Why is my carpet hard after cleaning?

Welcome to the topic “Why is my carpet hard after cleaning?”

Imagine getting your carpet cleaned finally; you scrub and wash all afternoon, daydreaming about how to soft and fluffy your carpet will feel afterward. Finally, after what seems like eons of washing and scrubbing, you are done.

You sigh with satisfaction and wait for the carpet to finally dry.

The carpet finally dries, and you take that first step you have been thinking about all day long. You put your foot on it; wait, something feels off.

The carpet feels hard! What do you do now?

What has gone wrong?

A single blunder when trying to clean carpets can transform once-soft carpet into a rigid, crunchy disaster.

Add to the fact that some carpet fibers innately firm up as they dry regardless of how meticulously you clean, increasing the likelihood of plush carpets becoming fibrous and tough.

Whatever the reason for this may be, you shouldn’t have to deal with scraggly, stiff fibers between your toes.

In this blog post, we will look into why your carpet sometimes becomes hard or crunchy after cleaning.

1. Absence of proper extraction

Working too rapidly only enables the shampooer or extractor to eliminate the soap solution and dirt-laden water from the carpet’s exterior, leaving a trace of the impure water in the carpet’s base.

When the deposits dry, they come to the carpet’s surface,  causing stiffening, and clumping of the fibers together.

Excess detergent attracts and clings to dirt, which inevitably leads to unwelcome crunchiness. Remove the residue by re-cleaning the carpets by filling the shampoo or extractors cleaning tank using distilled water treated with different types of neutralizing chemicals.

Mix this chemical concoction that is available online or at various stores according to the manufacturers ‘ instructions and the size of the appliance’s canister.

To avoid this in the future make sure to do just one pass with the shampoo and begin taking your time to remove the solution carefully and thoroughly from the carpet’s surface and the interior.

It can take up to a second per 1-foot to work each of the sections until the water stops trying to enter the equipment.

2. Wrong type Soap or Detergent

Crunchy carpets can also be caused by incorrect carpet shampoo or failing to follow the manufacturer’s instructions while diluting the product.

There are different types of carpets with different fibers that you can purchase in the market. It is essential you know what type of fiber you have because the way your clean that fiber will be different. Cleaning a silk thread will require a gentler solution and more finesse than a cotton one.

Hence, Choose and use carpet shampoos that are ideally suggested by the brand or the manufacturer of your carpet. You can also hire a good carpet cleaning company like ours to clean your carpet for you.

A common misconception we have noticed people have is using more soap is good. However, using more soap than prescribed will not clean your carpets. Think of it shampooing your hair. If you use too much of it, your hair becomes flaccid. Similarly, using more than needed carpet shampoo will make your carpet hard.

In reality, it is usually safe to start with half to three-quarters of the recommended amount; better safe than be sorry.

After that, dilute a neutralizing rinse with water as per the manufacturer’s instructions and pour it into a spray bottle.

While the carpet is still wet, saturate it evenly with water and allow it to dry. It is essential to use it while the carpet is wet because it will not work on a dry carpet.

3. Water sensitive fibers

Some fibers, particularly ones made of natural materials like wool, seagrass, coir jute, etc., stiffen when exposed to moisture, even if you or a professional shampooed the carpets meticulously and used the appropriate type and quantity of soap.

Suppose you experience this; don’t worry.

The first thing you should do is to step away from the carpet. Do not try to fix it yourself; trust us you trying to it will only make the situation ten times worse.

What you should do is call a carpet cleaning company like ours. We will come to your house and use state an art carpet groomer and gently go over each section of the carpet.

We will rake over each section and lightly break the clumps that have formed due to the fibers of the carpet seizing and sticking together. This will also help get rid of dust or dirt buildup that you may be having a hard time getting out.

After this, we will go over the carpet with a vacuum cleaner which will help suck up all the clumps that were taken from the racking.

This is a delicate process and will have to be done two to three times to help your carpet come back to its old self fully.

The thing is you can prevent this from happening altogether by reading the carpet care instructions. If you are not able to find those or are still confused, you can call your carpet seller and ask them how to wash the carpet properly.

 

4. Too frequent cleaning

It is understandable that you want to clean your carpet frequently; it is dirty and full of harmful bacteria but cleaning it too frequently will do more harm than good.

Excessive shampooing increases the risk of residual buildup in the carpet. Carpets are notoriously hard to clean because they have so many underlays.

Hire a professional like us to eliminate all traces of the old shampoo that may not have been taken out from that last wash before beginning a less rigorous at-home shampooing regimen.

To reduce the need for deep cleaning, vacuum several times per week and clean spills immediately. For clean, non-crunchy flooring, shampoo with a hot water extractor and low-residue carpet soap every 12 to 18 months.

If you vacuum less commonly and have pets or have young children, your carpets may require more frequent deep cleaning, usually twice a year.

I hope this helped solve your query.

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Also Read: What would you need for emergency carpet cleaning?