When you have your carpets cleaned, you expect to end up with clean carpets that smell fresh and are free from spots and stains. What you don’t expect is to find is that they’ve shrunk! It’s a nasty surprise to find yourself in such a situation, especially as the carpet cleaner has now long gone. If you booked a carpet cleaner from a reputable company, he may be able to come back and rectify the problem, or if not he’ll at least be able to find someone to fix it at no extra cost to yourself. If you used a cowboy carpet cleaning company, then they’ll probably not respond to your calls, and you’ll be left with the additional cost of fixing the carpet.
In this article, we’ll look at what causes carpets to shrink, and how one should go about rectifying the problem.
Carpets are composed of at least two layers, the top layer that you walk on is the carpet pile, and the bottom layer is the backing. The carpet pile can consist of a natural fibre like Wool, or a synthetic fibre such as Nylon. The carpet backing may also be made from either natural or synthetic fibre.
Jute is a natural fibre that is commonly used as carpet backing, and carpets that have this material as their backing are susceptible to shrinkage.
Axministers are a type of carpet with a wool pile and a jute backing, and as you now know the latter makes them prone to shrinkage. Axminister cost a lot more than your average carpet, so if have one and it needs cleaning, make sure you use the services of a reputable carpet cleaning company.
Belgian Wiltons are a type of carpet that has a polypropylene face fibre and a mixture of Cotton and Jute in the backing.
Both types of carpets will shrink if they are overwet during the carpet cleaning process. This could happen because the carpet cleaning technician is inexperienced, has bad technique, or has cheap equipment that isn’t able to suck out enough water during the rinsing stage.
When the carpets are overwet, water will seep into the backing of the carpet causing it to swell. The water will reach the Jute backing even faster in polypropylene carpet because it is unable to absorb much water. It’s the swelling action of the Jute that causes the carpet to shrink. In addition to that overwet carpets may start to smell mouldy, and will need to be deodorised as a result.
If you do find yourself in the unfortunate predicament of having shrunken carpets, you will need to contact a carpet fitter to find out if they can be restretched In some cases they can. Failing that the carpet will sadly need to be replaced.