Will You be Happy with Your Carpet After it’s Cleaned?

Posted on December 2, 2016 by RWS ACCC

carpet cleaning

While carpet cleaning may seem like a simple task that requires little training, several factors come into play that can make a big difference in how your carpet looks after cleaning. When you choose a company who understands your carpet you will get better results.

There are no Easy Answers
Some of the most common questions people ask about carpet cleaning includes, “Will the spots come back?”, “Will the dents from the furniture come out?”, “Will the traffic areas look better after it’s done?”, and “Will these stains come out?” The answer to these and other questions requires knowledge and experience.

Carpet can be made with a variety of fibers, each having its own cleaning characteristics. In addition, every fiber handles traffic and wear in its own unique way. Some soils that are easy to remove from one carpet may permanently stain another. Then there is the construction of the carpet. Loop pile, friezé, shag, saxony, velvet plush – all of these styles will respond to traffic in different ways. The quality and density of the cushion is another factor. Even the unique way the pile yarns are twisted and how tightly packed they are in the carpet backing makes a difference in wearability and cleanability.

Questions an Experienced Cleaner will Ask
An experienced cleaner will assess the condition of your carpet, asking: What is the age of the carpet? How was it cleaned in the past, and how often? Was protector applied during the last cleaning? How old are the spots, spills and stains, and have you tried anything to clean them?

With all of these variables, how can we possibly know what to expect from a carpet cleaning? Unfortunately, it’s not an exact science. BUT there are some things experienced cleaners know about carpet, fibers, soil and stains that give them a clue as to what they can anticipate from the cleaning process. Perhaps the most important consideration is the type of fiber. Just because they are all soft and fluffy does not mean they are all the same.

An experienced cleaner is trained to identify types of fibers and use their knowledge of that fiber’s characteristics to anticipate potential challenges. Here are a few examples:

  • If a carpet is wool you know that it has excellent resilience, so those crushed traffic areas and furniture indentations have a good chance of coming out. But wool is more easily stained by proteins than other fibers, so some foods, pet urine and other protein sources like blood will be difficult to remove.
  • Olefin carpets do not have the resiliency of wool, so high traffic areas tend to pack down and lose that fluffy texture over time. However, Olefin has excellent stain-resistance and color-fastness.
  • Stain-resist nylon has excellent resilience and good stain and soil repellency, so carpets made with nylon tend to be the best overall performers. However, depending on how the fiber was dyed, Nylon may be bleached by some household chemicals or sunlight.
  • Polyester fibers have an affinity for oily soils, so food or petroleum grease spots will be more difficult to remove. But Polyester, like Olefin, is very resistant to stains and bleaching.

The bottom line is that how the carpet looks after cleaning will depend on some factors out of our control. But you can be assured A Cleaner Carpet Cleaner will produce the best results you can get when we clean your carpets.

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It’s Only New Once

Posted on November 10, 2016 by RWS ACCC

Carpet Cleaning

Remember when your carpet was brand new? You vowed you would take your shoes off when you came into the house and vacuum twice a week. No eating in the living room! If anything spilled, you cleaned it up immediately. While these are great promises to make to yourself, even the best kept carpet needs to be cleaned regularly. And, if you are willing to admit that you have perhaps slacked off on these promises, your carpet might need to be cleaned more than you realize. In addition, there are other things you can do to keep your carpets looking great.

Your Carpet can “Look” New Again
Many people get their carpets cleaned and suddenly they see their carpet through new eyes, saying, “My carpets look like new!” It’s true, cleaning your carpets can make them look so much better that it almost feels like you have new carpet all over again. But, like everything else, carpet ages.

Color is usually the most important factor in how a carpet looks. As long as the color looks vibrant and there are no major spots or stains, most of us are quite happy with the look of our carpet. But why does the color start to look tired after a few years even after our best efforts at cleaning? Why can’t we make it look new again? Isn’t that dull, lifeless appearance in the traffic areas just dirt? No doubt, dirt is a contributing factor, but there are three other factors that cause carpet to look old: abrasion, crushing and pile distortion.

Abrasion – Dirt is loose particulate soil tracked in from outside, including mud, pollution, pollen and gritty minerals that scratch and dull the surface of carpet fibers. This abrasion changes the way light reflects off of the scratched fibers so colors are muted. We call this permanent condition loss of luster. This is the primary reason that colors lose their vibrancy. Imagine a car that is scratched with sandpaper. No amount of cleaning can bring back the luster.

Pile crush – Areas that are subject to a lot of foot traffic will crush down and lose some pile height. The carpet loses its soft, fluffy appearance and feel. How severely depends on the fiber type, yarn density, pile depth and quality of carpet pad

Pile distortion – When pile yarns lose their twist or the yarns are aligned in different directions, high traffic areas can appear dull and dingy. Once the carpet pile has become distorted it cannot be corrected. Some carpets are more prone to this type of appearance change than others.

Keeping Your Carpets Looking New Longer
Here are a few tips you can use to keep your carpet looking newer longer:

  • Keep soils out of the home as much as possible. Use doormats at all entrances and take off your shoes when coming in from outside.
  • Regular vacuuming is the best thing you can do to reduce damage caused by gritty dirt.
  • In areas where there is a lot of traffic, you can reduce wear by rearranging furnishings to redirect traffic.
  • Use carpet runners to limit crushing and pile distortion.
  • Regular cleaning before your carpet looks dirty is an important line of defense. Once soils have built up to the point of being obvious the damage is already done.
  • Applying a professional carpet protector after every cleaning is another great way to assure your carpet stays beautiful longer.

Remember, carpet is only new once but with care you can keep it looking good for years to come.

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Breathe Better Air at Home

Posted on October 5, 2016 by RWS ACCC

When you get home at the end of a busy day, it feels good to take a nice deep breath in anticipation of a quiet evening indoors. That is what home is supposed to be; a refuge from the hectic world outside. But when you take that nice deep breath, do you ever stop to consider the quality of the air in your home?

What is “Air”?
Air is a mixture of gases that make up Earth’s atmosphere. The part of the atmosphere that contains the right mixture of gases to support life contains nitrogen and oxygen, as well as trace amounts of argon, carbon dioxide, helium, neon and other gases. Air also contains variable amounts of water vapor. We refer to the amount of suspended water vapor as humidity.

Humidity Plays an Important Role in Indoor Air Quality
The American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) recommends maintaining indoor relative humidity levels between 30% and 50% for human health and comfort.

Excessive humidity can create an environment where microbes can flourish and create an unsanitary condition. In addition, higher humidity can result in condensation of water on surfaces. This can hold soils and organic matter, creating a perfect incubator for mold, which can exacerbate asthma and allergies.

Air Suspends Particles
Most airborne particles are harmless. However, others can cause problems, particularly for those with asthma, allergies or immune disorders. There are four keys to keeping your indoor air clean and healthy: exclude, capture, clean and control.

Exclude – Keep contaminants out.
Keeping contaminants out of the home can be challenging because most airborne particles are tiny and can be everywhere. Pollen, carbon, mold spores, organic matter, insect matter, pollution, and plain old dirt enter the home, transported on air currents, clothing and shoes. By keeping doors and windows closed, removing shoes when entering and immediately changing your clothing after dusty activities like yard work, you can reduce the entry of pollutants.

There are other contaminants that originate from within the home. Pet and human dander, food particles, dust mites and their feces, cooking gases, sprays, chemicals, cleaning agents and many other particulates combine to reduce overall indoor air quality. That’s why exclusion is only part of the solution.

Capture – filter and contain that which enters.
When airborne particles enter your home, they remain suspended for a period of time. Those that are larger or denser drop out of the air and settle on surfaces. Smaller, lighter particles remain suspended longer, and are best removed by air filtration devices and the filter on your home’s HVAC (heating, ventilation and air-conditioning) system. Use high quality pleated filters designed for your HVAC.

Clean – remove pollutants from surfaces.
Eventually, particles settle on surfaces such as floors, furniture, counters, window sills, shelves and walls. Vacuuming and dusting remove most of the particles, but make sure that your vacuum cleaner has good filtration also.

Hard surfaces can be cleaned with electrostatic dusters or dust cloths that attract and hold particles, or by wiping hard surfaces with a damp cloth and wet mopping floors. Other surfaces such as carpet, area rugs and upholstery will require periodic professional cleaning to remove accumulated soils and pollutants.

Control – maintain equipment, humidity levels and filters.
Proper maintenance is important. Ensure your vacuum, HVAC system, range hood, bathroom exhaust fans and so forth are working optimally. Clean or replace filters regularly.

Speaking of filters, carpeting is the largest air filter in most homes because of it’s capacity to capture and hold large amounts of soils and pollutants. Keeping your carpet and upholstery clean is one of the best ways to clear the air in your home. Call A Cleaner Carpet Cleaner for more information or to schedule your next service.

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I’m asked almost everyday; How often should I clean my home carpets?

Posted on September 24, 2012 by RWS ACCC

There are several factors that go into this equation. But, the short answer is a carpet with average traffic should be cleaned once a year.

Now, let’s look at some factors that might change that:

  • Do you have allergies? Pollen can get trapped in the fibers and require more frequent cleaning.  The more you vacuum the less you need to clean.  Most of the soil in the carpet is dry soil and the vacuum can get that very well.  Applying a carpet protector can also help with the vacuuming.  Protectors will coat the fibers making them smooth again, therefore allowing the vacuum to pick up more dry soil.  As I mentioned earlier, protectors coat the fibers, therefore they will wear before the carpets before the carpets protecting the longevity of your flooring investment.
  • Do you have above average traffic? Especially Like anything else that gets used.  The more you use it the more maintenance it will require.  If the oil change interval on your car is every 3000 miles, and you drive 10 miles a day, you would change your oil half as often as someone who drives 20 miles a day.  Similarly the same goes for carpet  Master bedrooms, upstairs hallways and stairs get the most use.   According to the most cleaned areas in our clients homes, these areas require the most maintenance.  Especially if there are young children that love to come into bed with mommy and daddy on a Saturday and Sunday morning.  I know I did.  All these factors contribute to a shortened cleaning interval.
  • Do you have light colored carpets? Did you ever wear a snow white pants, or blouse?  You can almost never get  second wearing out of these.  The same goes for light colored carpet.  Soil is usually dark in color.  Light color carpets do not shadow the dark color of soil as well as dark carpets.  While dark carpets will get just as soiled as light carpets, sometimes you can get a little longer cleaning interval with dark carpet.   Remember soil will shorten carpet life so just because your carpet may not show soiling, don’t miss a cleaning interval.
  • Do you have pets that walk on the carpet? Never mind that pets drag in the mud from outside, they have body oils that transfer to the carpet.  We wear clothing, the clothes we wear absorb our body oil.  Pets run around in the buff.  Their body oil is absorbed in the fabric they lay on.  Weather this is carpet or upholstery, this body oil transfer is unavoidable.
  • Do you have someone who smokes in the house? That odor can be tough to get out.  We don’t see much of this anymore, as most people have quit smoking or have taken their smoking out of the home.  Smoke odor gets into the pores of everything.  Smoke settles and gets into the knap of the carpets and the fabric of upholstery even the pores of the paint.  Because it is a penetrating odor it can also get into the padding of carpet or the cushions of upholstery.  Once again, cleaning is your best defense to combat smoke odors.  Usually the use of a specially formulated smoke odor counteracting deodorizer fixes the problem.

To learn more about how to protect your investment and see our great offer, you can go here.

 

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