Just How Clean Can A Carpet Really Get? Fargo ND Carpet Cleaning Information

Occasionally, we will get a call back from a client that might have had us clean thier carpet, and, for whatever reason, decided to get the carpet cleaned again by someone else.  The resulting call usually goes like this…

Client: “I guess we are not satisfied with your service, you say you cleaned my carpet and we hired another company (or re-cleaned it themselves with a rental machine) and the water was dirty! You ripped us off!!!  You are the worst company in the world you scoundrels!!!—”

So, is it true?  The answer is YES. Not the ripping off part or us being scoundrels, but the fact is, if we go into a house that has very dirty carpet, the carpet is not going to be 100% dirt free at the end of the cleaning.  I’m sorry, but that is not how carpet cleaning works.

Here is why.  Carpet is a heavy fabric with a mesh backing.  You would literally have to soak the carpet in water and detergent and spend more time than any homeowner is willing to take to get out all the dirt.  Not to mention the expense of doing this would be more than what the carpet is worth.  You would have to clean the back of the carpet as well, because the backing gets dirty and traps dirt, which wicks up through the carpet fiber.

So, carpet cleaning is a compromise.  As a company, we  get as much dirt out as we can in a given cleaning, based on how much the client is willing to spend to get a desired result.  If the carpet is very dirty, you can get it much cleaner, but it will not be 100% dirt free.  No matter if our company would come back, or another, or the homeowner who does it themselves, yes, more dirty water will come out of the carpet.  If we could get paid for that kind of 100% dirt free result, we could do it, but again, nobody is going to pay for that.

Do we get calls and complaints?  Yes, but not very often. And when we do, we handle the issue until it meets our clients expectation within reason.  Cleaning is not a perfect world, you do the best you can with what you are given.

Carpet Cleanup: Cleaning Carpet after the Fargo Flood

So I have not put up any posts since the flood, but as you can imagine, we have been very busy.  Mostly, this was in the form of “catching up” with things that got behind during the flood.  Also, we took on several large janitorial cleaning accounts.  The timing of which was not that good, since the city was FULL of sand.

Sand everywhere!

We finished cleaning a home that had some water in the basement.  It was not by any means a total disaster but the carpet got wet and needed attention.

To start, we deflood the carpet by using a carpet cleaner to extract as much water as possible.  In this case, there was no standing water but the carpet pad absorbs 5-10 times its weight in water.  This saturated pad is very heavy and is very wet.  We start by extracting all the water we can from the top of the carpet.

Then, we pull the carpet back and extract more water from the pad.  In this case, the pad was ruined and beginning to disintegrate from the moisture.  This room was around 250 square feet and we were able to remove around 50 gallons of water from the carpet and pad.  Imagine dumping a 50 gallon drum of water over your basement carpet.  The amount of water is deceptive.

Next, the pad is cut up into small sections and removed in large garbage bags.  The last steps involve using high power fans to aid in drying the wet carpet, along with high power dehumidifiers to remove moisture from the building material and the floor.  We use dehumidifiers that remove up to 15 gallons of water per day.

Fargo Flood Warning 2009:Flood Cleanup Info

Sandbags are piling up

So the water continues to rise, and a good deal of snow does not help.  Our company, Big Fish Service Company, has been busy working to help with the flood efforts as we enter a critical period in the effort to keep the Fargo-Moorhead area dry.

In the meantime, I found some great information that might be of use, if, you indeed do get flood water.

Here is the link on our site for flood cleanup tips.