All carpet manufacturers recommend the steam cleaning process for carpets. The principle of steam cleaning, by definition, is to use water as a vehicle to carry the dirt away from the surface. This is achieved by using a high pressure steam wand to saturate the fibers, thus suspending the dirt in the water. Once the dirt has been suspended, it needs to be extracted; removing as much as possible from the surface. While the vacuum to the wand is constantly running, it is not enough to fully extract the water from the fibers. One of the most important maneuvers a carpet cleaner performs is the “dry pass”, or the extraction of the water. All too often, a vast majority of carpet cleaning technicians skip the extraction step as it is very time consuming.  Skipping the extraction step breaks the fundamental process of steam cleaning. ie. if the technician puts the dirt into the water then leaves the water, the dirt didn’t get extracted. It got redistributed. A good carpet tech, will complete a second pass with just the vacuum, “the dry pass”. This process creates double the work for the technician, however it ensures a thorough clean and proper dry times. If anything you’ve had cleaned takes longer than 9 hours to dry, it wasn’t done properly.Carpets properly cleaned will take approximately 4-6 hours to dry, with some things taking up to 8, but never more.