. It’s also quite a fast process. Where necessary, a whole house could be cleaned in just a single day.

Cons 

The main downside of having your carpet steam cleaned is the time it takes to dry. If you’re needing your carpets cleaned in the winter months it could take many hours for the carpet to dry out after the process is complete. This elongates the time you’ll need to avoid walking on the carpet once your clean if finished. If you can, time your carpet cleanings to be in one of Perth’s many warmer weeks.

Dry cleaning

While you may not expect it from the name, there is still some water involved in the dry cleaning process – just not nearly as much as in steam cleaning. In place of a high-pressure water treatment, the carpet is treated with a special mix of chemicals.

First though, the carpet is prepared by being thoroughly vacuumed, then it’s sprayed with the chemical solution. Once the solution has settled into the carpet, the dry cleaning device uses specially made pads to scrub the chemicals into the carpet and lift out any dirt. Any remaining dirt will crystallise in reaction to the chemical, making it easy to vacuum up after the dry cleaning process is complete.

Pros

If you’re in a hurry or your carpet just needs a touch up rather than a deep clean, steam cleaning is a great option for you. It’s a very fast process and with no drying time it’s the perfect solution if you’re having guests over, need to prepare for a home open, or just feel like its time for a bit of spring cleaning.

Cons

The equipment required for steam cleaning is quite bulky and heavy, meaning it can be tough to get into some homes such as high-rise buildings or homes with a lot of stairs.

So which is best?

There is no perfect one-size-fits-all method when it comes to carpet cleaning. Everyone has different needs and expectations. Based on your requirements, we can make a professional recommendation for either steam cleaning or dry cleaning your carpet. Give us a call today to find out more.