This is one of those things that gets carpet cleaners in trouble occasionally. People call you to get their carpet cleaned, and after you leave, they see a ripple or buckle in the rug. First a little explanation.
When a carpet gets old enough the padding underneath begins to disintegrate. This causes the rug to stretch in that place. Then when your carpet cleaner runs his equipment over it, it pulls it up even more. We see this not only on older carpets, but also on carpets that have been heavily used, and high traffic areas, especially on commercial carpets.
Solutions. If your carpet has buckled after a cleaning, your most immediate action should be to not allow anyone to tread on it until it is completely dry. In many cases, if the carpet is not too far gone, the drying itself will shrink the carpet back to normal size, or as close to normal as you can expect. You won’t be able to count on this method for much longer. If buckling becomes a bigger problem, it might be time to have the carpet stretched by having it reinstalled.
Our Low Moisture approach to carpet cleaning is proven to dramatically reduce the chances or your carpet rippling or buckling.
Written by, Derek Beyer.