Everyone knows about the importance of cleaning carpets. However, not many people know about the carpet pad underneath. The pad is the material beneath the carpet that serves multiple functions such as providing cushion between feet and the floor, preventing the carpet from sliding across the floor, and ultimately prolonging the carpet’s lifespan. 

During your professional carpet cleaning, you might wonder: do carpet cleaners clean the pad? Keep reading to find out.

Do Carpet Cleaners Clean the Pad?

The straightforward answer is: no, carpet cleaners do not clean the pad. In fact, they aim to avoid soaking the pad.

It’s essential first to understand that carpet fibers are unable to absorb too much liquid or moisture. You might not realize this, but most of the moisture goes right through into the padding underneath. 

One major characteristic of carpet padding is that they are usually spongey in nature. This feature allows the padding to feel soft under the feet. However, this feature also makes paddings highly absorbent, which can be problematic. The padding acts like a sponge and quickly becomes saturated with the water.

It can be rather challenging to remove liquids that get into the padding. You can’t just assume that the liquid will evaporate from the padding because air circulation is lacking in the pad as it is sandwiched between the carpet and the floor. 

Once the carpet padding is saturated, you can expect it to stay wet for a few days. In addition, the moisture that is retained in the carpet pad can potentially be a breeding point for mold. 

Now that you understand more about the properties of carpet pads and how they work, you’d be able to see that it’s best to avoid saturating the carpet pad.

Our Carpet Cleaning Equipment

Our advanced vehicle-mounted carpet cleaning equipment can clean your carpets efficiently and powerfully. Rest assured that our cleaning process can penetrate the layers and deep rinse your carpet fibers, all without soaking your carpet backing. In addition, our equipment can control the amount of water and moisture, so your carpet pad doesn’t get affected.

After a professional clean, you’ll find that your carpet is deeply rinsed, but just feels damp when you touch it. With good water recovery, our equipment doesn’t leave a lot of moisture behind which means you can expect your carpet to dry in just a few short hours.

What Happens If My Carpet Pad is Stained or Has an Odor?

Pet owners often have issues with pet odor or urine staining their carpet and soaking through into the carpet padding. In extreme cases, it’s not unexpected for the urine to penetrate the padding onto the subfloor underneath. This creates a complex odor issue that spans several layers and cannot be easily removed.

The pet urine has to be neutralized layer by layer, and sometimes, a urine neutralizer might be applied onto the carpet. Unfortunately, in extreme cases, the carpet padding might have to be replaced. The subfloor may even have to be treated.

Conclusion

Carpets are expensive investments that have to be protected, and soaking the carpet pad is something you’d want to avoid. Call us today and trust us to clean your carpet the proper way. Our process powerfully removes dirt and gives a deep rinse, all while leaving your subfloor and carpet pad dry.