Have you ever watched someone professionally clean a carpet and wondered why they move the cleaning wand the way they do?
After more than 56 years in the carpet cleaning business, I can tell you that there is a lot more to properly cleaning a carpet than simply pushing a wand back and forth across the floor.
I see videos all the time of people calling themselves professional carpet cleaners, and occasionally I see something that makes me cringe. The problem isn’t necessarily the equipment. In many cases, it is the way the equipment is being used.
One of the most important pieces of equipment in hot-water extraction carpet cleaning is the cleaning wand. And knowing how to use that wand properly can make a tremendous difference in the final appearance of the carpet.
The goal isn’t simply to get the carpet clean
When a carpet is heavily soiled, the soil is rarely distributed evenly.
Some areas may have years of accumulated soil, while other areas may have relatively little. A traffic lane may be considerably dirtier than the area underneath a sofa. A doorway may be heavily soiled while the rest of the room is relatively clean.
That creates an interesting challenge.
The goal should be to produce a carpet that has a uniform appearance after cleaning.
In other words, you don’t want one section of carpet to be dramatically cleaner than the surrounding area simply because more cleaning solution was deposited there or because the wand remained over that section longer.
I would much rather produce a carpet that is uniformly clean than have certain areas cleaned extremely aggressively while other areas receive a different level of cleaning.
It starts with controlling the amount of cleaning solution
There is a balance between the amount of cleaning solution being applied to the carpet and the amount of solution the extraction equipment can remove.
The spray tips, water pressure, flow rate and speed at which the wand is moved all have to work together.
If too much solution is being applied for the extraction capacity of the equipment and the speed of the wand, you can end up putting more moisture into the carpet than you can effectively recover.
You may even see water extending beyond the sides of the wand.
That is a sign that something isn’t being properly controlled.
And there is another problem that isn’t always obvious: the carpet doesn’t necessarily receive the same amount of cleaning solution everywhere.
Where you start and stop the wand matters
This is one of those little things that separates someone who understands carpet cleaning from someone who is simply operating a piece of equipment.
When I begin a cleaning stroke, I don’t want to start spraying cleaning solution while the wand is sitting stationary on the carpet.
Instead, I want the wand to already be moving across an area that has been cleaned.
Once the wand is moving, the solution can be turned on.
As I approach the end of the stroke, I stop applying the solution while continuing to move the wand.
Why?
Because I don’t want one particular spot to receive a concentrated application of cleaning solution simply because the wand stopped moving while the spray was still operating.
The same principle applies at the beginning of the next stroke.
The objective is to keep the application of cleaning solution as consistent as possible across the carpet.
Why you sometimes see lines in a freshly cleaned carpet
If a technician isn’t careful about starting and stopping the wand, you can sometimes see a pattern developing across the carpet.
For example, imagine a technician making a series of passes approximately three feet wide.
If the wand is stopped at the end of every pass while the spray is still operating, that area can receive more cleaning solution and more dwell time than the surrounding carpet.
The result can be a series of noticeably cleaner lines.
The irony is that the technician may have actually done a better job of removing soil in those particular areas.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean the carpet looks better.
It may actually look worse because the carpet is no longer uniform.
There is a reason the wand has two handles
Another thing I frequently see is a technician operating a carpet cleaning wand with only one hand.
There is a reason the wand was designed with a second handle.
Properly using both hands allows the technician to control the wand and apply the appropriate downward pressure while maintaining the correct angle.
But there is a balance here.
The objective isn’t simply to push the wand as hard as possible into the carpet.
Extraction depends on several things working together, including the vacuum airflow, the wand opening, the angle of the wand and the amount of contact between the wand and the carpet.
The wand needs to allow sufficient airflow while also maintaining good contact with the carpet so that as much of the cleaning solution as possible is recovered.
That’s where experience really matters.
A technician has to learn to feel what the wand is doing.
Carpet cleaning isn’t just about the machine
This is something I’ve learned over many decades in this business.
You can buy an excellent truckmount, an expensive wand and all the latest equipment available.
But equipment doesn’t replace experience.
The technician has to understand how much solution to apply, how quickly to move, how to start and stop the spray, how much pressure to use and how to position the wand for effective extraction.
Those things may seem like small details.
They aren’t.
They are part of what determines whether the finished carpet looks uniformly clean and dries properly.
What I look for when I’m cleaning a carpet
When I’m cleaning a carpet, I’m not simply thinking, “How much dirt can I remove from this spot?”
I’m thinking about the carpet as a whole.
How heavily soiled is it?
How much cleaning solution does it need?
How quickly can I move the wand?
How much solution can my equipment recover?
Am I maintaining consistent application from one area to the next?
And, most importantly, what is this carpet going to look like when I’m finished?
That last question is often overlooked.
The best carpet cleaning isn’t necessarily the cleaning that looks the most dramatic while the technician is working.
It’s the carpet that, when the job is finished and the carpet has dried, looks clean, even and uniform from one side of the room to the other.
After 56 years in this business, I can tell you that knowing how to operate a carpet cleaning wand properly is not a minor detail.
The wand is simply a tool. Experience is knowing how to use it.
For more tips on carpet and upholstery cleaning be sure to visit our website and explore some of the other Ask Alec pages.