Carpet Cleaning or Carpet Stretching
Is your carpeting looking dingy, dirty, rippled and wrinkled? If so, you may think that replacing your carpets is the only way to restore your floor’s beauty. But you actually have a much more economical option available to you in the Durham, NC area. If you have not had your carpets cleaned in awhile, it is the perfect time to call your local experts at Progreen Carpet for help. We offer carpet cleaning and carpet stretching services sure to add to the longevity of your floor coverings.
Most people know about carpet cleaning. But what is carpet stretching? How will this service help you and which comes first, the cleaning or the stretching?
What Is Carpet Stretching?
Carpet stretching solves the common problem of carpeting developing an uneven surface, such as one with wrinkles, ripples, bumps and bubbles. You may notice these uneven areas in your floor covering upon moving furniture or even when vacuuming. The rippling effect is unsightly, but can also create a tripping hazard in your home.
There are many reasons for carpet rippling. Rippling often results from poor installation, improper padding or adhesive failure. In fact, using the right adhesives as part of carpet installation can enable carpets to remain in position even after flooding. Not using the right glue has the opposite effect, often not withstanding even slight humidity.
Other common causes for carpet rippling include attempting to clean your carpets on your own. This tension failure in carpets can also happen because of heavy foot traffic or dragging heavy furniture from one area in a room to another. Of course, aging carpets become less elastic and eventually ripple for this reason.
Carpet stretching removes wrinkles and ripples from the surface of your carpeting. This process involves smoothing out the carpet through application of tension from multiple directions. The modern method utilizes a pole system and mechanized stretchers exerting more pressure than possible through human strength, alone. That force of almost 700 pounds pulls the latex padding taut so the carpet perfectly fits and lies wrinkle-free as it should. This leaves excess material along the edges of your carpeting that our service professionals trim away and refasten for a precise fit.
Which Comes First: Carpet Cleaning or Carpet Stretching?
This common question of whether cleaning or stretching comes first for carpets is not always answered the same way. It can vary according to your carpet’s condition and other factors. Even the service provider’s personal preference can come into play. But it is important to know that carpet cleaning using truck-mounted hot water extraction and a counter-rotational brush system will not loosen or ripple your carpets. That is a common myth of the carpet industry.
Carpet Cleaning before Carpet Stretching
Cleaning your carpet before stretching offers some benefits and drawbacks. One major benefit of cleaning first is that doing so makes the textile easier to work with for the stretcher.
But if the cleaning takes place where there are big ripples in the textile, these areas often do not clean well enough. Cleaning where there are wrinkles or bubbles can leave soiled lines on the carpeting. These lines will appear dirty after finishing the stretching. Another drawback of cleaning first is that the service provider will need to walk all over the clean carpet to do the carpet stretching. This may or may not affect how clean your carpet looks after job completion.
Carpet Stretching before Carpet Cleaning
Doing the stretching first, before cleaning, benefits the homeowner by leaving the carpet as clean as possible because all of the other work is done. Stretching first also means rippled areas of the textile are successfully cleaned by the machine and not left visibly dirty. However, stretching first means the carpet is not as easy for the technician to work with, as it is after cleaning.
Which Comes First Doesn’t Matter
Whether carpet stretching or cleaning come first does not really matter. What matters is that the stretching and cleaning leave your carpeting looking much better than before. Under the care of a Progreen Carpet professional, your carpets will be clean, fresh and taut, just like new. Call Progreen Carpet of Durham, NC today at 919-332-3039 to schedule your carpet stretching and cleaning services.
