Carpet Cleaning
Most of what makes carpet look worn is not wear — it is sand. Fine grit works down to the base of the pile and grinds against the fiber like sandpaper every time someone walks across it, and it is invisible until the fiber is already damaged. Spiker cleans carpet with truck-mounted hot water extraction (commonly called steam cleaning): we pre-treat to release the soil, rinse hot, then neutralize the carpet so it does not re-soil quickly. Trained to the IICRC S100 standard. Pricing starts at $50 per room, where a room is up to 15×15 feet and a staircase is priced as one room, subject to a $200 minimum service charge.
What actually matters
Most of what makes carpet look worn is not wear. It is soil. Dry particulate — sand, grit, dust — works down to the base of the pile and acts like sandpaper every time somebody walks across it. That is what actually destroys carpet, and it is invisible until the fiber is already damaged. A carpet that gets properly extracted on a reasonable cycle lasts dramatically longer than one that does not, which is why this is maintenance rather than cosmetics.
The traffic lanes in a hallway hold several times the soil of the carpet three feet away, and they need more pre-spray, more dwell and more passes. Anyone charging the same effort per square foot across an entire house is not looking at the carpet.
Filtration soiling — those dark grey lines along baseboards and under doors — is not dirt tracked in. It is airborne particulate pulled through the carpet edge by airflow, and it needs a different treatment than traffic lane soil. It is also one of the few things we will tell you upfront may not fully come out, because by the time it is visible the particulate is often embedded in the fiber itself.
How we do it.
Same four phases, every job.
Inspect
We walk the job with you before anything gets wet. Fiber identification matters more than most people realize — a burn test or a close look at the pile tells us whether we are dealing with nylon, polyester, olefin or wool, and each one takes a different chemistry. We find the traffic lanes, the filtration lines along baseboards, the spots you have already tried to treat, and we tell you honestly which ones will come out and which ones will not. A stain that has been sitting in a jute backing for two years is a different conversation than last week’s coffee, and you deserve to hear that before we start rather than after.
Pre-treat
Pre-spray goes down matched to what we found in the inspection, and then it sits. Dwell time is the step cheap jobs skip because it looks like nothing is happening, and it is the step that does most of the work. Chemistry needs contact time to break the bond between soil and fiber. Spray and immediately extract and you are just rinsing the surface. On heavy traffic lanes we agitate with a groomer to drive solution down to the base of the pile where the soil actually lives.
Clean
The machine stays in the truck. That is not a detail — a truck-mount produces heat and vacuum that no portable unit can approach, and vacuum is what determines whether soil leaves the building or settles back into the fiber as it dries. We work in overlapping passes with dry strokes between wet ones. Hot water extraction is the method the Carpet and Rug Institute and most major carpet manufacturers publish, and for most carpet it is the method required to keep the warranty valid.
Protect
We groom the pile so it dries standing up instead of matted flat, set up airflow, and apply protector where it makes sense for the fiber. Then we walk it with you and tell you the truth about the next twenty-four hours — what will look different when it dries, what might wick back and need a second pass, and how long to stay off it. Most callbacks in this trade are not cleaning failures. They are expectation failures.
Carpet Cleaning questions
we actually get asked.
Carpet starts at $50 per room, where a room counts as up to 15×15 feet. A staircase is priced as one room. Every job is subject to a $200 minimum service charge. Add-ons: pet enzyme $25 per room, Scotchgard $25 per room, pet odor $30 per 3×3 area, and pre-vacuuming $25 per room if the carpet has not been vacuumed before we arrive. You get the full number before we start.
A full staircase is priced as one room — $50. Add-ons apply to it exactly as they apply to a room. Hallways and landings are quoted on the walk-through.
Most manufacturers require professional cleaning every 12 to 18 months to keep the warranty valid. In practice it depends on the house — a couple with no pets can stretch it, a family with kids and a dog should not. If you can see the traffic lanes, you are past due.
Only if it is done badly. That reputation comes from shampoo methods and from cheap operators who leave detergent residue behind. Residue is sticky and it attracts soil, so the carpet resoils quickly and people blame the cleaning. Proper hot water extraction rinses the chemistry back out — water in, water out.
Four to eight hours for most carpet. Airflow is the biggest variable — ceiling fans and cracked windows can bring it closer to four. Thick carpet, dense padding and humid days push it longer.
No, and there is a specific reason. When a company moves furniture, cleans under it, and puts it back on damp carpet, that carpet cannot dry. Foam blocks and plastic tabs lift the legs, not the piece, and there is not enough airflow underneath. The result is mildew, sometimes mold, trapped where nobody looks until it smells. We get called to fix exactly that after other companies do it. We clean around furniture thoroughly, and if you want the carpet under a piece cleaned properly, move it out of the room and bring it back the next day once everything is dry.
Whatever you clear, we clean. We are a carpet cleaning company, not a maid service — we do not pick up clothing, toys, pet waste or clutter. That is not us being difficult, it is how you get the most cleaning for your money. Prep time is not cleaning time, and on some jobs clearing a room takes longer than cleaning it. The more carpet you expose, the more carpet we clean.
Move the piece out of the room entirely before we arrive and bring it back the next day once the carpet is fully dry. That is the only way to do it without trapping moisture underneath. Any company willing to slide your sofa back onto wet carpet the same day is creating a mildew problem you will pay for later.
Because dry soil has to come out before any moisture goes down. Wet dirt turns to mud in the pile and no amount of extraction fully recovers it. Vacuum the rooms before we arrive and there is no charge. If it has not been done, we do it at $25 per room.
Pet enzyme treatment is $25 per room. Scotchgard protector is $25 per room. Pet odor treatment is $30 per 3×3 area. Pre-vacuuming is $25 per room only if the carpet has not been vacuumed before we arrive. Every job is subject to a $200 minimum service charge.
That is wicking. The stain went deeper than the carpet face — into the backing or the pad — and as the carpet dries, moisture pulls the remaining material back up to the surface. It is not a cleaning failure. It means the contamination was deeper than one pass could reach, and it needs a second treatment or a sub-surface flush.
Now the numbers.
Every one up front.
Extras, priced the same for everyone.
▸ ADD-ONS ARE ON TOP OF BASE RATES · $200 MINIMUM SERVICE CHARGE
Every job gets pre-vacuumed. The only question is who does it.
Dry soil has to come out before any moisture goes down. Once water hits loose grit it becomes mud in the pile, and no amount of extraction fully recovers it. This step is not optional on any job we run — skipping it is how cheap operators make carpet look worse a week later.
PRE-VACUUM INCLUDED IF YOU DO IT · $25 PER ROOM IF WE DOWhy we will not move your furniture back onto wet carpet.
This is the single most common callback in this trade, and it is entirely avoidable. When a company moves furniture, cleans underneath, and sets it back down on damp carpet, that carpet cannot dry. Foam blocks and plastic tabs do not create enough airflow to fix it — they lift the legs, not the furniture. What follows is mildew, and sometimes mold, trapped under the piece where nobody looks until it smells.
WE CLEAN AROUND FURNITURE · MOVING IT BACK ONTO WET CARPET CAUSES MILDEWCarpet Cleaning across
six cities.
Ready when you are.
One call. Cleanest floors you've had.
GALT (916) 919-7642 · LODI (209) 663-0823 · MON–SAT · 9AM–5PM
$200 MINIMUM SERVICE CHARGE · WE DO NOT MOVE FURNITURE · PRE-VACUUM REQUIRED