![]() Carpeting your Sheffield Commercial Office or facility is most often a substantial investment. An investment that requires periodic maintenance, like changing the oil in your car or washing and waxing your car. If you don't wash and wax your car the paint condition will deteriorate much faster. The same is true with the carpet in your facility in Sheffield. Which method of cleaning is right for your needs? In today's article, I'm going to cover the pros and cons of both Hot Water Extraction and Encapsulation. First, we must understand what kind of carpet we are maintaining. Most all commercial carpet manufactured today are a loop construction with an olefin chemical composition. Olefin is an oil based product. Therefore, it is oil attracting. Which sometimes make it a challenge to clean. Fear not with the right maintenance schedule based on the amount of foot traffic will give you a clean looking carpet for years to come. At the end of this article, I will give a final recommended cleaning schedule. Let's first look a the pros and cons of Hot Water Extraction. Let's put one important point to rest. There is no such thing as "steam cleaning". There isn't enough moisture to rinse and flush a carpet pile with "all steam". Besides, there is no commercial carpet cleaning machine that has the ability to produce steam only at the wand tip. So,, all wand water-based cleaning is hot water extraction. Water boils at 212 degrees at sea level. Yes. There can appear to be a flume of steam coming out of the wand tip when cleaning, although it's still the same effect when you go out on a cold day breathe hard and see vapour or what appears to be steam coming out of your mouth. Most commercial equipment will push nearly 200 degrees out the wand tip. That's Hot! This is one of the cons. Too much hot water extraction tends to deteriorate the carpet backing. It can also create another condition called Dry Rot. Technically Dry Rot isn't Dry Rot. It's caused when the carpet is wetted then dried too often. It should be called Wet Rot. Another con is the amount of wet time or the amount of time required to dry. Security issues with the doors being unsecured during cleaning which is normally done after hours. The biggest Pro of the Hot Water Extraction process is its ability to flush the carpet pile then extract. Almost a total removal of allergens, dust and soiling. Let's next discuss Encapsulation. Then we will cover how the two working together will create a nearly perfect maintenance plan for your facility. Pros and Cons of Encapsulation. First I must briefly describe the encapsulation process. Caution: this encapsulation description is not scientific. It is kept basic so most everyone can easily understand. Encapsulation: is a specialised solution that's applied to the carpet by some sprayer. Then it is worked into the pile by some sort of agitation - normally a rotary floor machine with a bonnet or carpet safe scrub pad. The solution surrounds the fibre-like carpet protection. While on the fibre, it will repel or release more surface soil. When the carpet is vacuumed, it will further pull more soiling from the fibre. Eventually, the non-soil attracting coating on the fibres breaks off being sucked into the vacuum. The pros of encapsulation are most spots don't return - the carpet simply doesn't get wet enough to wick, dries fast and carpets stay cleaner longer. It also reduces the chances of Dry Rot and does not damage the carpet backing. It's a much faster cleaning process. The only con I can see with the encapsulation process is that it’s not fully flushing the carpet pile. This is where we marry the two processes for a nearly perfect carpet maintenance schedule. The Carpet & Rug Institute, the leading authority on commercial carpet maintenance suggest that for every 3 to 4 encapsulation processes that one hot water extraction process be done. This will lessen the number of times required for hot water extraction and extend the life and look of your commercial carpets without sacrificing indoor air quality or cleanliness. Depending on how much traffic goes through your Sheffield facility usually determines the frequency of cleaning. Frequency could be every month, another month, quarterly or every six months. Having your carpets encapsulated will also save you money. Encapsulation is a much less costly process because of its. I've heard of encapsulation cleaning as low as 5 pence per square foot. I haven't seen a reputable company offering hot water extraction any less than 10 pence per square foot. Your carpet cleaning professional can give you a better idea of what's best for your facility. I hope this article helps you make an educated & informed decision on the carpet maintenance for your office or facility. Sheffield Cleaning Leaders 112a, 88 Queen St, Sheffield S1 2FW 0114 303 1020 http://www.sheffieldcleaningleaders.co.uk
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