As a carpet cleaner, one of the questions we get asked is “why is light colored carpet more difficult and expensive to clean?” Here’s the history on this. There is not an exact answer to the question because there are many reasons for this. Back in the 1950’s and 60’s light colored had not shed it’s popularity on the main stage yet. This color did not become popular until the early 1980’s and the explosion began! My gosh, it’s like the world morphed overnight into a light colored carpet paradise! All of a sudden, it seemed like every home in North America had light colored beige carpet…what happened?

Here’s what happened, The bandwagon of popularity…that’s it…nothing more! The reason, there was no reason…that’s the point! It’s like every other fad or trend that makes it’s way into American culture. Why you ask, because it’s something different! But, fads and trends are exactly that…something different until the next fad or trend comes along! But, this trend was different! The difference was light colored carpet became the staple of choice and did not vanish in time! As time progressed into the the mid 1980’s is when buyers remorse started to sink in! Moms and Dads across America finally started to realize the negative affects of having light colored carpet with three children and Fido! Well, this is when the bandwagon wheels fell off and it drove into a ditch! Next, is what we call “Reality” and how do I clean up this mess?

After the dust settled and the light colored carpet meltdown began, the carpet cleaning industry had it’s biggest challenge yet! The question, “How do we clean up this mess?” and the carpet cleaning industry headed into new era of carpet cleaning madness! Yep, the industry had to design and engineer new products and equipment to meet the challenge…the revolution had began!

In the long term, this was a good problem for the carpet cleaning industry. The reason, it forced the carpet cleaning industry to become more technologically advanced and come up with new ideas and set an agenda for the future of the carpet cleaning industry! Off to the races, every carpet cleaning truck mount manufacturer and chemist were trying to develop new products to achieve a better quality clean to lighten and brighten lighter colored carpet. Going into the late 1980’s and early 90’s the carpet cleaning industry made massive improvements to meet this new challenge! From truck mounted carpet cleaning systems that produced massive heat from either heat exchange systems to diesel/propane fired burners the improvements were working. Solvents bases, detergent mixes, emulsifiers and surfactants were everywhere! Not exactly environmentally friendly, but the changes were for the better from a cleaning perspective. For all of the environmentalists “out there” these products are NO LONGER used today, but back then it was groundbreaking stuff! The bottom line, light colored carpet is “BY FAR” the most difficult, most expensive and time consuming carpet to clean…period! It just takes more to clean a light colored carpet effectively! From “whitening your whites” to “Brightening your brights” light colored carpet (especially) will cost you more in the long run! It’s not that darker colors are any (less clean) because they are less expensive to clean. The difference is, light colored carpet is more difficult to clean from a cosmetic perspective, in other words, make the carpet look lighter and brighter! Keep this in mind when making your next carpet purchase.