ServiceMaster Cleaning by Simons provides winter cleaning services for Chicago homes and businesses.
When the winter months hit so does the snow, and the road crews break out the road salt. Road salt works in two ways to keep roads safer. It lowers the freezing temperature of the water collecting on the road from winter precipitation, and it creates some traction on the slushy pavement. While it might keep us safer on the roads, salt can seriously damage your carpets. At ServiceMaster Cleaning by Simons, we offer extensive carpet cleaning services in Chicago, IL to keep salt from harming your carpets this winter.
Road salt consists of magnesium and calcium chloride, both very alkaline materials. As we’ve experienced with bleach or its opposite (highly acidic substances), materials with extreme pH levels on either end of the spectrum are corrosive and destroy many things in our homes.
If road salt is allowed to have a continued presence in your carpets, it can cause a variety of harm. The easiest way to prevent these problems from arising is to take advantage of professional carpet cleaning services.
To begin with, road salt will inevitably leave white surface stains and crusty buildups if it lingers in your carpets. We’ve all seen this happen to our favorite winter boots and even our car floor mats. This happens when the granules of the salt dissolve in water (usually melted snow is the culprit here) and get absorbed into your carpet fibers.
While it’s far from desirable to have crusty white stains in your carpet, these surface blemishes may be the least of your worries. Without carpet cleaning services to correctly remove salt stains from your carpet, the chemicals in the salt will bond even further with your carpet fibers. Eventually these particles will break down your carpet, and you may end up with a shedding pile of grunge. The salt could still be present in your carpet even after the surface stains fade.
Preventing carpet damage from road salt is simple. Keep salt from beginning to buildup in your carpets by stopping the salt from reaching your floors. Ask your family and guests to take their shoes off inside. Regular vacuuming is also a reassurance that the salt won’t pile up. If you see the early signs of salt damage, call us for our carpet cleaning services in the Chicago, IL area.
