Sticky Residue On Carpet

Recently I had the pleasure of cleaning the carpets for friends of mine who live near my home. My son, Jordan, and I cleaned four bedrooms and a microfiber ottoman. After the carpets had dried there was a sticky residue on the carpet fibers. The carpet fibers were also stiff and crunchy. Since our cleaning process and chemicals ALWAYS leaves the carpet soft and fluffy I was initially stumped by what may have caused this problem.

Before I tell you the answer to the problem let me first explain what causes carpets to be stiff and crunchy after cleaning. When carpets are manufactured they are designed to be pH neutral. By making them pH neutral carpets will feel soft and fluffy to the touch. This is why you like walking on clean carpets in your bare feet. When you clean your carpets, whether you hire a professional or you do it yourself, the cleaning solution (aka soap) will always have a pH level of 8.0 or higher, this is what we call an "Alkaline Cleaner".  If the soap is not totally rinsed out of the carpet the carpets will be sticky, stiff, and crunchy everytime. You will also notice that the carpets will get dirtier faster because the soap is like glue.  Using water alone will NOT totally rinse out the soap, a special chemical must be added at the time the carpets are being rinsed to thoroughly remove all of the cleaning products.

Upon speaking with my friend, Mary, it was discovered that they had hired a professional carpet cleaner almost (1) year ago and the carpets where sticky, stiff, and crunchy after his cleaning too. Mary went on to say that the other cleaner's job was a lot worse than mine and that entire carpets were sticky, stiff, and crunchy.  My job was only sticky, stiff and crunchy in a few places. I also asked her about the ottoman that we cleaned she said the ottoman looked and felt brand new. The previous cleaner, the so called professional, had NOT used a rinsing agent to thoroughly remove all of the soap from the carpets. When I cleaned I pulled out all of my soap and most of his but some of that soap had settled into the padding and had wicked up from my cleaning.

Jordan and I gladly recleaned their carpets for them at no charge and YES we did manage to pull out the sticky residue. The carpets looked brighter, felt softer, and were obviously cleaner. Who do you think Mary will call the next time she wants her carpets cleaned? If you have questions please reach me at paddle@frontiernet.net.

Until Next Time,

Michael Hull

This Really Happened Today

Earlier today I met with a man, at his in-laws future home, to inspect and to provide him with a written estimate for tile and grout cleaning, tile shower cleaning, kitchen countertop cleaning, tile vanity cleaning, and carpet cleaning. He also wanted to include sealing and protecting of the grout lines. The home, according to zillow.com was 2300 square feet with approximately 500 square feet of tile flooring. I estimated that to properly clean everything and seal it would require two full days of work.

During the inspection he explained to me that he had already hired an individual to clean the tile but the he had quit after only 1-2 hours of work. He went on to explain to me that this cleaner's estimate for the tile floor cleaning, tile shower cleaning, tile vanity cleaning, and tile kitchen countertop cleaning was $550.00 and that the other companies that he had met with were over $1,100.00. He said the original cleaner never came back from lunch and won't return his telephone calls. Since no one has spoken with the cleaner we can only speculate why he won't return his client's telephone calls and why he will not return to complete the work. My guess would be that the cleaner began to realize that he was in way over his head and knew that he could not complete the work in a timely and satisfactorily manner. It was easier for him to quit then to admit that he had bitten off more than he could chew.

Motivational speaker Zig Ziglar once said something that has stuck with me for almost 25 years - "Good things aren't cheap and cheap things aren't good".  I would rephrase Zig's original quote to read "Good cleaners aren't cheap and cheap cleaners aren't good". If you have questions about this article you can contact me at paddle@frontiernet.net.

Michael Hull