- 10-May-2024
Many professionals who clean carpets and upholstered furniture also recommend baking soda as a safe carpet cleaner. When used together with the right method, it can remove stains, deodorize, and brighten carpets.
Carpets are easy to clean with baking soda due to their abrasive feel and high pH level.
Here’s a quick look at the science behind using it:
Abrasive Action – When baking soda has a fine grainy consistency; it can clean the carpet without causing to wear out on some of its surface fibers. This makes it suitable for use with carpets to work out the stains embedded therein.
Absorption – The baking soda product can absorb odors, dirt, and some staining compounds. When it works on the carpet, the dirt draws these contaminants into its own powdery structure.
Alkalinity – Baking soda’s pH is close to 8-9, so it brings alkaline into the carpet. It effectively neutralises acids and also develops an action that disperses organic staining compounds by a process known as saponification. Such conditions reduce the chances of microbial activities that cause smell.
Professional carpet cleaners use baking soda in a few different ways when cleaning carpets:
Standalone Deodorizer
Baking soda can be scattered on carpets and then vacuumed after several hours. The dwell time here is when the baking soda neutralizes with the odor molecules, and they are removed. It is also slightly gritty and, therefore, tends to help to loosen surface grime.
Spot Treatment
Baking soda can be mixed with water to give a paste. This is usually used by carpet cleaners to work on the stain then rinse with a carpet cleaning equipment. The rough-surfaced opens the pores of the stain while the high pH washes it away.
Cleaning Solution Boost
Some carpet cleaners prefer to take baking soda and mix it with the pre-spray solutions and the solution that is used in cleaning machines. Typical concentration is 1 cup per gallon, the baking soda enhances the ability of the cleaner towards stain removal and carpets are freshened through extraction.
For even better results, many carpet cleaning pros combine baking soda with other safe household ingredients:
Hydrogen Peroxide – When hydrogen peroxide and baking soda are mixed together, the peroxide breaks up and hydrogen is released in the form of O2. These oxygen bubbles oxidize organic staining compound which aids in the breakdown of the compound into smaller bits of stain.
Dish Soap – Use a small quantity of mild dish washing soap to introduce a substance known as surfactants into the baking soda mixtures. Co-detergents do this is by lowering the surface tension of a solution and increasing its ability to penetrate carpet fibers and effectively add traction to detach dirt particles from the carpet.
Lemon Juice – You can use of natural lemon juice which increases the level of acidity which enhances the stain removal of baking soda blended solutions. One can think about the versatility of citric acid which contributes to loosening up of staining compounds.
Freshening – To most carpet deodorizing treatments, freshening can be administered with essential oil. The baking soda scatters any remaining smell and the more subtle smell of the oil gives off a clean fragrance.
Here is a simple step-by-step process professional carpet cleaners might use to leverage the cleaning power of baking soda:
1. First get rid of any superficial debris with vacuum.
2. They use it as baking soda paste to wash stains and use water on the stained section.
3. Bake soda dusting – Baking soda should be spread thin throughout the entire carpet. For high traffic areas use between 0.25 and 0.5 cups per square yard.
4. The baking soda should remain on the carpet about an hour before vacuuming the carpet or cleaning the same.
5. Clean or vacuum – When cleaning the carpet, do a proper vacuum. For further cleaning, continue with carpet extraction normally.
6. Post-check stains – Following this process to see if the stains in areas that had been pre-treated have risen. Sometimes if the stain needs more application of the paste, it is done before the extraction.
7. Carpet that has been dried – follow normal drying and ventilation regimes before allowing people to walk on it or replace furniture.
Cleaning efficiency – Due to its basicity, baking soda is capable of washing oily and solid dirt, which is typical for carpets. Yet, it is much gentler than 99% of synthetic carpet cleaners out there today.
Cheap and Easily Available – Baking soda is one of the most easily available ingredients in a kitchen used for many cooking processes. Cuts on the supplies required for cleaning carpets can therefore be an advantage for professional carpet cleaners who want to offer affordable service prices to their clients.
Easy on Carpets – Due to graininess in abrasive baking soda, it exfoliates the accumulation of dirt on the surface of the carpet without rubbing off the delicate carpet pile. It is even safe for natural fiber carpets such as woolen fibre carpets.
No Harsh Chemicals – Baking soda and vinegar are both natural ingredients, and furthermore there are no plastic packaging to add to the waste and no greenhouse gases emissions (from manufacturing and transportation costs) from making and shipping synthetic cleaners. Healthy carpet cleaning tips from professional carpet cleaning company include the use of baking soda as an environmentally friendly tool in carpet cleaning.
Being a versatile cleaner that is ideal for carpets, all the positive comments on baking soda are embraced by professionals in carpet cleaning. It resolves their most demanding carpet cleaning problems – ground-in, set in stains, and residual smells – at a low cost, without harming the environment. Included within pre-spray, post-rinse treatments or used in isolation, simple baking soda solutions yield outstanding carpet cleaning results.