https://apexclean.co.nz/myths/ Straight answers to the questions people actually ask about carpet cleaning — each answered in one sentence before it is explained. Written by Bency John, owner-operator at ApexClean, Auckland. en-nz Thu, 06 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://apexclean.co.nz/myths/can-carpet-be-overwet/ https://apexclean.co.nz/myths/can-carpet-be-overwet/ Wed, 05 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT Yes. Once water passes through the pile into the backing and underlay, nothing can extract it and it has to evaporate out over days. That can delaminate the carpet, saturate the underlay and allow mould. Over-wetting is the most common avoidable fault in carpet cleaning. https://apexclean.co.nz/myths/experience-matters-more-than-equipment/ https://apexclean.co.nz/myths/experience-matters-more-than-equipment/ Wed, 05 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT Experience decides more of the outcome than equipment does, because most of what determines a result is judgement — fibre identification, dwell time, dry passes, knowing when to stop. But experience cannot produce heat or suction a machine does not have. Both have hard limits. https://apexclean.co.nz/myths/what-determines-carpet-dry-time/ https://apexclean.co.nz/myths/what-determines-carpet-dry-time/ Wed, 05 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT A few hours for walk-on dry, and fully dry well inside a day. The biggest factor by far is how much water was left in the carpet, not the weather — then airflow, indoor humidity and room temperature, in that order. https://apexclean.co.nz/myths/preconditioning-prespray-vs-tank/ https://apexclean.co.nz/myths/preconditioning-prespray-vs-tank/ Wed, 05 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT Yes — a large one, and it is measured. Detergent used only in the machine's tank cleans just 4.6% better than plain hot water. The same chemistry sprayed onto the carpet first and given time to work cleans 3.54 times better than in-tank use, according to laboratory testing for the Carpet and Rug Institute. https://apexclean.co.nz/myths/why-carpet-smells-worse-after-cleaning/ https://apexclean.co.nz/myths/why-carpet-smells-worse-after-cleaning/ Wed, 05 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT Because cleaning re-wet something that was dormant. Old pet accidents, spilled milk and bacteria in the backing are odourless when dry and active again when damp. A carpet that dries fast usually stops smelling; one that stays damp for days does not. https://apexclean.co.nz/myths/stains-that-cannot-be-removed/ https://apexclean.co.nz/myths/stains-that-cannot-be-removed/ Wed, 05 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT The ones that are not stains. A stain is something added to the fibre and can often be removed. Bleach marks, sun fade, burns and wear are the fibre or its dye being damaged or removed — there is nothing left to lift out, so cleaning cannot reverse them. https://apexclean.co.nz/myths/does-carpet-cleaning-remove-allergens/ https://apexclean.co.nz/myths/does-carpet-cleaning-remove-allergens/ Wed, 05 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT It removes a great deal of both, by heat and extraction rather than by disinfecting. The allergen that affects people is mostly dust-mite droppings and skin debris, and those are physically flushed out and vacuumed away. It is a substantial reduction, not sterilisation, and it does not last forever. https://apexclean.co.nz/myths/why-carpet-gets-dirty-again-so-fast/ https://apexclean.co.nz/myths/why-carpet-gets-dirty-again-so-fast/ Wed, 05 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT Most often because detergent was left in the pile. Cleaning products are designed to grab soil, and any that isn't rinsed out keeps doing exactly that — so the fibres attract and hold dirt faster than they did before the clean. https://apexclean.co.nz/myths/long-hose-runs-wetter-carpet/ https://apexclean.co.nz/myths/long-hose-runs-wetter-carpet/ Wed, 05 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT Yes, more than most people realise. Vacuum and heat are both lost over the length of the hose, and the loss increases the harder the machine is working — so a long run gives up performance exactly when the job needs it most. Nothing about it looks different while it is happening. https://apexclean.co.nz/myths/questions-to-ask-a-carpet-cleaner/ https://apexclean.co.nz/myths/questions-to-ask-a-carpet-cleaner/ Wed, 05 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT Ask what pressure they run on carpet, where their quoted temperature is measured, how much hose they run from the van, whether they pre-spray and how long it dwells, and how many dry passes they finish with. Those five answers tell you more than any amount of marketing. https://apexclean.co.nz/myths/steam-cleaning-vs-hot-water-extraction/ https://apexclean.co.nz/myths/steam-cleaning-vs-hot-water-extraction/ Wed, 05 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT They are the same method. 'Steam cleaning' is the everyday name for hot water extraction, and the word is useful because it separates high-heat cleaning from the warm and cold-water methods. What matters is not the word — it is whether the operator has the heat to back it up. https://apexclean.co.nz/myths/are-all-truck-mounts-the-same/ https://apexclean.co.nz/myths/are-all-truck-mounts-the-same/ Wed, 05 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT No. The biggest difference is where the heat comes from. Most truck mounts recover heat as a by-product of the engine already driving the vacuum and the pump, so those three jobs compete. A separately fired heater does not compete, so the temperature holds when the trigger stays down. https://apexclean.co.nz/myths/why-cheap-carpet-cleaning-costs-more/ https://apexclean.co.nz/myths/why-cheap-carpet-cleaning-costs-more/ Wed, 05 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT Sometimes. A low price with the steps still in it is not the same as a low price with the steps taken out, and low overheads are not the same as cutting corners. What a very cheap quote discounts is minutes — dry vacuuming, dwell time, dry passes — and sometimes what the person knows. https://apexclean.co.nz/myths/truck-mount-doesnt-clean-the-technician-does/ https://apexclean.co.nz/myths/truck-mount-doesnt-clean-the-technician-does/ Wed, 05 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT No. The machine sets a ceiling; the operator decides how much of that ceiling you actually get. Dwell time, dry passes, fibre identification and hose management are all free, all decided at the job, and all invisible to you afterwards. https://apexclean.co.nz/myths/does-hotter-water-clean-better/ https://apexclean.co.nz/myths/does-hotter-water-clean-better/ Wed, 05 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT Yes, and not gradually — chemical action roughly doubles for every 10°C rise, so the gap between a warm machine and a hot one is multiples rather than percentages. More heat also means less detergent, and less detergent means less residue left behind to attract the next lot of soil. https://apexclean.co.nz/myths/vacuum-the-number-nobody-talks-about/ https://apexclean.co.nz/myths/vacuum-the-number-nobody-talks-about/ Wed, 05 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT Because cleaning is finished by what comes back out, not by what goes in. Vacuum is what removes the water and the suspended soil. Weak extraction leaves both behind, which is what causes slow drying, returning stains and fast resoiling. https://apexclean.co.nz/myths/why-did-my-carpet-stain-come-back/ https://apexclean.co.nz/myths/why-did-my-carpet-stain-come-back/ Wed, 05 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT It is called wicking. The mark was never only on the surface — it had soaked into the backing years ago. Water left behind after cleaning re-dissolves it, and as that moisture evaporates upward it carries the soil back to the surface. https://apexclean.co.nz/myths/carpet-still-wet-two-days-later/ https://apexclean.co.nz/myths/carpet-still-wet-two-days-later/ Wed, 05 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT Because water got below the pile and nothing pulled it back out. Weather changes drying by hours; water sitting in the backing and underlay changes it by days. It is an extraction problem, not a climate one. https://apexclean.co.nz/myths/higher-psi-clean-better/ https://apexclean.co.nz/myths/higher-psi-clean-better/ Wed, 05 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT No. Carpet is cleaned between roughly 200 and 500 PSI depending on fibre and soil. Past about 500 you stop lifting water out and start pushing it into the backing, which causes slow drying, returning stains and delamination. High-PSI figures are hard-floor figures.