If you’re reading this post, you’re probably considering hiring a carpet cleaning company to clean your home carpets.
The only problem is… most of the online information regarding why you should hire a professional carpet cleaning company, comes from… you guessed it… carpet cleaning companies.
Don’t get me wrong! Hiring professionals does have a couple of advantages. But it would be nice once in a while to hear it from someone who doesn’t want to be paid after saying so.
I don’t own a carpet business, nor I am have any sort of affiliation with any carpet cleaning companies. But I’ve been independently reviewing carpet cleaning companies in the USA for the past couple of months. So I feel this is a topic I can talk about.
Before we begin with all the benefits, let me start by pointing out a couple of (very important) things.
Frequency is king
Before even considering whether or not you should hire a professional to clean your carpets or simply do it youself, you should consider how frequently you should be cleaning your carpets.
Cleaning frequency is the most important factor when it comes to maintaining a carpet like the day it was bought.
But how often should you clean your carpet?
We wrote a whole post about that topic here. So feel free to check it out. Long story short, the IICRC (Institute of Inspection Cleaning and Restoration Certification) published back in 2015 a report (The IICRC S100) that sets the standard on how often a carpet should be vacuumed and deep cleaned. It’s a non-profit institution that sets the standards both for carpet mills and carpet cleaning companies. This were the conclusions:
I’m saying this because the benefits we’re goint to be talking about only apply as long as you’re cleaning your carpets with the appropriate frequency.
There are different carpet cleaning methods.
It’s sometimes hard to name the benefits of carpet cleaning because there’re different carpet cleaning methods. Most people ask the difference between dry cleaning and steam cleaning (we have a post explaining the differences here).
What most people don’t know is that there’s actually 5 methods of carpet cleaning: Steam Cleaning (aka Hot Water Extraction), Bonnet Cleaning, Encapsulation (or Dry foam Absortion) and Shampoo. All these are professional carpet cleaning methods. You can read all about the differences between them on this post that explains the difference between the different methods.
But in almost every home, the Hot Water Extraction method (popularly known as Steam Cleaning) is the one that’s used. The other 4 methods are generally used on other types of buildings. So, in this post, we’ll be talking about the benefits of Hot Water Extraction method (or Steam Cleaning method).
How to Hire a Professional Carpet Cleaner
Before we begin with the 10 carpet cleaning benefits, let me share with you a well-known secret… Some carpet cleaners will charge you a lot more that they should. It’s sad to say it, but some carpet cleaners aren’t up front when it comes to how much it’s going to be. You might think they are, but they might add extras (for stairs, for tough stains, for the type of fiber, etc.) and only tell you about it once they’re done.
If you don’t want this happening to you, I would strongly suggest that you use an online platform to find the best carpet cleaners in your area. It’s the only way you’ll get a lot of quotes from carpet cleaners close to where you are and be able to read reviews from real-life clients.
I personally recommend Thumbtack to find the Best carpet cleaners. They have amazing professionals all around the US and it’s extremely simple to use!
10 Benefits of professional carpet cleaning
That being said, let’s get started with the top 10 benefits of professional carpet cleaning.
1. Health Benefits
The first (and most important) benefit that cleaning your carpet has is that it will improve the air quality of your home and make your home overall healthier.
Think about it… No matter what you do, dust will come into your home. Even if a house is completely closed, dust manages to come in (that’s why many people put sheets over furniture when they’re going to be gone for a long time).
You can’t imagine how much dust comes out of carpets!
You clean the dust in your home every now and then. But what about the carpet? You might think that you’re vacuuming it often, and that’s enough. But that’s not the case.
The best vacuum cleaners only clean the top 1/4 of the fibers of a carpet! And dust doesn’t only land on the top layer. It’s so thin that it moves down pretty quickly (thanks to our friend gravity).
You might not notice this, but if someone in your family is allergic or you have small children (that spend a lot of time on the carpet), cleaning your carpet regularly can make a huge difference!
2. Clean Carpets look awesome!
I’m quite sure you’ve seen at least one of those satisfying carpet cleaning videos. The before and after pictures are impressive!
And it’s not just you. Everybody thinks that a clean carpet looks amazing. It’s nicer to see, nice to walk on. It’s just nicer in every sense!
3. Remove the smell
The reason why carpets can stil smell even after you’ve vacuumed a gazillion times is that the smell usually comes from the bottom half of the carpet fibers.
And, as we said before… there’s no vacuum cleaner that can clean that deep.
So, a deep cleaning method (or steam cleaning method) is the only alternative when it comes to removing that terrible smell that somes carpets have.
PRO-TIP
USE BAKING SODA TO REMOVE THE SMELL
Many carpets owners are also pet owners. If that’s your case, you’ll have to be extra careful to make sure that your carpet doesn’t smell. Do this:
If you happen to stumble across a fresh pet stain in your carpet (pee, poop, or even vomit), clean it using this method. After you’re done cleaning it, if you want to make sure that that particular spot won’t smell, pour some baking soda and let it sit for 24h. You might see a yellowish color como up. Vacuum after the 24h. The baking soda will absorb some of the pee that’s in the lower half of the fiber thanks to a process called osmosis.
4. Get rid of the hardest stains
Not so long ago we wrote one of the longest posts in this blog. It’s the most comprehensive guide on how to remove stains in carpet that you’ll ever find online. We tested 8 methods to clean 28 types of stains! This is a screenshot of the guide:
However, despite our efforts some stains simlpy wouldn’t come out using DIY methods. Sometimes you simply have to deep clean your carpet to clean certain stains.
And even then, you can’t guarantee that a deep clean will completely remove every stain. However, using a professional carpet cleaning company will increase your success chances.
5. Extended Lifespan
In my experience, most carpet owners don’t clean their carpets because they think that doing so is very expensive.
First of all, the DIY solutions aren’t that expensive. But even if you hire professionals to clean it for you, hiring a professional is way cheaper than replacing your carpet. And almost all people who replace their carpets could’ve increased their lifespan if they had deep cleaned their carpet when they had to.
6. Might be required for the Guarantee to apply
Some manufacturers are more open about saying this out loud than others. But when you install a new carpet those “X years guarantee” or “100% money back guaranteed if you’re not satisfied” apply under one condition: you must have your carpet cleaned by a professional every certain amount of time.
If you don’t… well, you won’t be able to ask for your money back or a replacement.
That’s why it’s a smart practice to save the cleaning receipts!
7. You don’t risk ruining it.
I’ve cleaned my carpet using several steam carpet cleaning machines (check out the best of 2022 here) and they’re super simple to use. I honestly think anyone can do it and they work like a charm! Your carpet will look like new!
However, some carpets are more delicate than others. And although they account for a tiny portion of the market, some natural fiber carpets can’t be cleaned up using conventional machines.
If you own a natural fiber carpet, you probably already know. But still… a professional will tell you whether or not you can clean your carpet using conventional methods.
8. Complete removal of dirt and bacteria
This will come as a given becasue we’ve talked about this through out the post. But deep cleaning your carpet is the only way of actually removing all the dirt and bacteria from it.
Out of the 5 cleaning methods that the IICRC has approved, 4 of them are maintenance and only 1 of them is considered restorative. That method is the steam cleaning method that most likely ever professional will use.
9. Eliminate the “Traffic Lane Effect”
This might just be me, but one of the things that I hate about carpets that haven’t been cleaned up in a while is having that traffic lane effect in the high-use areas of the house.
Clean your carpet will delete that tedious look!
10. Professional companies are Very Fast
Last but not least, having a professional company clean your carpet is extremely simple. You just give them a call and they’ll take care of everything.
They can be done in under a couple of hours. If you do it youself, it will take longer than that.
Can’t you clean it youself?
Yes and no.
Let me explain.
Professional carpet cleaning companies will have better equipment than you’ll do. And so, their cleaning capabilities will be better than yours. That being said… do you need a professional cleaning your carpet? Or can you achieve the same results cleaning it yourself?
You can achieve the same results, but you need to be consistent. If you clean your carpet regularly (once every 6 months should be good enough for most people), then you’ll rarely need to call a professional. But if your carpet is already quite dirty, you’ll need a professional to help you clean up the mess.
The key question is… are you willing to put in the time to clean up your carpet? If the answer is no, simply call the professionals. If the answer is yes, then a carpet steam cleaner is a great option to keep your carpet looking like new (if it’s not too dirty already).
If that’s the case and you’d like to buy a carpet steam cleaner, check out this post. We’ll recommend you the best carpet steam cleaner depending on your budget and use case.
But if you don’t have time to read that post, at least check out this amazing machine: [amazon link=”B00450U6CS” title=”Bissell Big Green Professional Carpet Cleaner Machine”/]:
[amazon box=”B00450U6CS”]
It’s absolutely incredible! You’re going to love it!
Conclusion
As you’ve seen, the benefits of carpet cleaning are huge. And professionals will help you get there better and faster.