Maine has some unique challenges ...
Carpet Cleaners – Maine Winters
Maine has some unique challenges for carpet cleaners that other carpet cleaners don’t have in warmer climates. Most carpet cleaners use truck mounted hot water rinse and extraction and that can get difficult when the temperature plummets. The hot water produced in the truck travels through a thin hose in order to get to the extraction hose. When it gets cold that hose can freeze. Therefore we typically don’t clean carpets when it gets below 20-25 degrees.
However, at ServiceMaster we do have other options:
Portable Carpet Cleaning – When it becomes impossible to run hoses, either because of the accessibility or the weather, we have portable carpet cleaning machines. Like the truck mounted units, these also use hot water to rinse and extract. The vacuum might not be quite as powerful but when coupled with the right detergent and cleaning techniques, this system does a terrific job. Low pile commercial carpet is perfect for this application.

Dry Carpet Cleaning – We also use a system called encapsulation. That process starts with massaging an encapsulant into the carpet. That encapsulant chemical will bind to dirt and oils. After 15 minutes the dirt and oils will be dried and are easily vacuumed using a regular vacuum with a beater bar. Encapsulants also have a pleasant odor and a brightener which brings out the carpet’s original colors.
Carpet Spotting – Many times the entire carpet doesn’t need to be cleaned. There may be a conspicuous coffee stain or perhaps someone dragged mud in from outside. Either way, we can just to the offending spots and leave the entire cleaning for the spring.
Bonnet Cleaning – Depending on the type of carpet and the ammount of soil, a bonnet clean is an option as well. We attache a bonnet pad which absorbs soil to a roto or swing machine and run it over the carpet. It can be a gentle way to clean carpets depending on how they are constructed.