Whether it is your home or office, the carpet needs regular cleaning to get rid of stains, dust, spots and germs that get accumulated over time. If you procrastinate the carpet cleaning for a long time, the spots get much more visible and the carpet may even start smelling awful. How often you have to clean the carpet depends on how much it gets used. If you have a flurry of people going in and out of your office, then perhaps it may need monthly cleaning. But if your office gets only a few visitors everyday, then you can have it cleaned once a year without any problem.

If you are looking forward to have your office carpet cleaned, then you should first understand the process involved as it may require you to move the furniture, equipment, machines and other items in your office. Here is how the carpet cleaning is done in a typical office:

• First of all, you should inspect the carpet closely for any damage, stains, smells etc., so that you can determine which portions of the carpet need extra cleaning. Sometimes there are hardened soil spots or spilled coffee marks that cannot be easily removed by the steam cleaning (also called hot water extraction) machine alone.

• Before the actual cleaning begins, the carpet is vacuumed to get rid of any hardened soil (stuck on the carpet from people coming with wet and muddy shoes). The furniture is not yet moved because the soil stains cannot possibly go under the furniture. But after vacuuming and removing most of the soil stains, the furniture has to be moved.

• At this point, the carpet is inspected again and some hard-to-remove spots are treated with cleaning chemicals (mostly alkalines and acetic acid based cleaning agents) to remove them. The areas which get more traffic are sprayed with biodegradable traffic lane treatment chemical. If there are some obstinate soil stains that are still present, then you may need to use a rotary cleaning machine to loosen up the soil from the carpet, but generally it is not required.

• Once the pre-cleaning steps have got rid of the hard-to-clean spots and stains, you can start using the hot water extraction machine. You have to mix water with carpet cleaning soaps or shampoo and fill it in the machine. This machine generates hot water, pushes hot steam into the carpet and then extracts it back. This way, all the dust and dirt get cleaned up efficiently. The hot steam thoroughly cleans the carpet and removes all the germs and toxins as well. You can use either a portable machine for smaller offices, but for large offices, a truck mounted large machine is advised.

• You should give at least five minutes for every area of the carpet when using the hot water extraction machine. When the water extraction machine has done the extraction and rinsing, the carpet will end up being a little wet. You can turn on ceiling fans and leave it to dry by itself overnight, or you can use high velocity air mover machines to help the carpet dry much faster. Because the carpet drying can take many hours, it is advised that you clean the carpets in your office on weekends when it is closed for work.

• It may take between 4 to 6 hours for the carpet to get completely dry, but it all depends on the size of your office. When the carpet has dried to an acceptable level, you can start moving the furniture back to its original place. But do not hurry anything, as walking or placing furniture over wet carpet can leave spots.

The hot and humid climate of Singapore facilitates easy growth of germs, bacteria and fungus on the carpet. This is the reason why the hot water extraction method is the best way to clean the carpets in the Singapore climate. Using the power of hot water steam, it can deeply clean the carpets and sanitize them against possible toxins, fungal growth and germs. The process leaves almost no residue or lather after the cleaning is done. In addition to being thorough, the hot water extraction method is also eco-friendly and actually adds years to your carpet’s life.