What is Carpet Bonnet Cleaning and Is it Worth it?

5/26/2023 (Permalink)

If you have ever spent time in a hotel lobby, commercial building, etc., during late-night hours, you’ve likely seen a staff member or service operating device that uses a spinning pad to polish and buff concrete, linoleum, or tile floors. These are used frequently in commercial establishments.

Somewhere along the line, someone decided that the same cleaning process might work well for carpets! It is referred to as carpet bonnet cleaning and uses the same rotary machine, more or less, but concentrates on carpets rather than hard floors. If you’ve come across those “so satisfying” videos on TikTok of companies performing carpet bonnet cleaning, this is what we’re talking about!

Initially, the bonnet - made of propylene, rayon, or cotton - is attached to the rotary machine and soaked with shampoo. Over the carpet, they move the machine back and forth. The carpet is significantly cleaner once it has dried.

A Temporary Fix at Best
The thing about bonnet cleaning is that it’s pretty much just a topical solution. You’re taking surface dirt and essentially scraping it off. If you know anything about stains, you know that to remove them, scrubbing is not usually the best method. Rather than removing the stain further into the carpet, the stain ends up being ground down and in. That’s pretty much what’s going on with bonnet cleaning. You’re scrubbing your stains - that used to be on the surface - deeper down into your carpet. Who wants that?

Yes, it does dislodge and collect dirt from the surface to a point, but again, it’s also pushing some of it deep into the pile.

After bonnet cleaning, the carpet does dry fast (one of the more attractive points of bonnet cleaning), and it looks clean. But think about this - anything that came off the carpet, but doesn’t appear on the bonnet, is actually just staying in the carpeting. There is no extraction method with bonnet cleaning.

The More You Know
In case you’re not convinced that bonnet cleaning isn’t the best way to go about refreshing your carpet, here’s some additional information that may be valuable to you.

You can’t just walk into the bonnet cleaning process if you’ve never done it before and here’s why:

• Friction burns could result from dry hard carpet scrubbing because not enough detergent was used.
• You will need to vacuum up residue that stays behind after the carpet dries - because you’ll notice swirl marks - if there’s too much shampoo or detergent.
• Various carpet designs call for specific types of bonnets.
• Mildew and mold can build up on bonnets if they are not regularly laundered after use.
• Because this type of cleaning needs to be done so often, it offsets the savings you thought you would enjoy.
• Lastly, you may well void the warranty on your carpet if you use bonnet cleaning. This is a policy for some carpet manufacturers.

So, What’s the Better Solution?
Truth be told, bonnet cleaning is not the recommended cleaning method for carpeting! As suggested above, it is only superficial, among other things. When you need a thorough, deep down carpet cleaning, there’s no one like SERVPRO of Lower Manhattan to get the job done. PLUS, we don’t stop at carpets… we’re capable of odor removal, cleaning drapes and blinds, taking care of walls, floors, and ceilings, upholstery cleaning, biohazard cleanup, and HVAC/air duct cleaning.

About SERVPRO Team Harvey
SERVPRO of Lower Manhattan is proudly owned by Lance and Jennifer Harvey - a husband and wife duo that owns three other SERVPRO locations, including SERVPRO of Aberdeen/Holmdel, SERVPRO of West Somerset County, and SERVPRO of Hoboken/Union City.

We understand the stress and worry that comes with a fire or water damage and the disruption it causes your home or business. Our goal is to help minimize the interruption to your life and quickly make it “like it never even happened.”