What type of cleaning is best for carpets and tile floors?

How many times have you heard someone say their carpets are so grungy that they need “steam cleaning”? 

But a cleaning with a powerful dose of steam could actually soak the carpet and ruin the backing of your rugs. What your carpets can benefit from instead is a process called “hot water extraction.” 

According to Jason Kahler, owner of First Class Green Cleaning in Phoenix, cleaning machines that his company uses inject hot water into dirty carpets along with a mild, chemical-free cleaning solution of mostly salt water and baking soda.  

That solution can loosen heavily impacted soils, oils and grease from the major walkways in your carpeting. This is followed up with a “massage” by a counter-rotating brush machine.  

Then the watery solution — and the dirt and the allergens — are extracted from the carpet. It can take from 12 to 24 hours for the carpeting to dry completely. 

The company uses machinery and a similar process to clean tile floors, including those dirty lines of porous grout between the tiles. No need to spend hours scrubbing with toothbrushes to clean grout. 

With a machine cleaning, because the grout is made of cement, it will get very wet and will take about 24 to 48 hours to dry completely.