Carpet Cleaning in Humble TX & Surrounding Areas
07 Dec 2017

Protecting Your Investment

Carpet is replaced every 10-12 years on average. However, after 3-5 years it can start to show signs "uglying out" as the manufacturers like to call it. The carpet cleaning industry calls it wearing out. There are some fiber types that clean up well, look better and last longer than others. Today, carpet comes in many different fiber types with blends of nylon, plants, recycled plastic, and wool. In our experience, nothing beats a great nylon carpet; in fact, we're still cleaning some of the older nylon carpets from the 90's and early 2000's and they hold up remarkably well. Nylon carpet may be more expensive than the alternatives, but like any other textile in your home it is an investment. 

We believe it is our job to educate you based on our experience and cleaning 100,000's sq ft of carpet each year. We have learned and experienced what cleans up well, what products last the longest, and what carpet types do well in specific situations. While we aren't carpet salesman, if you're ever thinking of replacing your carpet we can provide you with our professional recommendations and tips. 

Carpet Cleaning Tid Bits

  1. Vacuum, vacuum, vacuum - removing dry soil from your carpet is the easiest and most efficient way to make your carpet last longer. A common myth - you can buy an expensive vacuum and vacuum less often. While some people believe that, that couldn't be further from the truth. To the naked eye, soil looks flat but under a microscope a grain of sand or soil has million of sharp edges. When your carpet becomes loaded with soil, our foot traffic causes the soil to cut the carpet fibers. This causes the carpet to wear and that cannot be reversed. As the carpet wears, it reflects light differently and can make a light amount of soil look very dark on lighter colored carpets. Vacuuming regularly is one of the key components to maintaining your carpet. For a family of 4 we recommend vacuuming common areas 2-3 times per week. 
  2. Just as we mentioned in this article, your carpet is a filter. Carpet filters out a lot of the dirt, hair, bacteria, and other pollutants we bring into our home and businesses. Bacteria loves dirt but vacuuming to lessen the soil load in the carpet significantly reduces the bacteria's food source. This also greatly improves your indoor air quality.
  3. Professional carpet cleaning is another key component to maintaining your carpet. In fact, major carpet manufacturers require professional carpet cleaning to uphold and maintain warranties. They also recommend it to uphold fiber retention and healthier indoor air quality. 
  4. Use rugs - walk off mats or rugs are a great way to reduce soil load in the carpet. Whether they're inexpensive machine washable rugs or investment quality woven rugs. Having them at your entry ways and transitions to hard surfaces help to lessen the amount of dirt we bring on to the carpet. We can clean these rugs during your carpet cleaning appointment if they're woven rugs or quality area rugs that are not machine washable. 

Carpet Cleaning Is Like Maintaining Your Teeth

We know you've just read that heading and you may have raised your eyebrow but stay with us. The process of vacuuming your carpet to maintain it, is the same process that brushing your teeth is to maintaining your teeth. Professional carpet cleaning is the same process as going to the dentist. As you know brushing your teeth makes them last longer and look between. However in both carpet cleaning and dentistry, sometimes there are issues that only a professional can fix. A chipped tooth, a koolaid stain - we think you get the picture.

When you're young and first start going to the dentist, they applied fluoride to your teeth to protect them. Carpet manufacturers apply a fluoro-chemical protectant to the carpet - most commonly known as Scotchgard™. Over time that protective property wears off and needs to be reapplied. We offer carpet protector application and can a can apply it directly after cleaning. Having carpet protector applied after cleaning can help your carpet to last 50-75% longer.

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03 Oct 2017

What Are Those Pesky Black Lines & More!

filtration soiling

Did you know that your carpet is a filter? It’s true!

Studies have shown that the indoor air quality of a home is worse than the outside air quality. So what does that mean for your home? It means that all of the dust, dander, allergens, and other air contaminants settle on your carpet. Regular vacuuming does help(we'll get more into this in a bit) – but there is nothing better than professional carpet cleaning by a certified and trained professional. In fact, major carpet manufacturers require it to keep up with warranties.

Those pesky black lines

Have you ever noticed that over time, dark lines begin to appear along the baseboards of your light colored carpet? Those are called filtration soil lines and as the name suggests they're from your carpet filtering your indoor air. For a moment, think of your home as being alive. Your house breaths with the HVAC system as there is a supply and a return side. There is a void of space between your drywall and the floor and the air is pulled to that void by the return vents of your HVAC system; meaning the dust and other air contaminants pass through this space. Over time it builds up and forms a dark, undesirable line. There are things you can do to minimize this by making sure that while you vacuum you take your edge tool and go around the perimeter of each room. If you enjoy burning candles, this issue can occur frequently as the oils in the candles atomize they get pulled to the edges. These lines can be very difficult to remove depending how long it has been since your last cleaning, but we do have special spotting agents that give us a competitive edge.

 

Let's Talk About Vacuuming

As we mentioned carpet manufacturers recommend you have your carpet cleaned every 12-18 months to keep up with appearance and warranties. If your carpet receives a lot of traffic more frequent carpet cleanings may be needed. We are constantly asked what things can be done in between professional cleanings to keep the carpet in great shape. So we've come up with some helpful tid bits for you.

Step 1

The easiest home maintenance action you can perform is vacuuming. Regular vacuuming will keep the carpet pile lifted to help from crushing and matting as well as remove dry soil particulate that is damaging to the carpet fibers. If you have a family of five we recommend you vacuum common areas at least every other day, if not every day. Bedrooms and less used areas can be vacuumed less frequently, but don’t forget to make a pass or two into your walk-in closets as well. Dust likes to settle under doorways, especially closets.

What vacuum is best ?

When purchasing a vacuum you want one that has a good beater bar that has the ability to adjust its height based on the different pile heights. You want the beater bar to have some aggression to dig the fine particulate out, but you don’t want it to be digging too hard and damage the carpet. You will have to test different settings to find the happy medium. Some vacuums perform better than others, that is absolutely true, however the important thing to remember is to actually perform the vacuuming. For clients that have a budget, using a less expensive vacuum more often will give similar results as a more expensive unit used less often. We recommend you don’t rely on a more powerful unit to vacuum less often because once the damage to the fiber is done, it cannot be reversed!

Dribbles, spots and spills OH MY!

Our most asked question is what to use when we have a dribble, spot, or spill. The answer is simple…

If you spill a liquid you want to BLOT BLOT BLOT, DO NOT RUB!

Using absorbent clean white terry towels soak up as much of the liquid as you possibly can. A lot of times this can actually solve the problem, and no cleaning solutions are needed.

For things such as pet urine, absorbing as much of the urine as possible is critical. When urine first comes out it is at a neutral pH, and as it dries it quickly turns alkaline. Once it turns alkaline it makes it harder to remove, and the smell tends to get stronger as well. After absorbing as much of it as possible spraying it moderately with a white vinegar solution(1 part white vinegar to 4 parts water) will help keep the urine closer to a neutral pH. Following the application of the solution, take a clean dry terry towel, and place something heavy on the spot. If the spot is wider, more terry towels may be needed. Placing something heavy on the spot will compress the carpet and pad, and allow the urine to wick into the towel. A lot of times this will also help prevent a spot from appearing after drying. Leave the compressed towel(s) on the area for several hours for best results. This can also be done for common spills and dribbles.

These spotting tips may not work 100%, but they will allow us to remove them easier with a higher rate of success when it comes time for professional cleaning. We do offer same day service for emergency spills. Things such as koolaid, and other liquids with dyes you should call us right away to treat as they will set quickly, and the chance of successful removal decreases.

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14 Aug 2017

Are You Damaging Your Tile & Grout?

Allow us to describe a very common situation. You have lived in your home for a while and occasionally mop your tile and grout floor to keep it clean and tidy. You're noticing that your normal mopping method just isn't cutting it and so you add a little more cleaning solution and you've once again reclaimed the clean status of your tile and grout floor. A few weeks goes by and you notice your tile and grout floor looks dirty again and you begin mopping it but your even stronger cleaning solution isn't working so you let out a heavy sigh and decide to use the heavy duty approach. There you are with a bucket of your trusty cleaning solution and brush and after an hour or so of light scrubbing you've once again reclaimed the clean status of your tile and grout floor. Finally, another couple of weeks go by and the floor is once again dirty looking and you shuffle your feet to gather your cleaning supplies. This time you really had to scrub the floor and it took twice as long, your back and your knees are sore and you just can't fathom having to do that again.

Tile & Grout Cleaning Tid Bits

  1. No one should spend a morning, afternoon, or evening scrubbing grout lines. It is hard on your body and there are plenty of better things to be doing such as spending time with your family.
  2. The hard truth is - you're likely using the wrong cleaner for your tile and grout floor. We get it. Infomercials and commercials make promises with miracle products every day. Many of the products on the shelves today leave your floor with residue. This residue attracts soil and make the floor get dirtier faster. Adding more product to create a stronger cleaning solution is actually compounding the problem making it worse.
  3. The cleaning products you are using may have the ability to damage any sealant applied to the grout lines. Whether you had it applied when it was installed or after professionally cleaned. There are many products that can damage that protective coating and render it useless. This can result in permanent staining. We can and will recommend cleaning products that won't do this that are perfect for the tile and grout floor that you have.
  4. Sealing and protecting your grout is a great investment. Following your professional tile and grout cleaning, we highly recommend to have your grout sealed. Your tile will clean up easier when you maintain it and professional cleanings will be more successful as well. Grout sealant is an invisible protective layer that makes it difficult for liquids and soils to penetrate the grout. What you're left with is tile and grout that stays cleaner longer with less effort!

Check out our article on filtration soiling

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