It does not happen always, but it can happen sometimes.
After you’ve had your carpet cleaned by a cleaning professional, you observe that there are lumps and wrinkles appearing all across your carpet’s stretch. Sometimes, these ocean waves may be restricted to one particular area of your carpet.
No homeowner likes to see this happen with their carpets, especially, after spending their hard-earned money on a professional carpet cleaning service.
You expect the professionals to clean, enhance and protect your carpet; you don’t expect them to leave your carpets wrinkled and lumpy.
But in all fairness to your carpet cleaning professional, this isn’t really their fault.
And rest assured, this isn’t a problem that you should really feel worried about; it’s very likely to be a temporary problem and it should resolve by itself.
Allow us to explain.
A carpet is made up of 3 layers: the face yarns (on which you walk); the primary backing, and the secondary backing.
All these 3 layers are held together by multiple layers of latex adhesive. This adhesive is super strong and is supposed to keep the carpet intact for years.
Most latex adhesive formulations contain clay to give it some bulk.
Unfortunately, clay is a hygroscopic material, that is, it absorbs water readily. And when it absorbs water, it expands.
This expansion of clay is what you notice as buckles and waves on your carpet after it has been cleaned.
With time, as water evaporates and the clay dries, you can expect your carpet to be back to its normal looking state.
The problem may appear more frequently if your carpet is made of wool or nylon fibers.
Wool and nylon are not really good at absorbing water. Wool retains 100% of their weight in water, while nylon up to about 20%. This means that in these cases it’s more likely for water to penetrate the different layers of the carpet, and therefore cause clay to expand.
Again, it’s normal, and with time your carpet should be okay.
However, even if after days of professional cleaning, your carpet still appears wrinkled and lumpy, then the problem could be deeper, and one that your carpet installer chose to ignore when installing the carpet.
Carpets are meant to be properly stretched at the time of installation. Failure to do so means, that it will return to its un-stretched state at some point, a process only accelerated by wet carpet cleaning.
If you’re noticing ripples on your carpet after having it cleaned by a professional, and these ripples have persisted for long, then the problem is likely to be an improper carpet installation.
But you don’t have to worry in this case either.
Some carpet cleaning services also offer carpet stretching services. So you can always contact them and get your carpet stretched once it has been cleaned and dried.
Are there any other carpet concerns troubling you? Feel free to reach out; our Bakersfield carpet cleaning experts will be happy to help you.
A BONUS read:The Knowledge Vacuum: Carpet Vacuuming Mistakes You Must Avoid
