Why We Always Vacuum First — And Why It Matters for Your Home
Why Professional Vacuuming Is the Most Important First Step in Carpet Cleaning
One of the most common things homeowners hear from carpet cleaners is:
“Our machines are so powerful—you don’t need to vacuum before we arrive.”
Unfortunately, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Before I started CLE Carpet Cleaning & More in May 2022, I hired companies who told me the same thing. And after years of firsthand experience and training, I can confidently say: skipping vacuuming leads to a worse clean every single time.
Why Pre-Vacuuming Matters
Your carpet holds dust, pollen, pet dander, hair, soil, and debris from daily life.
If these dry particles aren’t removed before water and cleaning solutions are applied, they turn into something worse…
They become mud.
Anything water-soluble in your carpet dissolves once pre-spray or water hits it. When that happens, the dirty, muddy mixture can get pushed deeper into the carpet fibers—far deeper than even the best carpet wand can extract.
No carpet cleaner can remove 100% of the soil in your carpet.
But what we can do is prevent unnecessary mud from forming in the first place.
That starts with a thorough, professional vacuuming.
Why Your Vacuum Isn’t Enough (And Why We Still Vacuum Anyway)
Even if you vacuum before we arrive (which we appreciate!), our team will still vacuum your carpets, stairs, upholstery, and crevices.
Here’s why:
When was the last time your vacuum was deep cleaned?
When was the beater bar replaced?
Are the bristles worn down?
Is the suction strong enough to reach deep into the carpet base?
Most household vacuums simply can’t remove all the dry soils, allergens, hair, and debris embedded in the carpet. We use high-powered professional vacuums designed to extract what home vacuums leave behind.
And let’s be honest—there are always “fun surprises” hiding in carpets: pet hair, dust bunnies, food crumbs, even the occasional toenail clipping. Our vacuums pull those out before water ever touches the carpet.
After Vacuuming: Our Deep Agitation Process
Once professional vacuuming is complete, we move to the next step in the CLE Clean Process.
This includes:
✔ Customized Pre-Spray Treatment
Tailored to your carpet type and what we found during our High-Powered Black Light Inspection.
✔ Deep Scrubbing (CRB Agitation)
We use a 60-pound CRB (counter-rotating brush) machine on floors and a drill-powered brush for upholstery.
This does two things:
Loosens and agitates soil all the way down to the base of the fibers.
Lifts debris and hair that even vacuums cannot reach—and brings it to the surface.
You would be shocked at what we pull from carpets DAILY. (Check out our photos on social media—you won’t believe it.)
Many carpet cleaners skip CRB agitation or vacuuming entirely, claiming it’s unnecessary. But if hair has been pushed deep into the fibers by years of traffic or previous cleaners, the only way to lift it is through professional agitation.
This is why our multi-step process matters so much.
The CLE Clean Process Starts With Vacuuming—Always
Every step of the CLE Clean Process is intentional, thorough, and designed to give you the cleanest, safest, and healthiest results possible. And that starts with Step 1…
Professional Vacuuming.
It’s not optional. It’s essential.
And it’s one of the many things we do that “the other guys” simply don’t.
