When we're called to a restoration clean, often we're cleaning through years of compacted dirt, stains and grime - grounded deep in the carpets.

It’s the first step in bringing tired floors back to life - and hitting the reset button.

More often than not, steam cleaning is the most traditional and widely used technique for tackling heavily soiled carpets.

So traditional, it's become almost synonymous with carpet cleaning itself.

However, depending on the carpet condition, type and make up, a restoration clean might also involve a more intensive double low moisture encapsulation process.

And while restoration cleans are essential for going back to square one, it also comes with a hidden extra that nobody wants: wick back.

It's those stains that seem to mysteriously, and conveniently, reappear in the same spot.

But how do you fix it?

What is wick back?

Wick back happens when dirt and debris that appeared to be removed during cleaning slowly returns as the carpet dries or walked on.

When carpets are steam cleaned, hot water and detergent are flushed deep into the carpet fibres to break up embedded dirt and grime, and are extracted at the same time.

While steam cleaning is effective at deep cleaning, it's typically only able to extract around 75% of what’s pushed in. The remaining 25% - a toxic concoction of water, detergent, loosened soils, oils, and bacteria, settles into the backing of your carpet.

Similarly, after a double encapsulation process that involves an aggressive agitation to break through heavy build up, dirt can be compacted deep into the fibres during the cleaning process.

As the carpet dries, the 'wicking' effect begins: moisture and residual dirt rise back through the fibres, bringing stains back to the surface.

Restorations serve a purpose

Irrespective of the method, restoration cleans are an essential part of bringing carpets back to life.

When there’s been a long period of neglect, or the carpets are heavily soiled, these methods help us push the reset button and bring them back to baseline.

While it’s an important part of the restoration process, preventing issues like wick back requires far more than a reactive approach.

Keeping carpets clean, consistent, and stain free over time requires an approach that deals with what's buried underneath - not masking it.

The fix

The best way to avoid wick back is to move towards a proactive, maintenance-based approach through low moisture encapsulation.

Low moisture encapsulation, as the name suggests, uses a minimal amount of water, and cleans carpets through the agitation of a chemical solution that breaks down dirt and stains into microscopic nano-sized particles, and encapsulates them into a polymer casing to be vacuumed out of the carpet.

Our encapsulation method removes up to 96% of dirt and debris, and coats your carpets with protective polymers to prevent rapid resoiling.

This means, over time, a better clean for your carpets - without the wick back.