Often I am asked if we use soap in our cleaning process, which of course I answer that we do not but rather use alkalinized water for a more effective and thorough cleaning. This many times leads to the question of  "how is it that just hot alkaline water can really clean my carpets?" So I decided to address that question here! The answer is two fold:

First here is a little refresher in Chemistry 101: Aqueous solutions or liquids are measured on what is called a pH scale. The term pH stands for “potential hydrogen” in reference to the hydrogen bonds that can be made on an atomic level. But really it is just a means to give a value to the concentration of hydrogen in any given substance. The more hydrogen in a solution, the less potential for hydrogen bonds there are, and the more acidic it is. If then there is a pH less than 7 than it is considered acidic, whereas above a 7 is considered basic. The fun thing about acids and bases is that they can neutralize one another!

 Most of the soil or substances that make carpets “dirty” are acidic. This includes food, beverages, body oils, ect. As mentioned previously acids and bases neutralize each other, so the best way to remove an acidic substances is to counter act it with a basic agent. In the case of the carpet in your home it is our alkalinized water. While soaps and detergents are also on the basic side of the pH scale they are not great for carpet cleaning, because they leave a sticky residue that will attract more soil. Which means stains and spots returning worse than before. That being said the actual pH level of the water being used to clean carpets is also important. It needs to be high enough to neutralize the acids, yet it can’t be so high that it damages carpet fibers made of natural materials. At Peninsula Carpet Care we use water that has is pH9. High enough to clean your carpets thoroughly, yet low enough not to cause any damage to the fibers.

The second factor that ensures that your carpets are being  thoroughly cleaned is the agitation and the high powered extraction of the water. We start the cleaning process with pre-conditioning the carpet and using a machine to agitate the liquid in to the carpet fibers. This helps the soil to loosen from the fibers before we even start the hot water extraction. Once we do however the high temperature of the water along with the suction power effectively removes all dirt , debris and oils from the carpet . 

Please give us a try by calling us or filling out an online form submission to experience this for yourself!