Berber Carpet Cleaning

Berber Carpet Cleaning Guidelines

Is Berber carpet hard to clean?

Well, if you listen to many carpet cleaners they will try to convince you that berber carpet is really hard to clean.

They are wrong in most cases, unless they are talking about true berber carpet, which is made with wool.

So what exactly is the definition of berber carpet?

The MOST accurate definition of berber carpet is the following:

A wool carpet constructed of large loops, meaning the carpet is not synthetic and not a cut pile carpet.

But in today's berber market, and commonly used definition, berber is just a loop pile carpet with the most common fiber types being nylon, olefin, and wool.

There is a major difference in cleaning a synthetic berber and a wool berber.  A berber made out of wool can be much more difficult to clean than a berber made out of nylon or olefin.

Why Are So Many Carpet Cleaners Afraid of Berber?

Well the simple answer is that they really don't know how to clean it.

So what happens is that you see carpet cleaning companies advertising higher prices for cleaning berber carpet, which is just plain non-sense.

There is absolutely NO REASON AT ALL that you should be charged extra just because your carpet is berber unless - again - it is made of wool.

Berber carpet can actually be one of the easiest carpets around to clean, especially if the fiber is made of olefin.

Olefin has some characteristics that MIGHT cause some issues when cleaning, but in most cases a olefin berber carpet cleans up really well.

So Let's Take A Look At Some Potential Berber Cleaning Issues

The ONLY real cleaning issue with a berber carpet is the chance for wicking, and there are two reasons for that.

What is wicking? It is just the migration of water and soil from below the surface of the carpet to the tips of the carpet. The moisture evaporates into the air while the soil remains on the tip of the fiber.

Wicking is a fairly common occurrence and can happen on any type of carpet, but usually wicking occurs more often, or has a greater chance to occur, with loop style carpets.

The reason that wicking can happen a bit more easily on berber carpet is because of two factors:

1. The loop construction of the carpet
2. The fiber type

Let's take a look at both issues.

Loop Construction of Berber Carpet

Soil gets between the loops of the carpet and it can be hard, at times, to remove the soil from between the loops. When there is some moisture and soil left in the carpet, that moisture and soil are going to wick to the surface during the drying phase.

The Fiber Type

Most berber is made out of of olefin or nylon. Both of these fibers are not very absorbent, so the water being used to clean the carpet often makes
it way deeper down into the pile of the carpet - especially with olefin.

Since the water goes deeper into the pile (which is a good thing most of the time), it can be harder to pull that water completely to the top of the fiber to be
extracted.

These two factors ALONE can make berber a bit more difficult, but a good carpet cleaner can easily overcome these issues by using the right carpet cleaning techniques.

Berber Carpet Is Actually EASY To Clean If It Is Olefin

Berber carpet made with olefin is actually pretty easy to clean if you control
the moisture.

Why is this?

Because olefin is oilyphilic. All you have to do is break down the oil barrier that is holding the soil to the fiber and rinse the soil away. In most cases breaking down the oil barrier is fairly easy.

Berber carpet made with olefin will not stain. It is solution dyed so there are no dye sites for any other color to enter. No dye sites, no staining.

There are also solution dyed nylon berber carpets and these are very much like berber carpets made with olefin.

The bottom line is that synthetic berber carpets such as nylon and olfin are fairly easy to clean and get looking good. The main issue, as mentioned, is going to be wicking.

But a good professional carpet cleaner can use cleaning techniques that totally, or almost totally, eliminate wicking.

Please do not let any carpet cleaning company tell you that cleaning synthetic berber is hard - because it is not. And please do not let them charge you extra just because they are cleaning a berber carpet.

If you have any need for berber carpet cleaning in the Vancouver, Washington and surrounding areas please give us a call today. We are experts in the area of cleaning berber carpets and we do not charge extra just because your carpet is berber.