Carpet Grooming in Gainesville, FL

Whether or not to groom carpet has been an ongoing debate amongst cleaners for years. According to the IICRC S100 Standard and Reference Guide for Professional Cleaning of Textile Floor Coverings, most residential carpet should be finished (brushed, combed or groomed) at the completion of cleaning.

Reasons to Groom:

• Eliminate tangling of pile yarns
• Expedite the drying process
• Distribute post-treatment such as protector
• Present the cleaned carpet’s best appearance

If you choose to groom, there are two common tools used to set the nap of carpet: A groomer and a brush.

A groomer is well suited for Saxony, shag, and frieze style carpet. A brush works well for plush. Unfortunately, carpet made with staple yarn (short filaments spun into a yarn) often shed loose filaments that accumulate on a brush. In contrast, the groomer does not tend to develop this problem. Cleaning carpet fuzz from the brush can waste a lot of time.

The goal of grooming is to leave a smooth look with the carpet yarns laying in the same direction. A carpet groomer has the potential to leave lines in the carpet caused by its tines. These lines are often referred to as “claw marks” and are not a desirable end result. A light touch goes a long way in preventing claw marks when grooming sensitive carpet. A slight overlapping stroke that creates a narrow “X” pattern also helps.

There are three surfaces on a groomer that can be used to set the nap:

• The first, standard surface is where the tines are in a near vertical position to set the carpet nap. This is how most people normally hold and use the groomer.
• The second is to flip the groomer over and hold the handle in a more vertical position. This shifts the tine position to a near horizontal angle to reduce the possibility of leaving lines. This approach has often saved me from having to resort to a brush on plush style carpet.
• The third way to use the groomer is utilizing the hard edge — in the flipped position but with the handle at a more angled position so only the hard plastic of the groomer contacts the carpet pile. Using this technique on the final stroke can leave a pristine flat look to a plush carpet.

If “like new” is the look you want to leave, then grooming is a vital step to include in your cleaning process!