Intelligent Questions to Ask a Carpet Cleaner

When choosing a carpet cleaner... ask questions.

I have owned a carpet cleaning business for more than 34 years. Over the years I have learned what questions people should be asking their carpet cleaners.

All carpet cleaning companies are not created equal. There are very significant differences in methods of cleaning, knowledge and experience, quality of equipment and cleaning solutions used, attitude towards customers and pricing.

So how do you know which company uses the best cleaning method for your needs, has the knowledge and experience to eliminate any problems in your carpets, is using quality and effective equipment and cleaning solutions, who has an attitude that you are comfortable with who fits within your budget?

You ask. Understand, in any business if you ask them if they can get the job done they will all say, "yes, no problem. We are the best." This means you need to ask specific questions to know if they really are who you want in your home.

Here are some questions you should ask.

What cleaning method do you use and explain to me exactly how your system works.

Think about any situations you might have in your carpets, bad traffic areas, urine stains, odor problems or any other concern that you have and ask them...

I have (name the concern/concerns) How specifically does your method take care of my concerns? Ask to speak to the owner or manager and then ask him/her detailed questions about this. Questions include what cleaning solutions do you use? How exactly does that cleaning solution work?

What you learn from their answer is their method, their knowledge and their attitude. If they give you incomplete answers or seem hesitant to answer your questions then I would call a different company.

Are you licensed and Insured? If not call somebody else. If a company is not professional to be licensed and insured then they most likely are not a very professional company.

Tell me about your guarantee. If they do not have one call someone else. Some companies have a guarantee that says, "best cleaning ever, or it's free". Think about it, this is not quantifiable. Who is to say that it is or is not the best you have ever received. I dislike these guarantees based on marketing hype. The best guarantee is the one where if you are not satisfied that they have done everything they could reasonably do to they will reclean the areas of concern for free. If you are still not satisfied then you will not be charged for those areas.

Of course you will ask about the price. Here is some advice about pricing. Just because one company charges a lot of money does not make them good and conversely just because a company charges a lower rate does not make them less competent then their more pricey competition. I believe that a company that charges close to the middle in your areas pricing for carpet cleaning is usually a good choice. Remember that if you have situations like urine, large stains or a high number of stains you will most likely need to pay extra for those situations. Always be clear before you schedule the work how much they charge for these situations. I would be cautious about a company who did not charge extra for these kinds of situations.

In summary- Ask detailed questions about how they can take care of the concerns you have with your carpets, make sure they are licensed and insured, ask about their guarantee and choose less on price than on how comfortable on how you felt about how they answered your questions.

Use this guide and you will find a carpet cleaner who will be able to take care of the concerns you have with your carpets.

Carpet Cleaning Watford, Carpet Cleaning Harrow, Carpet Cleaning Hampstead, Office Cleaning London, Cleaning Services London, source

Simple Carpet Maintenance - Take Your Shoes Off in the House!

I get asked all the time by my clients about ways to maintain their carpets at home. There's an EASY answer to this question. We're not talking about stain removing techniques (although that's important), we're not recommending the proper vacuum cleaner (which I will discuss in an upcoming blog), but it's a very simple preventative measure. Take your shoes off before you walk in your home! There are very simple reasons why taking your shoes off upon entering you home is crucial to the cleanliness and longevity of your carpet.

Dirt, asphalt, pesticides, and all sorts of bacteria and toxins are living on the bottoms of your shoes. Those can easily be tracked into your home onto your carpet. *Think of your child playing on the floor - not a good vision, huh?

Aside from contaminates on the soles of your shoes being tracked into your home, another reason you should NOT wear your shoes in the house is because dirty shoes can cause those darker pathways to appear around where you walk the most. You've seen them- Those dark paths from one door to another door... Those dark paths are affectionately known as traffic areas. Most think that traffic areas are mainly dirt that deposits on in the carpet from repeated use. That's only partially correct... Traffic areas are in part, abrasions within your carpet fibers. Think about this... 90% of carpeting today is made from synthetic fiber. Synthetic fibers are mostly derived from plastic. Ask yourself this question... What happens to a plastic bottle when you continually rub dirt on the clear plastic? Yep, the plastic becomes muddy in appearance (even if it's perfectly clean) due to abrasions in the plastic. That's exactly what happens in the traffic areas of your home. Shoes will grind in dirt and debris into the carpet fibers, giving it a dull and dark appearance. No amount of cleaning will improve the look of those carpet fibers.

By NOT wearing shoes in your home, significantly decreases the traffic area affect and ultimately keep your carpets looking new, longer.

So... this is your excuse to find the most comfy bunny slippers that you can find and wear them proudly (inside of your home, of course...).

If you insist on wearing shoes inside the home, please at take this advice... Go to your local retailer and grab a few doorway entry mats. Place those mats at every point of entry into your home. Last, but not least; use them!

Stay Green Folks!

Carpet Cleaning Watford, Carpet Cleaning Harrow, Carpet Cleaning Hampstead, Office Cleaning London, Cleaning Services London, source

How Should I Clean My Carpets?

Carpet cleaning like cooking can be done using different recipes and getting satisfactory results. Lets look at some of the methods currently being used. A skilled carpet cleaner can get the job done using almost any machine or method. Hot water extraction commonly called steam cleaning uses the hottest water possible to get the soil out of a carpet. Pressurized hot water is sprayed onto the carpet and immediately vacuumed off. The pressurized water provides agitation. Water can be heated to as high as 300 degrees f in the carpet machine. After the water passes through hose and wand and hits the carpet it can be as hot as 120 to 250 degrees f. The more suction the carpet machine has the better. The dirty water is vacuumed into a tank for latter disposal. Pre-spraying the carpet and agitating heavily soiled areas with a carpet rake helps get the carpet cleaner. It is beneficial to rinse the carpet with an acidic rinse to return the carpet to a neutral state. Also air movers can speed drying.

During steam cleaning if the furniture is moved and the carpet is cleaned, the following should be done to protect the carpet when the furniture is put back into place on the damp carpet. Foam blocks or plastic squares can be put under the furniture legs to prevent varnish or rust stains from developing.

Bonnet cleaning or absorbent pad cleaning is used when a carpet is not too heavily soiled. For example between steam or restorative cleanings. This is referred to as maintenance cleaning. Some popular methods of bonnet cleaning mix club soda (carbon dioxide and water) with a bonnet cleaning solution and spray it onto the carpet as a mist. This is not technically dry cleaning but it is a lot drier than steam cleaning. A cotton pad is rotated on top of the carpet using a low speed floor machine at 175 rpm. The pad is lubricated by the cleaning solution and picks up soil. The pad is then soaked and rung out in a bucket of bonnet cleaning solution. The pad can be used again until it is filled with soil. At this point a new pad is put into service. The bonnet or absorbent pad can be use again after washing.

The bonnet cleaning method can be used in conjunction with steam cleaning to improve the overall cleaning. Soil which can wick back in heavily soiled areas can be pulled from the carpet fibers while helping the drying process.

The cleaning methods just described are just 2 of the more popular methods currently being used in 1 form or another. Shop around and experiment and find the one that pleases you. Happy cleaning!

Carpet Cleaning Watford, Carpet Cleaning Harrow, Carpet Cleaning Hampstead, Office Cleaning London, Cleaning Services London, source

How to Initiate Your House Cleaning

Formerly maids were considered to be appointed only by the rich and wealthy people. With the change of time hiring maids have been a common job. This has been mostly frequent due to the busy schedule of your daily life.

Keeping a maid also helps you to keep your house hygienic and dirt free. Once you appoint a maid from a well know service company you can be rest assured that your half the household duty is done.

In most of the cases, the maid comes to clean up your home once or twice a week. That means you don't need to bother about the cleaning of your home neither you will be stressed watching the dirt and stains at your place. Thus you can freely enjoy time with your family once you return home from work.

Today's fast life needs a helping hand; especially when you are bothered to make your home dirt-less. Try out a Maid Cleaning Service available near your locality or in your region. You will get several maid service providing companies available in your area; take the service of the best one and reduce your household chore.

But what features do you need to check before you avail the service of the maid cleaning company? Check out the below lines:

You can get information on Maid Cleaning Service in your area from the Yellow Pages; or the Internet; or from the newspapers too. The big maid servant provider companies always have their branches through the country. Hence it is wise to go for the big cleaning service houses which are widespread.
If you are afraid to trust then you can also take suggestions from your neighbors and friends who avails the housecleaning services.
However whomever you hire as maid don't forget to interview the person. And also take the full identity details from her.
The company which you choose, if they have a website you can go through those. Also check out the details on their services and policies. For more protection you can check the bureau companies. In case there is any complaint against the housecleaning service company, you will get the details.
Several maid service companies are available with their vast planning and price. You will get companies according to your own affordability and convenience. Good and affordable maid cleaning assistance is provided by Chicago house cleaning service.
Before hiring make sure you check the service through trial cleaning; and you should be at home.

Carpet Cleaning Watford, Carpet Cleaning Harrow, Carpet Cleaning Hampstead, Office Cleaning London, Cleaning Services London, source

Becoming Educated About the Components and Attributes of a Filter Press

You will need an efficient filtration to keep the property spotless and secure. These equipment get rid of metal chips, burnt off carbons, other components from your main pipelines. What's more, it sustains the cleaning material of the principal valve and prevents water contamination. If you need to keep the water system spotless, make sure your filter press is doing the job.

What exactly is a filter press?
The purpose of this device is to fix the volume of water and keep its pressure when made use of. It secures and eliminates unwanted components in the pipe. In this process, the filter determines the amount of solids inside the system. For max purification, the press need to generate more pressure to get rid of the waste materials. A highly effective filter need to have its own pulp to improve the pipelines and dry the filtration.

Changing volume
The filter press additionally eliminates waste materials by using a filter plate generally known as diaphragm or membrane plane. This device has a variable drain-field, which absorbs solids as well as other waste materials. It's closed around the edges and forms an essential "bladder" or diaphragm, which can also inflate to spotless up the pipe system. This is very efficient in reducing the quantity of waste materials in the pipe. It can also minimize the normal elapsed time for a press cycle.

Parts of the filter: How do they do the job?
The two principal sections of the filter is the skeleton and the filter pack. The primary capability of the skeleton is to hold the filter pack together against the pressure developed during the filtration process. These sections are attached either by sidebars or overhead beams.

The filter pack is where the waste materials separation process takes place. It consists of a series of filter components that form chambers when held together in the press skeleton. Each chamber has a series of cylinders or "pips", covered by porous cloth to protect the head of the filter.

These pips form a cycle for the liquid draining from the press. There are also small holes in the drain-field to reduce waste materials and other components. When the plates are held together in a plate pack, the pips discharge the filtered water.

While filtering, the pressure in the chambers generates the flow of water in the pipe. It holds the head of the filter to make sure it eliminates the waste materials. The filter or cloth media then supports the structure for the filter cake when there is too much pressure.

Initially some waste materials may pass through the cloth media causing slight turbidity in the filtrate. This gradually removes larger particles and maintains the bridge of the pipelines.

What is dewatering sludge treatment?
This is another form of filtration. The most common method for dewatering sludge is to squeeze the water out of the sludge. You can also put the slight in a screen to spin the water out. One good example for this is the strainer. It prevents the solids/waste from entering the surface.

These are just some of the things you need to learn concerning filtration. Examine on-line or consult a professional to learn more details on unique filtering units.

Carpet Cleaning Watford, Carpet Cleaning Harrow, Carpet Cleaning Hampstead, Office Cleaning London, Cleaning Services London, source

How Does Carpet Fiber Protection Work?

Win/win Benefit of stain guard protection

This process will help people to protect their carpets. It is part of a pro-active Carpet maintenance. The main reason people replace carpets is because of wear patterns and stains.

Carpet fibers such as olefin, polyester and smartstrand are more effective than nylon at not absorbing stains, however they are not as durable as nylon and get replace because they wear out faster. To combine the durability and cleanability of nylon with the stain resisting ability of these other fibers, flourochemical stain protection can be used.

How does it work?
We use a technology flourochemical protectant that actually really does work well. It creates a negative ionic charge in the carpets which repels liquids and soils. Kind of like magnets that push away from each other. They create more surface tension on the carpet fibers so that spills bead up on them better. There is a difference between stain resistant carpets and applying fiber protection. Stain resistant carpet have a dye blocker injected into the fibers in the dyeing process while fiber protection is applied to carpet fibers after the dyeing process.

Does this mean that your carpets won't stain or get dirty?

No it means it gives you time to remove the spill or soil before it penetrates into the carpet fibers.

How long does it last?
It depends on the amount and type of traffic on the carpets. For best results Heavy traffic areas should have it reapplied every year and light traffic areas every other year. Areas that are likely to have a lot of spills or where the dogs like to lay down are good spots to apply protection.

Applying fiber protection to your upholstery is also a good idea. On the arms where grubby hands rest of where the back of the head can leave oil from hair are places that should have fiber protection applied.

If your fibers are natural fibers such as cotton or wool then you need to use a solvent based protectant because leaving natural fibers wet too long can create browning problems.

Other cautions; Using high alkaline cleaning solutions with a ph of over 10 may remove the protectant from the carpets. If a high alkaline solutions has been used on the carpets, be sure to thoroughly rinse out the area using an acidic rinse. White vinegar diluted in water works fine. Then apply more protectant to the area. You can purchase protectant from your local carpet cleaning supply store.

Make your carpets look better and last longer with carpet fiber protection.

Carpet Cleaning Watford, Carpet Cleaning Harrow, Carpet Cleaning Hampstead, Office Cleaning London, Cleaning Services London, source

How to Keep You Home Clean and Green

As we move away from the sluggish winter season we start looking forward to all the green and new possibilities of Spring and Summer. Most of us are familiar with spring cleaning rituals, but this year my ritual has changed and I have adopted a new way of cleaning which involves using only natural ingredients and hot steam.

The web is full of natural cleaning solutions and steam cleaning mops that can help keep your home clean and green but I will list some of the things I have tried that have worked and I stick by.

I have found that to clean green you will need the following containers

What you need:

• Plastic squirt bottles of various sizes.

• Plastic spray bottles.

• Misters (plastic pump spray bottles).

• Coffee cans with lids.

• Cotton cloths (to use instead of paper towels).

Natural Cleaning ingredients.

Warning beforehand: If you use natural ingredients like tea tree oil, lemon, vinegar, or baking soda keep in mind that you should treat them as you would commercial cleaners where you put on gloves when you are washing or scrubbing and you do not swallow any of the natural cleaning solutions.

Cleaning with natural ingredients brings you closer to mother nature and allows you to feel easier about cleaning your home especially when you have babies or toddlers that are still crawling around floors and carpets and put almost anything in their mouths. Natural cleaning ingredients I use are lemons, hot water and vinegar. I usually mix it all together and put it to a spray bottle. It can help clean and sanitize counter tops and sinks after preparing raw meat and chicken. However, for the latter, I use my steam cleaner and convert it into a hand steamer and load the top tank with lemon, water and vinegar so that I can get a proper steam cleaning in my kitchen. A simple and effective way to freshen up your kitchen is to cut a lemon in half and just scrub the sink and counter top with it.

This is my favorite dishwashing recipe, I know there are so many out there but if you have any please me know your favorite.

DIY Natural Dishwashing liquid

1/4 cup soap flakes

2 cups hot water

1/4 cup glycerin

1/2 teaspoon lemon essential oil

Directions.

1) In bowl combine soap flakes and water and stir until the soap is dissolved.

2) Stir in the glycerin and the essential oil, leave to cool. As it cools it will form a loose gel. Stir with a fork and break up the gel and then pour into an old shampoo bottle or any other similar shaped container.

3) To use, squirt 3 teaspoonfuls into hot running water.

Tea Tree Oil

My personal favorite natural cleaning agent is Australian tea tree oil. Australian tea tree oil is broad in its function that its a germicide, fungicide and a bactericide. Tea tree oil helps kill mold and mildew by just mixing in two teaspoons of Australian tea tree oil in a spray bottle with two cups of warm water. When you spray you shouldn't scrub but let the smell and solution absorb for a few days.Tea Tree oil and essential oils are a great way to add scent and disinfect stains and messes. You can use lemon essential oil to clean your microwave

What you will need.

1/4 cup baking soda

1 teaspoon vinegar

5-6 drops thyme, lemongrass, or lemon essential oil

Combine all ingredients to make a paste. Apply to the walls and floor of the microwave with a soft cloth or sponge. Rinse well and leave the microwave door open to air-dry for about 25-minutes.

Make Your own Natural Healthy Disinfectant Spray:

2 Cups Water

1/4 Cup White Vinegar

1/4 tsp. Tea Tree Oil

1/4 tsp. Lavender Oil

Combine and store in a spray bottle. Shake occasionally. Use wherever a disinfectant spray is needed.

As a busy mother of 3 my cleaning time is always cut short so what I do with tea tree oil and my steam cleaner is I put 3 teaspoons of tea oil in the front tank and steam spray my tea tree oil solution into the grout in the shower. This helps repel mold and mildew. If you don't use a steam cleaner, then what will happens is that it will kill the mold but it won't take away the mold discoloration.

I also use tea tree oil in the laundry. I add ½ teaspoon of tea tree oil to towels and bedding and other fabrics that are prone to getting moldy.

There are a lot of natural remedies out there that do work but require more elbow work then most commercial cleaners which means you can be cleaning for longer.I suggest investing in a steam cleaning mop that uses hot steam to help clean and disinfect your home. A good carpet steam cleaner or handheld steam cleaner only uses water and no other detergent. If you are interested in getting one the best thing to do is check out steaming cleaning mop reviews and find out which steam cleaner would be good for you. I myself have purchased many in the past so I always try to look up reviews when I'm getting a new one. The steam cleaner I use now which works wonders and uses nothing but regular warm tap water and anything else I add to it.

So there you have it, simple solutions to keeping your home clean and green.

Carpet Cleaning Watford, Carpet Cleaning Harrow, Carpet Cleaning Hampstead, Office Cleaning London, Cleaning Services London, source