The 3 Best Things You Can Do For Your Area Rugs

Thursday, March 15th, 2018

Area rugs are a beautiful addition to any room. They add warmth and coziness and tie together a room. Rugs are a large investment and are often placed in high traffic areas, which can make maintaining them a challenge.

When it comes to home or workplace sanitation, having a clean bathroom is not enough. The carpets and rugs also need attending. Similar to wall-to-wall carpeting, area rugs collect dirt and dust which can lead to health problems, including asthma and allergies. There are a few steps you can take to ensure the health and well-being of your family and the longevity of your area rug. If you take good care of your rugs, they will last for many years to come.

No Shoes Policy

Shoes are one of the worst culprits for bringing in dirt, germs, pollen, and muddy prints from outside onto the rugs. Adopting a ‘no-shoes’ policy indoors, especially on your cow rug, can prevent it from looking dirty and dull. Placing door mats at all entryways can really help at keeping excessive dirt from coming into your home and getting trapped in your rugs. If you have pets that go outside, have their paws cleaned or wiped before they enter the house.

Vacuum Regularly

Vacuuming is probably the best thing you can do for your carpets. By vacuuming regularly, you can greatly extend the life of your area rugs and reduce the amount of dirt and allergens that can get trapped in your carpets. Vacuuming twice a week is ideal, or more in higher traffic areas.

Wool rugs have thick pile in which dirt and dust can get trapped easily in the fibers. Vacuum slowly and in different directions for the most thorough and effective cleaning. For an ever more thorough cleaning, vacuum the underside of the rugs every couple of months.

You can also take it old-school and get a nice upper body workout by taking the rugs outside and beating the dust and dirt out with a carpet beater prior to vacuuming.

If you have pets in the home, you know how fur can stubbornly stick to area rugs. Especially if that pet is an old dog that tends to shed its hair due to age or an infection (which could be treated using products like CBD oil for dogs UK), no matter how many times you vacuum over it, the fur will simply refuse to come out. So maybe you should try this trick before vacuuming: use a window squeegee or plastic gloves to wipe up excess fur which would otherwise get left behind during vacuuming.

Although vacuuming is one of the best things you can do for your area rugs at home, the reality is that once dirt goes into the carpet, it doesn’t come out that easily.

Professional Carpet Cleaning

Nowadays, DIY projects and hacks are becoming increasingly popular. While there are many great tips out there on almost everything, many DIY area rug cleaning can cause irreparable damage and cannot compare with professional area rug cleaning. These tips often suggest the use of dish soap or laundry detergents, both of which are too harsh to use on the fibers and may cause colour bleeding.

The best and most effective solution ins to have your rugs cleaned professionally. Prior to cleaning, professional carpet cleaners will assess the carpet for material, colour fastness, and any major concerns. They should also be willing to answer any questions you may have.

Specialty rugs such as wool, oriental, Persian, and silk might require special care similar to what a persian rug cleaning & washing in Los Angeles firm can offer. For example, wool rugs have a unique, thick pile that can only be cleaned with special machines. This is because the fibers of the wool rugs soak in more water and get heavy. This could also be why drier carpet cleaning methods work best for wool carpets.

Getting your area rugs cleaned professionally ensures that your rug is getting a deep clean. This thorough cleaning essentially removes dust, dirt, allergens, and pet dander without the risk of damaging it with at-home cleaning products and techniques.

Natural Ways to Get rid of Odours from Your Home

Wednesday, September 13th, 2017

Smells are inevitable in homes. From the pleasant aromas of perfumes and candles to the unpleasant odours of smoke and food odours, smells are inevitable in all homes. Most quick fixes include using air fresheners and candles, but these only mask the smell and are often synthetic, which greatly reduces the quality of the air in your home. Many people are beginning to opt for more natural solutions, and most everyday cleaning can be done using items found in your cabinets.

  1. Remove the source of the odour

The best tool to use for this task is your trusted nose. Often an entire house can smell because of a kitchen sink, clogged gutters, or a spill on the carpet, so removing the source of the odour is the clear first step. However, at times you may not know how to do it yourself. For example, removing the debris and cleaning the gutters isn’t an easy task. You may need to climb on the roofs, and if this isn’t your cup of tea, you may contact a gutter cleaning service such as Gutter Cleaning Little Rock to do it for you.

  1. Multiple uses for baking soda

Many people leave a box of baking soda in their fridge to eliminate food smells. Remember to place the box of baking soda away from the vegetables, as the sodium bicarbonate can cause leafy green vegetables to wilt faster.

Carpets absorb the all smells in your home, which could be a likely cause for the lingering smell that you may have become nose-blind to. Another great use for baking soda is to sprinkle some all over your carpet and vacuuming it after about an hour.

Aside from being useful in school science classes, baking soda combined with vinegar can do wonders for your sink. If your sink begins to smell, toss in a generous amount of baking soda down your sink and follow that by pouring vinegar to create a chemical reaction. Leave it for about 15 minutes before draining it down with warm water.

  1. Improve ventilation

Replacing stale air with fresh air from outside is the fastest way to neutralise odours. Open all the windows for ten minutes a day to get a draft blowing through the house. This will flush out odours that have been sitting in your home for days, replacing them with clean outdoor air. This would be more helpful if you had a garden outside your home. You could plant all sorts of trees there, learn how to prune roses to keep them healthy and smelling beautiful, and let that smell waft in to eliminate odours.

However, if you live in a city, the outdoor air might not smell much better than it does inside. Your windows may also not open, or it might be dangerous to leave them open for too long. It can also be noisy and cold with the windows thrown wide, so you’ll need to find other ways of improving ventilation in your home.

You can start by improving air circulation in the crawl space under your floors. A company similar to this Pier and beam Houston based repair firm can install passive or mechanical ventilation systems to draw air in and out through filters, helping to replace stale air whilst also reducing mould and mildew growth – major causes of poor air quality.

  1. The universal cleaner: vinegar

For those that have a garburator, a quick fix usually consists of running through pieces of lemon or lime or a few ice cubes through the disposal. Freezing vinegar in ice cube trays and running those through the garbage disposal is a better alternative especially since vinegar has odour eliminating powers.

Use these odour eliminating powers to your advantage. Boiling vinegar is a great deodorizer for your entire house. Your kitchen may smell like vinegar at first, but this usually dissipates quickly. This is also a much safer alternative to synthetic air fresheners, which can greatly reduce the air quality in your home. You can also boil some vinegar separately next time you cook, so food smells, such as from fish, are less empowering throughout the house.

If the odour from the garbage disposal persists, then it may be an indication of clogged drains. In that case, you might want to consider taking professional help from a plumbing company like this one that can provide repair services. Once that is fixed, you can then go ahead and use the homemade solutions for a clean garburator.

  1. Coffee Grounds

Similar to vinegar, coffee grounds are a great deodorizer as well. If your garbage is beginning to smell but it is not full yet, throw in some coffee grounds which can help reduce smells, much like how teabags can be placed in shoes for deodorizing purposes.

Placing coffee grounds in a bowl and placing them in a room can absorb unpleasant smells. It also comes with an added bonus of getting a nice whiff of coffee when passing by.

  1. Activated charcoal

Activated charcoal is both a clean and pure method of eliminating odours naturally. It works continuously to remove odours at the molecular level. Activated charcoal can be found at local retailers such as the Home Depot. You can place it near litter boxes, under the sink, or even in bathrooms to eliminate odours, making it the ideal choice.

In rare circumstances, a house could smell like rotten eggs. This indicates a gas leak and should be left to the professionals for immediate action. While the tips above are great for everyday cleaning, other times may call for a more thorough cleaning. Scrubbing walls and repainting them in the room where the smell is the strongest may help eliminate the smell. Additionally, replacing carpets can help if they are heavily soiled. A less costly alternative can be achieved by scheduling a professional carpet cleaning appointment.

ChemDry has a line of revolutionary and Green-certified products to keep your carpets and upholstery looking and smelling clean. In an independent Home Health Study concluded that the ChemDry method removed 89% of airborne bacteria, which improves indoor air quality. While your carpet may look clean on the surface, only professional carpet cleaners can remove the soil and allergens that are trapped deep in the fibers. In the meantime, give these carpet cleaning tips a try.

Tips to have a clean carpet in your home

Friday, August 4th, 2017

Carpets are a big investment that can add comfort to any home. Anyone with a carpet in their homes understands the heart-sinking feeling when the inevitable spill happens. With the following carpet-cleaning and spot removal tips in your arsenal, you’ll be ready to tackle the toughest stains and reverse the damage as soon as it happens.

  1. Cleaning your carpets before they become dirty

It may sound a bit counterproductive to clean your carpets before they appear dirty, but most of the soiling is trapped deep in the fibers of the carpet and is not visible to the eye. Without regular cleaning, the soil wears down the fibers, making it appear older and worn out. Not only that, but mold can form underneath the carpets, to the point where you may even need to get someone like these Mold Remediation Services out to get rid of it and restore your property before you can then concentrate on getting the carpets looking beautiful again.

  1. Vacuum slowly

Homes with children and pets are especially vulnerable to dirt and bacteria getting trapped deep inside the carpet. If cleaned incorrectly, these residual spots of moisture may trap soil, hair, and dirt, and create stains over time that are hard to remove. So, instead of vacuuming speedily, try vacuuming slowly to get out as much dirt and dust as possible. And if you’re too busy to clean it that way, you could consider looking at robot vacuums new models to make it a hassle-free and automated process of cleaning.

  1. Blot instead of rubbing

The technique for wiping wet stains in very important so as to not damage the fibers of the carpet and to remove as much as possible. Remember to blot inward to prevent spreading the stain. Rubbing on the other hand spreads the stain around the carpet, making it more difficult to clean up quickly.

Without the proper techniques, cleaning up a spill can be difficult. Oftentimes household items are safer, more economic and more effective at cleaning than harsh chemicals that could potentially bleach the colour off your carpets.

  1. Shaving Cream

Shaving cream can be considered the universal cleaner for just about all stains. Let it sit for a half hour and then blot the area clean. Finish it off with a mixture of one part vinegar and one part water in a spray bottle and spray the area. Blot to dry.

  1. Baking Soda and Vinegar

Aside from their ever-popular use in elementary school science classes, baking soda and vinegar are excellent at cleaning up stains that are slightly more stubborn or beginning to dry.

  1. Table salt

So you quickly clean up a carbonated drink spill and are worried about it leaving a stain on your carpets. Sprinkle a generous amount of table salt, enough to cover the stain, and leave it overnight. Vacuum the salt the following morning and there will be no evidence of any soda spills.

  1. Baby Powder

The dreaded grease stains are some of the most difficult stains to get rid of. After cleaning the stain as much as possible, sprinkle some baby powder over the stain, covering it completely, and place a brown paper bag or dry cloth on top. Set your iron on low and iron over the top of the paper bag or cloth. Be careful not to damage or burn your carpet. Repeat the process until all the grease is completely absorbed from the carpet. This technique works great on grease stains on clothing as well.

  1. Dishwashing Detergent

Dishwashing liquid is excellent at cutting through grease. For heavily greased stains on carpet, mix a drop or two (or more depending on the size and level of grease) of dishwashing liquid in a spray bottle and spray over the stain. With a clean damp cloth, use circular motions rather than linear motions to wipe away the detergent, or it may attract more soiling.

  1. Ice Cubes

Nothing is worse than finding gum on your carpets. The best way to remove this sticky mess is to freeze the gum. Grab a few ice cubes and ensure the gum is frozen solid. Try scooping the gum out with a spoon. Most of it should come out this way but if there is still any stuck, cut the carpet strands as close to the gum as possible so the area does not look uneven.

  1. Club Soda

If you enjoy hosting guests and like to socialize at home, sometimes there might be accidental wine or beer spills. Club soda comes in very handy in these scenarios. Mix one part club soda with one part water and spray it on the stain. Use circular motions to agitate the stain out.

  1. Cornstarch

To keep your carpets smelling clean or to get rid of odours, sprinkle cornstarch all over your carpet. Leave this for a couple of hours and then vacuum it up.

Until you call the professionals, use the tips above to manage spills. ChemDry has a line of revolutionary and non-toxic products to keep your carpets smelling clean and tackling stubborn stains. ChemDry products are safe to use around children, pets, pregnant women, people suffering from asthma and other sensitivities. If you prefer green-certified products, ChemDry’s patented carbonating cleaning product, The Natural , is a neutral pH cleaning solution with ingredients taken from Mother Nature herself.

How To Avoid 4 Carpet Cleaning Rip-Offs

Thursday, November 12th, 2009

HOW TO AVOID 4 CARPET CLEANING RIP-OFFS

RIP-OFF #1:UNBELIEVABLY LOW PRICE.

To some degree, all of us are attracted by low price because we want to work within a budget.  But some carpet cleaners use price as the bait for their false and misleading advertising.  They offer a cheap price–ususally between $4.95 and $9.95 per room, and then, once they’re in your home, they pressure you into buying “extras.”  It’s as if you were buying a car and found that the dealer was charging you extra for the tires and steering wheel.  Carpet cleaning is not as cheap as some unethical companies would like you to believe.

RIP-OFF #2: BAIT AND SWITCH.

Dual process carpet cleaning describes the process of applying a detergent or heavy preconditioning, followed with hot water extraction or rinsing.  Unfortunately, unethical carpet cleaners often use dual process as a bait-and-switch technique.  Here’s how it’s done:  First they “bait” you with a basic cleaning  (single process) at an unbelievably low price.  Then, when they arrive, they try to “switch” you to more expensive dual-process cleaning.  If you don’t fall for their switch and choose their basic service, you’ll likely receive poor workmanship using little more  than plain water and they will not guarantee their work.

RIP- OFF #3: UNSUPPORTED CLAIMS.  “THIS CLEANING METHOD IS THE BEST.”

You’ll read this in almost every ad.  You’ll hear this from virtually every carpet cleaner.  Remember this:  the method that’s best for you is the method that achieves your goal.  If you want a method that dries quickly, then a method that takes a long time to dry isn’t the best for you.  So before you choose a carpet cleaner, identify your objectives.  Then select the method that best reaches those objectives.  Making sure the company stands behind their work with a 100% money-back guarantee lets you know they’re serious about doing the job right.

RIP-OFF #4: OUTDATED BELIEFS “CLEANED CARPETS TAKE DAYS TO DRY.”

Years ago many people believed you had to soak your carpets with lots of soaps and water to get them clean.  But today we know this is false.  Over wetting and sticky soaps can cause mold and bacteria problems as well as damage the carpet and floor beneath.  Obviously each carpet cleaner will be biased towards his own method, and each method does have advantages.  I suggest a good place to start is by making sure the company you choose is a CRI (Carpet & Rug Institute) accredited firm with trained, certified technicians who know how to properly clean all types of carpets and perform advanced spotting.