How Does Carpet Steam Cleaning Work?

We need to be clear about what steam cleaning is before we can get into the details of how to steam clean a carpet.

You can clean your carpet in many ways, including dry cleaning and shampooing. We prefers to use steam cleaning, also known as hot-water extraction. This is not to suggest that we don’t use other methods, such as dry cleaning, shampooing or using a walking machine, at times. The steam method is the most effective in the majority of cases.

Carpet Steam Cleaning in Auckland is a process that uses hot water under pressure to reach deep into the fibres of the carpet to soften and loosen embedded dust, skin cells and stains. It also kills bacteria and viruses. This process also prolongs the life and freshens your carpet. No more need to replace it prematurely due to its age and wear!

How Do You Steam Clean Carpets? [The 6-step Process]

This is probably one of your most pressing questions, so let’s walk you through the process.

We’ve tried to simplify the process of steam cleaning for you, even though some parts might be a bit technical.

1. Do a risk assessment.

As soon as our cleaners enter your office, they complete a risk analysis and become familiar with the area. It is important to know where the fire extinguishers are, the power supply, the water supply, the bathrooms, etc. are located in the building.

They’re also preparing them for the job by doing important things behind the scenes.

Why is this necessary?

If something were to happen, the cleaners would know exactly where the most important parts of the building are.

Why do cleaners need to be familiarised with the site? Do they have different cleaners than my regular team?

Yes, that’s the short answer. Our steam cleaners are specially trained for this job, and are not your regular cleaners. You may have experienced a poor job, damage to your carpet or even just being ignored when you asked for a spot cleaning.

Steam cleaning carpet requires skill. It is best performed by a cleaner who has been trained in this area.

2. Prepare the machinery.

It is impossible to complete any task without the right machinery.

It is important to prepare everything. The equipment you will need is as follows:

  • Vacuum cleaners with powerheads attached
  • Steamvac, a hot water extraction machine. Includes the large and portable wand.
  • Heat the water with an inline unit
  • Pre- spray unit
  • Hoses to connect the machine with the pre-spray unit. Filling and emptying of the machine.
  • Stain-spotting agitators
  • Of course, the chemicals required for the task at hand.

Preparing the hot water extraction unit and pre-spray is the first step. Fill the carpet machine tank with water (sidenote: our tank is 80 litres). Then, fill the presprayer with prespray chemicals and dilute them as needed.

Noticed that we didn’t mention the need for hot water? You may have also noticed that we didn’t mention adding chemicals to the water tank.

3. Pre-vacuum the carpet.

Our cleaners will vacuum the carpet before the hot water extraction to remove any dirt on the surface. While doing so, they also pick up any visible debris from the floor, such as paperclips, pens and paper.

Why is it important to pre-vacuum?

Three reasons are important.

  • The machine won’t push dirt into the carpet.
  • Remove as much dirt as you can before extraction
  • Overall, it will help deliver a better result

Imagine trying to wash your car and then polish it. It makes no sense to start a process without completing the previous one.

As a side note, it keeps our equipment cleaner and more resistant to damage.

Our cleaners do one other important thing when they pre-vacuum. The cleaners are checking for spots on the carpet, such as coffee stains and animal urine stains left by office pets. The cleaner will then be ready to move on to the next stage of the steam cleaning process.

4. Spraying and treating stains.

We have checked for carpet stains on a few spots and made mental notes of their location.

It’s now time to spray on the stains the correct spot-on chemicals. We uses two specific chemicals.

The first one is called Grease Release and it is used for anything from oil stains to chewing gum stains. Second, it is called Coffee Break and is used to remove coffee stains. In offices, the most common type of stain is coffee.

There are also other chemicals that we can use to remove stains like blood and urine. To avoid getting too technical, we’ll just focus on the most common types of stains and not go into all the details.

5. Cleaning chemical pre-spray the carpet.

Here is the exciting stage of the carpet cleaning process (or, at least, where we start to get excited as the carpet begins to look cleaner).

Pre-spray the carpet with a cleaning chemical of your choice. This is usually a nonsolvent emulsifier that is used to remove general dirt, and soiling.

The only way to correctly pre-spray carpets is to extract the chemical immediately after spraying. But that doesn’t necessarily mean you should extract immediately! It is important to allow the chemical to soak in the carpet for it to soften and lift dirt.

Simply put, it should be wet enough to soak in but not so much that the surface is completely dry.

To achieve this, the cleaners will pre-spray up to 100sqm, or as much as they can comfortably do without the chemical pre-spray drying out. The cleaners will pre-spray 100sqm and then remove that section. This process is repeated for the remainder of the carpet.

Why are carpets divided into sections for steam cleaning?

You’ve already heard why it’s important to break the process up into sections: the carpet won’t dry out.

Are there any other reasons?

There is one important one!

The cleaner can see the entire process. We can see how quickly the first area dries and if any additional action is needed.

6. Hot water extraction.

It’s finally time to remove all the nasty things that are hiding in your carpet.

Please be patient as we get a little technical.

Pressurised water is dispersed by a commercial machine to extract hot water. It’s like a lighter version of a standard pressure cleaner – only bigger and more powerful. And yes, as previously mentioned, the cleaner must be trained on how to use it.

How does the machine actually work?

Two parts can be separated from the extraction process and machine:

  • The wand that is used to apply hot water under pressure.
  • The machine that removes or suctions up the water.

The stainless steel wand is equipped with either 3 or two jets, which spray water onto the carpet to loosen and remove dirt and kill all bacteria. For optimal results, the pressure of the water coming out of the extractor jets should be between 350 and 450 psi.

The high-powered vacuums will then follow, sucking up any dirt, debris, and water that has been loosened by the jets. The vacuum must remove any excess water in order to prevent a bad smell from developing. Do you remember that musty, wet, dog smell? This will eliminate that smell.