Questions to Ask a Carpet Shampooing Professional Before They Arrive

When you are ready to have your home’s carpets professionally cleaned, note a few questions to ask before you hire someone. This will ensure you know what their work will involve, and that the job will be done right!

​Be very honest with a carpet cleaning professional about any stains on your home’s carpets, and if you don’t know their source. You can even tell the cleaning professional if the stain has a particular smell, such as coffee, food, or mildew.

Ask the cleaning professional if they can identify stains before they clean them, as different stains may need different detergents or equipment in order to remove them properly. You can also ask how they tackle different types of stains, so you know the professional you hire will clean your home’s carpets properly, rather than using a “one size fits all” approach to problem areas.

While your home’s entire carpeting should be cleaned on a regular basis, in order to remove dust and dirt that’s settled under furniture and elsewhere, a cleaning of just the high-traffic areas can often be faster and more affordable than a whole-house clean. In turn, you can have this cleaning done more often throughout the year, so that your carpets always look and smell fresh, but without breaking your budget!

​It might be helpful if you ran your home’s vacuum cleaner over your carpets before they’re shampooed; however, don’t assume that you should apply your own spot removers, deodorizers, and other products to your carpeting  before the cleaning professionals arrive. Store-bought products may actually interfere with the detergents used by a carpet cleaning professional, so always ask before you apply any of these products to your home’s carpeting.

​Your carpet shampoo specialist may recommend that you avoid putting furniture directly on the carpeting for some time after it’s been shampooed, to ensure the carpets can dry properly. It might also be advised that you wait for some time before you vacuum your home’s carpets, so that you don’t spread dust or dirt from the vacuum cleaner onto damp carpet fibers.

A carpet cleaning professional might also recommend that you wait a day or two and then vacuum the carpets before you let young children play on the floor, so that you remove any detergent residue from those carpet fibers. Whatever the case, always ask what to avoid after your home’s carpets are shampooed, so they stay as clean as possible for as long as possible.