Understanding how using a pre-spray during carpet steam cleaning and the follow up steps will help you to choose a qualified company to clean your carpets. To do the best possible job you need to get the dirt and soil to release from the carpet fibers. When using a proper pre-spray it will need some dwell time, usually 5 – 10 minutes for it to release the dirt and soil that is attached/bonded with the carpet fibers. It will emulsify the dirt and cause it to rise to the top of the carpet surface and actually make the carpet look even dirtier temporarily. This is the dirt and soil that cannot be removed with vacuuming the carpet. Vacuuming will only pick up loose granular dirt. Vacuuming is very important to remove the loose dirt so as to minimize the wear and tear of the carpet fibers and add years of life to your carpet.Once your per-spray has had proper dwell time you proceed with the actual steam cleaning. The heat helps to remove dirt and soil and the water pressure causes agitation to help release the dirt as well combined with the water pressure setting, usually between 300 – 500 psi. When you are steam cleaning you are actually cleaning and rinsing the carpet at the same time. You can use several different types of water to do this part as well as using a fiber rinsing agent to assist in rinsing out any and all pre-sprays and cleaners to make sure there is no residue left in the carpet. This is very important so as not to attract more dirt that will cause your carpet to get dirty faster. Residue left in your carpet will increase the positive charge already in the fibers by anywhere from five to ten times. With dirt and soil being negatively charged they will bond together, so you can see how important this step is. Otherwise your carpet will get dirtier faster and hold more dirt in it than before they cleaned. There are a lot of carpet cleaners that don’t understand the science involved with cleaning carpets and just go through the motions due to lack of training.The next time you want to hire a professional carpet cleaner you can now ask them if they use a pre-spray and watch them to make sure they do, so that you get the best possible cleaning experience for your carpets.