Should I Clean My Carpet Before or After the Stretch

“Should I get my carpets cleaned before or after the stretching?” The popular thought is, if you clean the carpets after stretching them, the cleaning will loosen the carpet back up and the wrinkles will return. This is actually a very common misconception. It is more beneficial to stretch the carpets BEFORE getting them cleaned. Let’s examine some of the reasons for this.

CLEANING LOOSE CARPET: The looser the carpet, the more difficult it is to clean. Have you ever tried to run a vacuum over a rug in your home? Can you recall what the biggest issue was as you attempted this? Typically the rug will bunch up, making it nearly impossible to get a good run over the rug with the vacuum. If your carpet has very large ripples in it, the cleaner’s wand (which is used to dispense and suction water) can have the same issues. You may not get as good of a clean out of your carpet as you could when it is pulled tight.

AFTER A STRETCH: Sometimes wrinkles are left unattended for a decent amount of the time. Perhaps the owner didn’t think it bothered them at first. Maybe they felt it would cost too much money. Whatever the reason, when it finally comes to stretching those wrinkles out, sometimes visible lines can be left behind. This could be likened to bending a piece of paper in half, unfolding it, and letting it sit flat on the table. The paper has a creased mountain where it was folded. When you pull the edges and flatten out the crease, there is still a visible line left behind where you had previously folded it. Cleaning the carpet after a stretch can cause these lines to disappear.

CONCLUSION: If you want the best clean for your carpet and don’t want to risk having visible wrinkle lines even after it is pulled taut, get the cleaning done after the stretch. When your carpets are stretched properly with a power stretcher, there is no risk of those wrinkles returning because of a cleaning. At Nip & Tuck Carpet Repair we work closely with some very reputable carpet cleaning companies that can usually come out the same day as us to get those carpets looking like new again.

By Nip Tuck Carpet Repair 4-8-2021