Steam Cleaning vs Chem Dry

Don’t Fall for the Chem-Dry Hype...

You’re looking for a carpet cleaner in the Greater Appleton area. You do a diligent search and you find a few listings for Chem-Dry services. “What the heck is that?”, you may ask yourself. You’re likely to come across pages with titles like “Chem-Dry vs Steam Cleaning” or something to that nature. If you read on, you’re likely to be convinced that the chem-dry process is the best carpet cleaning method ever devised! Not so fast. Let’s cut through the marketing hype and take a look at what is really going on.

What They Say About Steam Cleaning

Let’s break down the marketing brochure bullet points regarding steam (hot water extraction) cleaning. The chem-dry marketing brochure (which these claims come from) will state that steam cleaners use strong chemical cleaners. Absolutely! Guilty as charged! Firstly, “strong” doesn’t mean harsh and “chemical” doesn’t mean unsafe. After all, your toothpaste is a chemical (stannous fluoride). Is that unsafe? Baking soda is a chemical and is used in cleaning solutions, too! Salt? That’s a chemical as well. This is grade school chemistry, folks. Don’t believe for a minute that the industry would allow unsafe chemicals to be used in households. Besides, look at the name of this competing product: CHEM-Dry! Obviously, they use chemicals, too!

Steam Cleaning Has Long Dry Times

Another of their talking points is that steam cleaning has long dry times. That is a false statement. You can trust that your carpets will be thoroughly cleaned and will dry quickly. Drying times do depend on weather conditions, thickness of carpet, and airflow. You can find out more on our Frequently Asked Questions page.

Steam Cleaning Uses High pH Cleansers

Now we’re about to get to a point that is really misleading. The claim is that steam cleaning uses high pH cleansers. This is total nonsense. No knowledgeable cleaner will ever use anything above a pH of 10. (Neutral pH is 7.) So, if a cleaner is using a cleanser that is 7.2 pH, they can claim that it is a “high pH” cleanser. Don’t fall for it.

Steam Cleaning Promotes Stain Recurrence

Another claim is that steam cleaning promotes stain recurrence. Once again, this is assuming the cleaner does inferior work and leaves a messy, wet carpet for you. Once again, refer to the FAQ page to see about drying times. You’ll also see that you can walk on your carpet with clean shoes soon after the cleaning is finished.

Steam Cleaning Has No Green Certification

They will claim steam cleaning has no green certification. Really? Take a look at the Green Seal Certified Products that Pro Floor Restore offers. Many companies now offer quality green certified products that are formulated to meet or exceed the EPA‘s Design for the Environment program guidelines.

Fact: Steam Cleaning is the Preferred Method of Cleaning of US Carpet Manufacturers

Finally, as Pro floor Restore’s Promise to You states: steam cleaning is the preferred, accepted method of cleaning of every US carpet manufacturer. This—steam cleaning—is the method Pro Floor Restore uses.