If you’re looking for someone to come in and clean your carpet for you, then you don’t really care what carpet cleaning machine they use, right?

As long as they do the job right and for the right price, then it’s not really any concern of yours whether they use a truck mounted cleaner or a rotovac.

If you’re looking  for the machines that you can hire (in case you’d rather save yourself some cash) and do the job yourself then head on over to my Carpet Cleaning Rental page (just click on the words that are underlined) and I go through some of the common machines that you can rent.

The second half of this page we’ll take you through some of the common machines that commercial carpet cleaners use. This is so you can have a bit of an understanding of what to expect and so that you are not bamboozled with too much technical talk.

Extractors: Extractors use a detergent solution that is forced into the carpet by a pump, then the solution is sucked out of the carpet with a high power vacuum. Heaters can be added to the machines either internally or externally. The heated water tends to break up greasy dirt faster. The extraction method leaves the carpet wetter than other systems, but it cleans deeper.

Self-Contained Carpet Extraction Machine: Uses the same principle as an extractor but has a built in brush that scrubs the carpet between putting the solution down and vacuuming it back up. This system is great for large commercial areas.

Extraction Restoration: The best way to deep clean a carpet is to use a 2-step process.

1)      Pre-spray the carpet with a good pre-spray or use a non-residue shampoo. Agitate the carpet with a carpet brush to loosen the dirt both on the top of the carpet and deep in the carpet pile. Let the chemicals site for a few minutes to allow the chemicals to break up the dirt after you scrub it.

2)      Extract the chemicals using a good extraction cleaner or use a rinsing agent. The rinsing aidwill flush out all chemicals and dirt from step 1.

Bonnet Cleaning: Bonnets are mad of synthetic or natural materials (or a combination of both) and are round pads that go under standard speed floor buffers. This is a good system when carpet cleaning is being done on a regular and frequent basis. This method does not use very much water so it dries quickly, but it is not a deep cleaning. It is recommended that the carpet be sprayed with the detergent then buffed with a dry bonnet, when the bonnet gets dirty it needs to be either changed or flipped over to the clean side.

Rotary Brush or Dry Foam: Uses a foaming shampoo that is applied to the carpet and then brushes agitate the carpet pile. Some machines have their own extraction capability that will remove the shampoo and any dirt particles attached to them. Others do not have this capability and a wet/dry vacuum must be used to remove the shampoo and soil.

Truck Mounted: Truck Mount Carpet Cleaning Machines are carpet cleaning machines that are usually bolted into a van or truck and enables the operator to just bring hoses and wand in the building to be cleaned.