Don’t Get Too Steamed

If you have multiple types of flooring in your home – for instance, tile in the kitchen, hardwood in the foyer and carpet in the den – you probably look for versatility in your household cleaning products. This is often why many people are buying steam mops to help with the cleanliness of their homes. A steam mop can swiftly wipe clean both tiles and hardwoods with very little effort.

But what about carpet? The steam mop only uses steam, not chemical components. The microfiber cloths are easy to remove and gentle on smooth surfaces – surely, they’d be safe for carpet fibers. Can a steam mop make life easier by covering all the different floors of a home?

Tread Lightly… Very Lightly

One of the main differences between carpet and hardwood or tile flooring is depth. Hardwood or tile floors are surface only, easily cleaned with a broom and mop combination, or a frequent steam mop. Carpet, however, has more going on under the surface. Steam mops simply aren’t designed or intended to penetrate below the surface. In fact, that’s the main difference between a steam mop and a steam cleaner, which is designed for cleaning below the carpet surface. If not used with experience and skill, the hot steam from your mop could damage the backing, padding or fiber connections in your carpet.

Nevertheless, steam mops can help with removing some surface stains, as well as killing dust mites with its heat – commonly reaching 220 degrees Fahrenheit with most models. Many versions come with a glider attachment for easier maneuvering over carpet or rugs.

There are two main things that’s best to do before attempting to clean your carpet with a steam mop:

1. Read the manufacturer instructions. In most cases, the instructions will inform you whether the make and model can work with your carpet. But be sure to take their word for it: if the instructions say not to use it on carpet, then don’t use it on carpet.
2. Call Preferred Carpet Care in Redding. We can guide you with tips and pointers on how to (or how not to) clean your carpet with your chosen steam mop. If you’re using it to address a stain, let’s talk about the cause of the stain first – steam might not do anything more than hide it for a few hours. Let our expertise work to your advantage.

Using a steam mop on your carpet could help to improve the overall appearance or your carpet, and perhaps even address some lingering odors as well as help to alleviate suffering from allergies. Simply remember: a steam mop is not designed to deep clean carpets.

For a Deep Carpet Cleaning, Contact Preferred

Preferred Carpet Care of Redding specializes in professional carpet cleaning. Along with regular vacuuming, our skills, techniques, and equipment are typically more than enough to eliminate stains, mites, dirt, grime, allergens, and anything else that could be resting on – or hiding in – your carpet. Quite frankly, your steam mop doesn’t stand a chance competing against our proven success record of professional carpet steam cleaning. Give us a call or schedule an appointment online we will demonstrate why.