Carpet cleaning is the only way to make your valuable flooring last as long as possible while looking, feeling and smelling great. So much dirt, debris and bacteria can live in an unclean carpet that taking the time to clean it or have it cleaned is an absolutely necessary part of caring for your home.
Whether you are hiring carpet cleaning services or you are trying to master carpet cleaning on your own, you are going to need to find the best way to get your carpet dry. Usually a professional carpet cleaner will include giving you advice or help with drying as part of a regular service or as part of carpet cleaning specials, so you won’t have to worry about it.
After a carpet cleaning you are going to want to get your carpet dry as fast as you can so that you can go back to life as normal. Even the best deep carpet cleaning can be ruined by not knowing how to properly dry the carpet, so we have made this helpful guide on how to dry carpet after cleaning. Follow these methods and you will surely get your carpet cleaning dry in a timely and efficient manner.
Which Method Of Carpet Cleaning?
Depending on your carpet cleaning methods you will need to take different steps to dry your carpet.
If your carpet was cleaned with chemicals called a dry carpet cleaning, you may not need to do anything to help your carpet dry. They can dry in as little as one to four hours, as the low moisture used in the cleaning will not take much time to dry out. You can ask your carpet cleaning professional for advice on when to start walking on the carpet and moving furniture onto it.
For a wet carpet cleaning or steam carpet cleaning, there is a lot more moisture used and you will need to wait at least six hours for the carpet to dry and you may need to do some extra work to help it dry faster. If you don’t help a wet cleaned carpet to dry, it could allow for mold or bacteria to start growing.
With any method of carpet cleaning, you definitely will want to get some advice from a professional carpet cleaner because they will know all the answers for your exact situation, as many factors can affect the drying process.
Weather Can Affect Carpet Drying
The best conditions for carpet drying are days with low humidity, good wind and warm temperatures. One way to help your carpet dry is to schedule your carpet cleaning for the time of year you will most likely have all of these conditions to aid the carpet drying.
If you are able to have all windows and doors open on a day with the right conditions, you may not have to do anything else to help your carpet to dry faster after cleaning. Trying to do carpet cleaning on a day that is raining with high humidity could be a bad time to clean a carpet if you don’t have access to certain tools which we can discuss later.
Using Fans To Dry Carpet
Using a fan to blow air over your cleaned carpet can help it to dry out faster, as the moisture that starts to evaporate will then be blown away more quickly. Use as strong of a fan as you have access to in order to get as much air moving as possible.
Many carpet cleaners will have fans that you can use and will be included in their service if they think they will be needed based on the conditions on the day of carpet cleaning. Or you may need to rent a fan from a tool rental business. Industrial grade blowers used in painting can be the best tool for this job.
Using Air Conditioning To Dry Carpet
It may seem counterintuitive to cool down the room to dry your carpet, but in a humid, warm climate this may be your best option. Have you ever noticed how your A/C has a tube that water drips out of? That is because cold air holds less moisture than warm air, so when the A/C cools down the room, the moisture in the warm air condenses and then exhausts out that tube.
If you turn on the A/C, it will get rid of the extra moisture that is evaporating out of your carpet, instead of the moisture getting trapped in the room and then more slowly evaporating. Turning on the A/C on a warm and humid day will definitely help speed up the drying time for your carpet.
Use A Wet/ Dry Shop Vacuum
A wet/ dry shop vac is meant to be able to suck up water, in fact if you want to you can use a shop vac to clean up after a flood or get rid of any amount of water and fluid. If you own a shop vac already you can just use it to dry up the carpet after cleaning. You can also rent a shop vac, or a carpet cleaning company may lend one to use as part of the service.
You don’t want to start vacuuming the carpet immediately after cleaning, wait at least one hour or more. Only use a shop vac if you are worried about the carpet not drying fast enough, as it is always best to just let nature take its course and dry the carpet naturally.
To dry the carpet with a shop vac you will have to do a lot of walking on the carpet, so make sure that you wear clean shoes and clothing. Drying with a shop vac can be very tedious, so only try this if you absolutely need to.
When To Use A Heater
On very cold winter days you are going to want to use a heater to dry the carpet after cleaning. You can use your home’s normal heating system, or you may want to bring in space heaters which will blow air as well as heat.
If you use a space heater, be careful that it stays upright and you will want to keep an eye on it. Many new space heaters have anti- fire sensors, but they have been known to start fires as they use a lot of electricity and can sometimes overheat. You do not want to leave a space heater running overnight.
Hire Professionals
Trying to clean and dry your carpet on your own can be really difficult and you may get it wrong and ruin your carpet. It is always best to get help from professional carpet cleaning services that will know exactly the best way to clean and dry your carpet.
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