By Healthcare Facilities Today

Carpet represents a significant investment in any facility and requires proper maintenance methods to help it achieve maximum performance and life. While carpet extraction might seem like a straightforward process, doing it improperly can actually make the carpet dirtier faster. An article in Housekeeping Solutions goes over the right way to perform carpet extraction.

The first step is to have an appropriate vacuuming schedule. As it may not be feasible to vacuum every bit of carpet in a facility every day, carpeted zones should be prioritized according to the amount of traffic they see.  High traffic areas might be vacuumed once a day, with other areas hit at least once a week, on a rotating basis, for example.

Before carpet extraction takes place, the carpet ought to be prewet with a shampoo to help loosen up the soils that vacuuming can't get out. If the carpet has too much build up of cleaning chemicals from previous extractions, experts say using a mild acid prespray will help to break up the buildup. The problem with shampoo buildup in the carpet is that it causes the carpet to get dirty faster and can make the fibers dull and stiff, says the article.

Care should be taken to use the extractor as recommended by the manufacturer, with the proper dilution ratios for chemicals. More water or chemicals will not necessarily translate into a better clean. Hotter isn't necessarily better either, says the article. While hot water might be necessary if the carpet is heavily soiled, it causes a lot of wear on the carpet fibers.

Alternate deep cleaning methods exist to self-contained extraction. One is dry extraction, good for high-traffic areas with round-the-clock operation. Another is using recycling extractors, which conserve on water and chemicals.

Read the article.