DRY FOAM
The carpet cleaner applies shampoo to your carpet, allows it to dry, then, with rinsing, sucks the dried shampoo into a vacuum. Can you imagine applying shampoo to your hair, allowing it to dry and then removing the shampoo from your head with a vacuum? This method leaves dirty residue in your carpet, which is one reason dry foam is not very effective.

ABSORBENT PAD (BONNET CLEANING)
This method is similar to dry foam, except that the company sets a large cotton bonnet on your carpet and with a floor polishing buffer machine on top “buffs” the carpet. The rotating motion causes the bonnet to absorb dirt from your carpet. This method is also called bonnet cleaning. Bonnet cleaning is like trying to use a large cotton towel or mop to rub the dirt out of your carpet. It is not very effective.

DRY, ABSORBENT POWDER
The dry-compound method spreads a moist, absorbent powder through the carpet. The powder is allowed to dry and then sucked into a vacuum. This method leaves dry sponge particles at the base of the carpet yarn. And because the carpet is not rinsed, this method is not very effective.

STEAM EXTRACTION
This is a fancy way of saying that a steam cleaning solution under high pressure is forced into your carpet and then sucked out of your carpet.

In a recent Technical Bulletin, Shaw Industries, the world’s largest carpet manufacturer, “recommends the steam extraction system, which research indicates provides the best capability for cleaning.” You can choose from two different types: truck-mount extraction, which is done with a large machine mounted in a truck or van, or portable extraction, which is done with a small hand-held unit.

On Which Type To Choose
Shaw’s Technical Bulletin states: “cleaning can be done from a truck-mounted unit outside the facility with only the hose and wand brought inside, or where a truck mounted unit cannot reach, by a portable, self-contained system brought into the facility.”

As you can see, Shaw recommends the truck-mounted unit first and this isn’t surprising. You see, the truck-mounted unit cleans much better because it heats the steam to a high temperature, and shoots the cleaning solution into your carpet at higher pressures. This breaks up dirt, bacteria, chemicals and pollens in the carpet. Then the machine produces huge vacuum volume to draw the dirt and chemicals out of your carpet. This is the method my company, Conscientious Carpet Care, uses.

No question, the most effective way to clean carpeting is with a steam unit mounted in a truck. It’s the most powerful cleaning machine on the market and the only machine that cleans the dirt, harmful bacteria, fungus, chemicals, pollens, tobacco residue and dust mites out of your carpet.