We're having new carpet put in our basement and my wife is insisting on steam cleaning the carpet just after installation, because she heard from a co-worker that when they got their carpet, there were bugs from the warehouse in the carpet. Is my wife being paranoid or am I being too lax? I've never heard of this issue from anyone. What do you think?

 

Your wife is being paranoid. However, maybe a professional cleaning is worth the peace and quiet that would come with her peace of mind.

 

don't do it! you'll remove the Stainguard from the carpet, and possibly leave behind residue from the cleaner that will attract dirt. your NEW carpet won't be new anymore.

if she's really worried about bugs, call an exterminator & have the place sprayed. you want to kill bugs, not clean them.

 

If it will remove the stainguard, why do the mills recommend an annual professional hot water extraction cleaning?

Insects in carpet can happen, but it is very rare.

 

that's what i was told. cleaning removes the stainguard, so it must be reapplied after each cleaning. and i've heard that some of the chemical cleaning solutions that are used sometimes leave a sticky/oily residue behind that will attract dirt, which maybe is why some people say their carpet looks great right after a cleaning, but then it seems to get dirty faster.

i just can't see messing with new carpet for no good reason. ANYthing you bring into your home from a store "could" have bugs in it - cases of soda pop, dog food, plants, produce, etc. i'd at least take a wait-and-see approach & treat the bugs IF they appear, but they probably won't. personally, i've never heard of that happening.

 

Professional carpet extraction is not going to leave soap behind and cause a dirty carpet. Unfortunately, rental machines for DIY use lack sufficient power to extract water and soap and will often have this problem. We require all of our tenants to clean their carpets when they move out and do not allow them to do it themselves - they either have to use our guy or provide us a copy of the receipt from whichever pro they hired.

 

Annette, you were given misleading information. Fibers in modern carpets are more stain resistant untreated than their treated predessors.

 

wow! i guess i WAS told wrong! of course that was about 10 years ago. good info - thanks guys!!

 

Thanks for all the feedback guys. The carpet was just installed yesterday and we decided to take the wait and see approach. If there are any bugs, we will complain to the company we bought the carpet from. We did an initial inspection and didn't see anything. The carpet is fairly light so any bugs would be somewhat noticeable. My wife is satisfied enough to wait it out. Here's to temporary peace and quiet.

 

Not all warehouses have bugs that like carpet.

Around here starting in late may, the june bug bettles start to show up. They do like to get into the ends of stored carpet, for some reason. They are harmless to you and your carpet, unless they get squished and stain the carpet.

I wouldn't have my carpets cleaned immediately. If the carpet did have a stain protector applied from the factory, it will be compromised by a hot water extraction, cleaning.

Even if you have it professionally cleaned, they the so called professionals, may not really know what they are doing!!! I've seen the so called professionals, soak carpets and cause delamination and mold. I have seen them leave soapy residues, just so it would dirty faster so they would get another cleaning call and make more money off the client. I've seen them use High alkiline spot sprays and not clean good, leaving the carpet with yellow spots. If you get your carpets cleaned, make sure the guy that is there to clean them, not just the company which he is employed by, is IICRC Certified.