Avoid Too Much Foam When Cleaning Carpets

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 02:57:11 +0000

One important thing to remember when you use a carpet shampoo machine to clean your carpet is that more carpet shampoo does not equal cleaner carpets. In fact, if you use too much shampoo you could end up with carpets that are dirtier than what you started with. Make sure that you read the instructions carefully when preparing your carpet shampoo mixture and when loading the machine. In fact, I usually like to use less than what is called for on the bottle. You want to avoid too much foaming and excess shampoo can cause a great deal of foaming.

The reason that foam is a problem is because soap residue is sticky. If there is any dirt left in your carpet after cleaning then that dirt will migrate toward the soap residue and the residue will move toward the top of the carpet. That is why it is possible for the carpet to look dirtier after cleaning than before. To avoid this problem it s a good practice to rinse your carpet with cold water after shampooing. Use the same carpet cleaning machine but fill the reservoir with only cold water. Keep running over the carpet until you cannot see any soap in the discharge. You need to use cold water and not hot because cold water attracts soap better.

Even though you can rinse your carpet, you should try to avoid extra soap and foam if possible. The first thing you can do is limit the amount of carpet shampoo you use. Some people recommend that you use as little as one third what is recommended on the shampoo instructions. You need to test different solutions in your carpet cleaner to find the right ratio. The next thing you can do is to mix your carpet cleaning solution correctly. You should add the shampoo to hot water rather than adding water to the shampoo. If you pour the shampoo in first and then run water over it, you will create suds. If you add the shampoo to the water then you can avoid extra suds. Finally, if you still are noticing too much foaming, you can use a defoamer. You can add these additives right to the carpet cleaning solution or some machines have special reservoirs for defoamer.

E-Materials » Carpet Cleaning

Avoid Too Much Foam When Cleaning Carpets