Carpet Surface Cleaning Vs Deep Cleaning

[CharlesW]

There's been several posts that talk about how the surface cleaning like I do to my carpet fails to really get the carpet clean like the deep cleaning of an extractor.
To get some idea as to the difference, I tried a deep cleaning today.
No extractor, but I flooded the floor of my shower and soaked, scrubbed and rinsed a carpeted mat after my usual vacuuming and surface cleaning.
I used hot water that was actually too hot to put my hands in to start with. I mixed up a liberal solution of Dawn and scrubbed away with a brush. The water hardly changed color. Certainly didn't turn brown or even dark like I had expected. Thinking the Dawn wasn't strong enough, I rinsed the mat thoroughly and repeated the process using an APC to scrub the mat. Same results.
As far as I'm concerned, my surface cleaning is doing a good enough job that I won't be doing any more deep cleaning in the shower.

Charles

 

[audiboy]

I'd agree that if you're doing a thorough job on the carpeted areas you'll get them extremely clean. I think having an extractor would be really beneficial on cloth seating though. I find that I have to go light on the cleaning solution on the seats because it really soaks in when it gets too wet and at that point, my shop vac can't get all of it out.

 

[Brenton]

I think it is tougher with seats, but most people don't have the patience to do vac-shampooing well enough.

 

[Poorboy]

Charles you have way too much free time on your hands :lol2: Do you want to come clean the carpets in my mini-van
I would probably think that you do not grind dirt or let too much dirt accumulate on your rugs or seats to get a variable free result. I have cleaned carpets and seats that were abused and without an extracor, there would have been a lot of dirt left behind

 

[CharlesW]

Charles you have way too much free time on your hands :lol2: Do you want to come clean the carpets in my mini-van

You pay the round trip air fare and I'll be happy to do it for you. Or stop by Ankeny when you are going through.

I would probably think that you do not grind dirt or let too much dirt accumulate on your rugs or seats to get a variable free result. I have cleaned carpets and seats that were abused and without an extracor, there would have been a lot of dirt left behind

We accumulate a lot of sand and slushy mud during the winter, but I vacuum weekly and surface clean the mats about once a week. They never stay dirty for long and I'm sure that is a big help.

Charles