Carpets are lovely to have in your house. However, they are quite the hassle to clean as well, and they take forever to dry. A not properly dried carpet can be come nest of mold, mildew and bacteria. This article will provide you with some tips on how long it would take for your carpet […]
Carpets are lovely to have in your house. However, they are quite the hassle to clean as well, and they take forever to dry. A not properly dried carpet can be come nest of mold, mildew and bacteria. This article will provide you with some tips on how long it would take for your carpet to completely dry after steam cleaning, some ideas about the factors that may prolong the drying, and some suggestions on how you can shorten your carpet’s drying by controlling this factor.
With its superior cleaning power and efficiency, and its lack of reliance on heavy chemical cleaners, steam cleaning has become the go-to method for households when it comes to periodical deep cleaning for their carpets. And as its name entails, the technique does introduce moisture into the carpet’s fibers, and thus the carpet does need some time to dry.
So how long does it take for a steam-cleaned carpet to dry? Typically, it would take 6-12 hours for the carpet to dry, which is actually a lot quicker than with the traditional method of carpet shampooing (12-24 hours). However, there are a number of factors that can either prolong or shorten this waiting time.
This session may provide answers to questions like: “does humidity affect carpets’ drying times?”. The short answer is, that a number of factors can affect the drying time of carpets, and decide how long the carpet may take to dry. They are, namely:
For a carpet (or any kind of textile product) to dry quicker, you typically need more air circulation, less moisture, and more heat. Knowing this will help us devise better strategies to curb the factors that may undermine the carpet’s drying, in order to stabilize or, sometimes, even accelerate the drying time if we have the right equipment and favorable conditions.
As we keep in mind all the factors that affect the carpet drying time, we can start to work on the methods to control these factors, a.k.a how to make your carpet dry faster. As a note, these favorable/unfavorable conditions might not come in a suit; depending on the climate region that you are living in and the season which it is in, you may face an entirely different set of conditions. So, in such situations, it would be crucial for you to identify which conditions are more prevalent and are more detrimental to the drying process, and thus devise your strategy accordingly.
Humid weather can make your carpet, your bath towel, your clothing, or any type of textile product that you wish to dry, become extremely hard to dry. In humid climates, it is not uncommon that extremely humid weather may keep the textile from drying for over a day. For your carpet to dry quickly, it is extremely important that it is protected from the moisture in the air, especially in more humid seasons.
There are a number of convenient tools that can help with your humidity-induced slow-drying carpet:
In hot and humid summer, an air conditioner can save the house from the scorching summer heat and also from the humidity as well, and it may also help your carpet to dry faster! Air conditioners have in fact been long known for their clothes-drying effect, though we do not recommend drying clothes this way over sun-drying or heat drying. Nonetheless, it can definitely help out on a humid day when the moisture does not allow your textile items to dry quickly by themselves at all.
The air conditioner manages this feat by driving the hot and humid air through its evaporator coils, which is the same mechanism for its cooling act as well. The coils cool down the air, and also cause the water vapor in that air to condense and remain in the air conditioner. Thus, on a particularly hot and humid summer day, closing up the windows and turning on the air conditioner definitely would help your carpet dry faster.
The dehumidifier works using the same principle as to how the air conditioner dehumidifies: The humid air is also driven through a cooling coil and thus has the water in it condensated. But unlike the air conditioner, the dehumidifier doesn’t need to be in the cold mode to dehumidify, meaning that it can function and cold and damp weather as well. Turning on the dehumidifier is yet another way to curb the humidity and help your carpet dry faster.
Good ventilation let your carpet dry faster, and also help improve the house’s hygiene (Source: Internet)
For days that are not as humid, opening the windows might be a good way to accelerate your carpet’s drying. That would also allow the breeze and sunlight in and thus help the carpet dry even faster and improve your home’s overall hygiene. However, on humid days, this will be counterproductive as it will let in even more moisture.
The function of an exhaust fan is to exhaust hot and humid air and draw fresh, cool air into the space. The blades of the fan are angled in such a way that when the fan rotates, the hot air is drawn toward it, and then the cool air will flow in to replace the hot air that has been pushed out of the room. It is an effective way to improve the airflow within the house, and also help take care of moisture, thus helping your newly cleaned carpet dry faster.
Fans placed near the window can help to blow hot air and particles to the outside so fresh air can flow into the house. Ceiling fans can help improve air circulation as well; turning fans on does improve air circulation even when the windows are closed. And, of course, you may also point the fans at your carpet to help blow the thing dry.
While it might not be a problem during summer, in winter, the low temperature can be detrimental to the carpet’s drying. So the solution for this is to turn up the furnace. The heat does provide the kinetic energy that allows the water in the carpet to evaporate faster. This has even more merits on cold, damp days, as you would not want to open up the window or turn on the air conditioner.
And, of course, you may also want to hang your carpet up for a good ol’ dry in the sun when the day’s warm and dry. Nothing beats natural drying when the conditions allow.
Another thing that can help your carpet dry faster is actually the way you can it. The more frequently you wash the carpet – the cleaner the carpet is – the less time and water it takes to wash, and thus the quicker the carpet dries. Also, a professional cleaning service can provide equipment and methods of cleaning that facilitate quicker carpet drying, and may as well provide you with solutions to dry them.
If you love these cleaning tips and guides, you can always find more of them on Sparkling and Beyond’s website. We have a great database of DYI cleaning tips and guides that will help you clean your home much more easily and efficiently. We also provide professional cleaning services at affordable prices, for any level of need. So stay tuned for more cleaning tips and guides, and do use our service when you feel that professional help is needed.
As the admin of Sparkling & Beyond, I bring a wealth of knowledge and passion for excellence in the cleaning industry. With years of experience in providing top-notch cleaning solutions, I am dedicated to sharing valuable insights and tips to help maintain pristine and healthy living environments. My mission is to ensure every home and office we service sparkles with cleanliness and comfort.