As you probably know, outdoor air contains pollens, fungus, bacteria, air pollution, cigarette smoke, car exhaust and hundreds of other chemicals. When you come into your home, you carry those pollens, bacteria and chemicals in your hair, on your skin, clothing and shoes. Not surprisingly, all of those chemicals and toxins wind up in your carpet.

It is a common misconception that one method of carpet cleaning is as good as another. You can choose from two primary methods: wet extraction or dry extraction.

Wet Extraction Explained
This is a fancy way of saying that a hot water cleaning solution is forced into the carpet and then sucked out of the carpet. This method is also referred to as steam cleaning even though stream is not used. Some of the disadvantages of wet extraction are overwetting, shrinking, delamination, streaking, stretched carpet, color changes, mold/mildew, wickback and downtime. The carpet may take 8 hours to 3 days to dry, depending on humidity.

The second carpet cleaning method is called dry extraction. There are three distinct methods of dry extraction -- dry foam, dry-chem and Miracle Mate PurePower Dry-Chemical Carpet Shampoo.

Dry-Foam: When a carpet cleaner uses dry-foam, he applies shampoo to your carpet, allows it to dry, and then sucks the dried shampoo into a vacuum. Can you imagine applying shampoo to your hair, allowing it to dry and then removing the shampoo from your head with a vacuum? This method can leave a residue in your carpet, which is one reason dry foam is not very effective.

Bonnet Dry-Chem: The bonnet dry-chem method is similar to dry-foam. The major difference is that when bonnet dry-chem is used, the company sets a large cotton bonnet on your carpet. Using a machine, the bonnet spins from side to side, absorbing the dirt that's in the carpet. After the bonnet is saturated with dirt, another cotton bonnet is applied. Bonnet cleaning is like trying to use a large towel to rub the dirt out of your carpet. Like dry-foam, its not very effective.

Miracle Mate PurePower Dry-Chemical Carpet Shampoo: Dry-Chemical Carpet Shampoo is the leading dry extraction carpet cleaning method. Rated #1 (wet or dry extraction) by the leading consumer testing magazine. Dry-Chemical Carpet Shampoo is recommended by carpet manufacturers and fiber producers worldwide.

PurePower Shampoo is a soft, organic natural product moistened with a unique combination of water, detergent, and safe-to-use solvent. The product has a denatured alcohol base. Because Miracle Mate PurePower Dry-Chemical Carpet Shampoo has a controlled amount of moisture, it will never soak the carpet.

The Miracle Mate Platinum vacuum opens up the pile and removes the deep down dry soil before chemical cleaning begins. This power pile brushing is a key step in effective cleaning because the majority of the dirt in the carpet is dry soil. After vacuuming, the PurePower Activator Spray is lightly misted on the carpet. Immediately afterward, PurePower Dry-Chemical Carpet Shampoo is applied. The Miracle Mate Dry-Chemical Carpet Shampooer brushes the cleaner deep into the carpet -- up down, over, and around the carpet fibers. The cleaning chemicals come in contact with all surfaces of the soiled fibers, breaking the oil bond and dissolving the soil. As brushing continues, the dissolved soil is wiped away from the fibers. Much as a sponge in your kitchen holds on to dirt, Miracle Mate PurePower Dry Chemical Carpet Shampoo hangs on to this dissolved soil until it is removed by extractor vacuuming. Carpets don't resoil as quickly as when cleaned with wet methods because there's no sticky residue to grab and hold fresh soil. With less than an hour of drying time -- carpets are ready to use immediately after the Shampoo has dried and been extracted from the carpet. Because our Shampoo system doesn't contribute to resoiling, regular, frequent vacuuming keeps the carpet cleaner longer.