One of the biggest concerns we hear about freshly cleaned carpets is how best to keep them from re-soiling too quickly.

Here are the two main reasons why premature re-soiling occurs after cleaning and what can be done to prevent it.

Years ago, most carpet cleaning was done using "soaps" as the cleaning agent. Although most of the soap was removed during the cleaning process, an unnoticeable film or residue was left behind. This residue acted like a dirt magnet and caused the freshly cleaned carpet to re-soil much faster. Today's trained cleaning professionals should be using an improved rinse process that is much safer. Combined with new low residue cleaning agents and a thorough rinse of the fibers during the cleaning process can eliminate this as a problem.

Reflected light off of scratched carpet fibers can make a carpet look dirty even when it isn't. The "yarn tufts" of most carpets are made from twisted masses of plastic (nylon, polyester, olefin) fibers. Dry particulate soils actually scratch the surface of the fibers as you walk on the carpet. This "abrasion" process is a lot like using paper towels regularly to clean your plastic eyeglass lenses. The abrasion first becomes noticeable in the hallway and/or other high traffic areas and makes those areas look dull and dingy. Even when the carpet is cleaned and the soil removed, the light continues to be refracted differently through scratched fibers than fibers along the wall where nobody walks. This results in the traffic areas of the carpet looking "soiled" even though it isn't.