Carpet deodorizers are widely used by many cleaning staffs and people at home, but they can actually cause numerous issues if used incorrectly.
Mark Violand, a cleaning and restoration industry veteran and IICRC-certified carpet inspector and approved instructor, warns that powdered carpet deodorizer users likely do not know that most are made from abrasive substances which can cause a carpet to soil rapidly, lose its dimensional stability, and delaminate.
The main ingredient of most powdered carpet deodorizers is sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), which sticks to carpet fibres and then scratches them every time they are walked on. They can also make the carpet appear lighter in colour in the trafficked areas and causing the fibres to lose their lustre, which can make a carpet look unduly worn, as well as damage vacuums with long-term use.
Meanwhile, aerosol air fresheners, the most common product people grab to freshen the air quickly, also pose problems. These products are popular, with global retail sales forecasted to reach $11.7 billion by the end of 2021, but they fall from the air onto the face of the carpet, possibly leaving a sticky, soil-attracting residue. Even plug-in-style deodorizers evaporate and become airborne oil, which leaves an oily film on everything including carpets.
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Violand notes that it is possible to freshen the air in a building without harming people, furnishings, carpet, or vacuums — and without creating resoiling issues. Professionally cleaning carpet with hot water extraction that follows the ANSI/IICRC S100 Standard for Professional Cleaning of Textile Floor Coverings is the proper way to deodorize carpet, and with more and more people working from home and sheltering in place, now is the perfect time to market that professional carpet cleaning is good for both health and appearance.
The bottom line is that when using a deodorizer, the goal is to find a product that claims to be nonabrasive and that will not damage the carpet fibres or the backing. Options are now available in which up to 98 per cent of the product can be vacuumed out of the carpet, which is appealing when compared to a typical deodorizer’s 65 per cent.
