More than ever home cleaning and healthy living has been at the forefront of our minds, seemingly a new normal that we all are adjusting to. It seems so basic — it’s what we’ve always been doing; washing with soap and warm water. For such an old cleaning method, soap hasn’t seen many innovations. Most advancements have been finding additional applications like detergents, dishwashing liquid or carpet solutions.
But why does soap work so well and why is it such an essential cleaning tool? Soap is a surfactant, or a surface active agent, and when used with water it pulls at dirt to loosen it. This tug-of-war is the active part of using a surfactant and is why when you leave something dirty to soak it becomes easier to clean. The same thing happens when you use a detergent or solution. While cleaning solutions and detergents have their own innovations and added benefits that boost their effects, there are other factors to cleaning than just soap or solution alone.
The four primary factors are chemistry, time, temperature and mechanical motion. I’ve already mentioned the chemical factor; surfactants like soaps, solutions and detergents, but when combined with one or more of the other factors the chemical’s job is made easier. By balancing these factors, cleaning becomes both easier and less dependent on any one of those factors.
The way we wash our hands with soap and warm water is similar to how clothes are cleaned in the washer, dishes in the dishwasher and carpets by carpet washers. Those same factors are at work within the machines. Carpet cleaners use a combination of cleaning solution, water, scrubbing brushes, and vacuum suction to clean. The solution will loosen dirt and remove stains while the powerful scrubbing brushes separate the dirt from the carpet.
Carpets are wonderful for the comfort and decoration they add to our homes, but they can hold a lot of gunk in them that builds up over time. Cleaning them is not only good for getting rid of the gunk, but it creates a healthier home environment for you and your family.
A clean and healthy home is something that many of us spend a lot of time and energy on, and it is completely worth the effort. There are many different ways to clean your home and countless tools to do it with, but you can trust that with a carpet cleaner, some solution and a little water, cleaning your carpets is made a whole lot easier.