Watch out for these Carpet Cleaning Ripoffs!

"Do you do dry cleaning? Because my son has allergies."

Many times I've been driving around Raleigh and had someone drive up next to me and ask me this question. I just say no, because there is no time to explain anything at a stoplight with the window rolled down. If I had more time, this is what I would ask them.

Would you dry clean your dishes? Your laundry?

Of course I would need more time to explain that impertinent question!

I suspect that the fear of aggravating allergies comes from a worry that the carpets will stay wet. This is not the case! When I clean a carpet, I leave it nearly dry, and in four hours it will be completely dry (two hours if I use fans).

Allergies are usually triggered by airborne particles that we breathe in.

Guess what is used to dry clean a carpet? A dry carpet cleaner spreads a powder across the carpet, then runs a groomer over it, then vacuums it up. When he leaves, you are likely to have more airborne particles than you did before you paid him to clean your carpet!

Let me tell you why I don’t do dry cleaning in people’s homes.

I could--I have the equipment for it, and it would be an easy service for me to add. However, there is only one customer problem that dry cleaning with powder will solve: If you need your carpet to be clean the minute the technician leaves your house.

However, it takes care of the following headaches for the carpet cleaning company:


Dry cleaning companies like to scare their clients with tales of carpets left wet for days, mold under the carpets, etc. This is possible when using very poor technique on severely underpowered equipment. The simple fact is, though, that, properly used, even a portable hot water extractor will get your carpet cleaner than a dry process.

Comparison of Dry Cleaning to Hot Water Extraction (Steam Cleaning)

A dry cleaner will:


My mid-priced package, the Deep Clean process includes:


Here's where people get concerned, and I can understand. All that water on your carpet must soak in, right? Actually, that's wrong. The wand jets spray the water horizontally across the carpet fibers, then the vacuum draws it up as it goes on. A properly trained technician will then follow with at least one dry stroke in order to further remove any remaining wetness. My clients who feel the carpet after I'm done often remark that "That's just barely wet." In just a few hours it will be dry, and much cleaner than it would be if it had been dry cleaned.