The Cleaning Blog
The Cleaning Blog is the most helpful carpet cleaning blog out there! We publish multiple entries per month to keep you up to date on the carpet cleaning industry and our expert advice!
The Main Culprits for Discoloration in Grout and Tile
Tiled floors can take the aesthetics of a room to a whole different level – if they’re clean. Unfortunately, tiles and grout are prone to discoloration over time. If you want to be proactive in your tile maintenance and want to avoid hours on your knees scrubbing away, it is important to know what are the main culprits for discoloration in grout and tile.
If you need professional help with tile cleaning in Orlando, don’t hesitate to contact us.
The Main Culprits for Discoloration in Grout and Tile
While it is easy to assume that grout and tile discoloration come from spills and dirt, they can arise from different sources as well. Here is a list of typical causes for grout and tile discoloration.
Improper Cleaning Technique
Interestingly, your cleaning technique might be the main culprit as to why your tile and grout are forming discolorations. Understandably, grout is a hotspot for dirt and grime because of its position – in between tiles and typically elevated lower than tiles.
When you clean tiles, especially with a cleaning solution or a cleaning solvent, the goal is to move the dirt off the tiles. However, the motion of cleaning usually moves the dirt around and then they can end up in the grout.
Dirty Water
Working with dirty water on tiled floors is a recipe for disaster. Dirty water contains anything from dirty, grim, oils, and other contaminants that will easily be carried by the water into the crevices of grout. Dirty water can be found all over the house – an over spilling bathtub can be dirty water, splatters and debris from washing the dishes can be dirty water, and more.
Bringing in chlorine from the pool under your feet can affect your grout and tile as well. More often, it’s the darker colored grout and tiles that are affected. Try to dry yourself off before stepping indoors or possibly use an epoxy grout sealant on your grout to better preserve the color.
Mold
As disgusting as it can sound, that dirt in between your tiles can possibly be mold. Since grout has a lower elevation than the tiles themselves, water is easily trapped in between tiles – this makes grout a particularly moist and humid environment which makes it the perfect environment for mold and other fungi to grow.
Mold is especially difficult to deal with because they are often already present all around in the form of spores. This means that these organisms are just waiting for the right time and place to grow.
Ways to Make Grout and Tile Cleaner and Brighter
Since grout and tile discoloration can come from different sources, they can also be cleaned in a number of ways. Here are different ways to make grout and tile cleaner and brighter.
Focus on the Grout
As mentioned above, improper cleaning technique can be a factor to the accumulation of dirt in the grout. With this in mind, you have to be mindful and focus on the grout when cleaning tiles. An easy way to do this is to simply clean tiles like you normally would, but then afterwards, you have to put in some elbow grease and scrub the grout. Scrubbing the grout is necessary and gets the job done.
Use Steam
Different chemicals have different properties that make them difficult to clean off. In the event that dirt from the tiles and grout is difficult to deal with, then perhaps it is time you should consider using steam. Steam is an incredibly efficient cleaning tool as it helps loosen dirt and grim, making them easier to remove.
Neutral pH Cleaner
While acidic or basic cleaners can work best on other surfaces, it is highly recommended to stick to a neutral pH cleaner when it comes to cleaning tile and grout. This is because cleaning solutions of different pH can actually contribute to the discoloration of tile and grout as well because of how these cleaning solutions interact with the chemical properties of the grout mixture used.
While there are neutral pH cleaning solutions available on the market, a good neutral pH solution is highly accessible to everyone – water.
Conclusion
Cleaning your tiles and grout is one way of elevating the appearance of your floors, making them spick and span. However, keeping them clean is not the easiest thing to do because tiles can easily get dirty while grout is prone to dirt accumulation. Nevertheless, knowing the factors involved in getting them dirty is half the battle because then, you’d know how to deal with them.
Carpet Cleaning Misconceptions
There’s a surprising number of misconceptions out there when it comes to carpet cleaning. Like what the best method for cleaning is, or how to keep your carpet looking great. You don’t want to waste time doing things you don’t have to do, nor do you want to spend lots of money on improper cleaning methods. Let us help you break your carpet cleaning misconceptions so you can clean your carpets effectively and avoid long term damage to your carpets.
Carpet Cleaning Misconceptions
Carpet Wearing
You might think that vacuuming more often means that you’re more likely to wear out the carpeting. This isn’t true anymore. Now, carpets are made to be stronger and more durable, meaning that you can vacuum every day and you won’t wear out your carpet. It does help though if your vacuum is functioning like it should.
Cleaning Methods
“How you clean your carpet doesn’t matter as long as it gets clean.” While this might be true in some other situations, this isn’t true in terms of carpeting. You can clean your carpet every day without noticing any wear and tear, but if you use the wrong methods or poorly maintained equipment, your carpet may suffer for it.
For example, there’s a method called the Bonnet Carpet Cleaning method. This method was originally developed for hard flooring, and is made to clean using a high-speed pad soaked in carpet cleaning solution. This doesn’t really do much on carpeting besides grinding the carpet fibers and distributing dust and dirt rather than cleaning it.
It’s important to actually get your carpeting clean, with actual steam or water extraction and powerful suction.
Steam Cleaning
Speaking of using water or steam to get your carpet clean, you don’t need to worry about this method leading to the growth of mildew in your carpeting. That’s because steam cleaning involves the usage of hot steam rather than water, and is often done by a professional.
Now, you could still do steam cleaning on your own with a rented cleaner too. If you do this, it’s important that you understand all the risks, like staying in one spot too long and oversaturating the carpeting. To keep your carpet looking great, it might be best to call carpet cleaning experts in Port Orange who know how to operate the equipment.
To avoid any mildew or any other problems though, it’s important to let your carpet to thoroughly try after your steam cleaning is finished.
A New Carpet is New
Your new carpet is brand new, so you don’t need to clean it, right? Wrong. It’s important to start early with your carpet cleaning so that you can prevent problems with dirt and dust getting stuck in between your carpeting. To have your carpet for as long as possible, don’t wait to get your vacuum out.
Using Carpet Deodorant or Baking Soda
You might think that you can use some kind of carpet deodorant or baking soda to get rid of the smell in your carpet and keep it clean without vacuuming. Know that this is always a temporary solution though. Using these too much will just get them stuck in the carpet fibers, and will make it nearly impossible to get them out.
On top of that, these won’t work forever. They might mask smells, but if there’s a smell to your carpet, you really need to get rid of the source of the smell to really notice a difference.
Clean When It’s Dirty
You might not want to clean your carpeting until it really starts to look dirty. Unfortunately, by this time, it’ll be too late though. Waiting to clean your carpet until it looks dirty and avoiding regular vacuuming will only shorten the lifespan of the carpeting because of how much dirt gets stuck up in the fibers.
Safeguard your carpeting to keep it for longer, and know that your carpeting isn’t clean just because it doesn’t look dirty. Vacuum regularly not only to clean up particles of dirt and pollen, but also to help your air quality.
Cheapest Option
You may be tempted to just go with the cheapest carpet cleaning option—because they all get your carpet clean anyway, right? As we mentioned before, you need to choose the right method for your carpeting, and need to remember that the professional experience might just be best sometimes.
Conclusion
There are a lot of misconceptions when it comes to carpet cleaning. It’s important to debunk them so you don’t end up damaging your carpet in the long term and know how to get your carpets cleaned the right way.
Professional Carpet Cleaning Methods and Why Choose a Professional
When it comes to keeping things clean, the surface on which we walk can be one of those problem areas. This is especially so for carpeted surfaces, where debris and obvious signs of dirtiness may not be always that apparent.
When it comes to such your carpet, it is best left to the experts to do the cleaning for you. Obviously, there are different methods to getting things spick and span. If you are wondering just which kind of professional carpet cleaning methods you should be exploring, we have got you covered.
Professional carpet cleaning methods
While not all methods will work for all carpets, there are always some reliable ways professional cleaning companies rely on to keep your surface clean and safe. As a guideline, the methods usually fall under two categories – wet or dry cleaning.
Hot Water Extraction Cleaning
The more commonly seen method, hot water extraction cleaning is also known as steam carpet cleaning. This method utilizes pressurized hot water in order to ensure your carpet gets a good wash, so to speak. The carpet fiber gets jolted, as dirt is dissolved.
This will require the typical application of a cleaning agent, especially on soiled areas. A brush is then used to agitate the carpet, and followed up with a good rinsing. Once the cleaning agent is more or less settled in the carpet after a short while, the real washing begins.
Specialized equipment helps to rinse the cleaning agent out thoroughly, before your carpet is left to dry.
Foam Encapsulation
The newer kid on the block, foam encapsulation uses synthetic detergents to help with carpet cleaning. These detergents help capture dirt, before turning into a powder form when dried, and easily removed by vacuuming or brushing.
While carpet shampooing used to be a chosen method, foam encapsulation has taken over. It uses less water, requires less time for drying, and it leaves behind less residue which means you may not need a clean all the time.
The only limitation it has is that it is unable to clean heavily soiled carpets, so keep that in mind.
Bonnet Cleaning
If you are looking to keep the surface looking good, consider Bonnet cleaning. The process is targeting at cleaning the top part of fiber using a machine with a cleaning solution. This helps to absorb the dirt from the surface quickly, and shortens the time to dry.
Bonnet cleaning is extremely useful for areas that see heavy traffic, and not much downtime is available. However, it is clear that this is not a deep clean. Carpets will likely get soiled again really quickly, while chemical residue will build up over time.
Why Choose a Professional?
As you would have already guessed, different needs require different methods and an expert hand to help you along the way. Professional cleaning is the way to go, and if you still have doubts as to why you will need the help of Port Orange carpet cleaning specialists, here are some benefits to look forward to.
Lifespan
When it comes to carpets, there is no doubt that these surfaces see some heavy traffic. However, they are not that cheap or easy to replace at the same time. It is essential that you keep the carpet lasting for as long as possible. Regular, professional cleaning helps with that by removing debris and dirt.
Hygiene
The removal of dirt and bacteria built up in carpets over time will only make your environment that much cleaner. Prevent health issues and remove pollutants with some expert help. You can also prevent odors from deteriorating fibers.
Savings
You can save yourself trouble and time as well by relying on professional cleaning services. They get the job done efficiently, while making sure your carpet gets the love they deserve. Regular maintenance also ensures that you do not have to fork out money for new carpets so often.
Aesthetics
Although carpets are usually the largest furnishing in any room, it is not exactly the most looked at surface. However, without regular cleaning, it will inevitably look worse for wear and dampen the aesthetics of the room. A professional cleaning every once in a while will keep things looking fresh and as they should be.
Conclusion
By ensuring your carpets are maintained and cleaned consistently, you can increase the longevity of your carpets and make sure your environment is clean and looking great. With such heavy usage, sometimes it just doesn’t cut it without some professional help. Contact us today, and let our carpet cleaning experts do what we do best.
Do-It-Yourself Carpet Cleaning Mistakes
We all love the feeling of clean carpets, and it can be satisfying to do the work yourself. Whether you clean them yourself for the satisfaction of a job well done, or you’re trying to save some money, you need to do it the right way. As so many people learn, there are plenty of do it yourself carpet cleaning mistakes you can make along the way. Want to avoid them and potentially damaging your carpet? Read on before you bring out your cleaning gear.
Do-It-Yourself Carpet Cleaning Mistakes
No Prep Work
If you’re trying to avoid looking at a dirty carpet, you’re probably ready to dive in and get them clean. However, you need to do some prep work beforehand. First, get the right cleaning supplies. Next, make sure you test your cleaning products on a small and somewhat hidden patch of carpet. If a disaster happens, you can avoid it on the rest of your floor.
Letting Stains Sit
While it isn’t part of carpet shampooing, it is part of your routine carpet cleaning and care. When something spills, don’t scrub it, but rather gently soak it up with a neutral, light colored towel. The longer stains sit, the deeper they saturate the fibers in your carpet. Of course, this makes it much more difficult when you actually get to deep cleaning your floors. If needed, use a tried and tested spot cleaner on the area.
Too Much Shampoo
A little carpet shampoo is good when you need to get your carpets looking new again. However, using more isn’t necessarily better, even when you’re dealing with tough, set in stains. The more shampoo you use, the more difficult it is to rinse all of it out, especially without soaking your carpets which can ultimately lead to water damage.
The other problem with using too much shampoo or soap is the residue it leaves behind (and it will leave some behind). This residue might not feel sticky, but it does grab dirt and debris, which makes your carpets look dirt over time.
Not Rinsing Properly
This mistake ties into the mistake above, using too much shampoo. If you don’t rinse enough, soapy residue gets left behind. If you rinse too much, you have another problem, besides the carpet taking a long time to dry.
First, you can cause water damage, fungus, or mold, or your carpets can’t properly dry. Next, you also risk shrinkage as your carpets dry, which will disrupt their ability to adhere to the floor underneath. Or, you might notice discoloration because of the backing materials beneath your carpet.
Deodorizers (Sometimes)
Deodorizers are great when you need to get musty, stubborn smells out of your carpets. However, a lot of these come as sprays or in powder form. You disperse the deodorizer on your carpet, let it sit, and then vacuum it up.
Using too much, or using the cheaper versions, often leads to a gunky build up in your carpet. It might take a while to notice it, but it can ultimately make a thorough clean of your carpet much harder in the end.
Scrubbing Not Dabbing Stains
This is a tough one for most people to get over. The best way to clean up a fresh stain (or one you’re treating with a stain remover) is by dabbing it up with a clean cloth. However, a lot of people get frustrated, or impatient, and end up scrubbing at the stain. That might work on hard floors, but it’s not a good idea on carpets.
Scrubbing at stains tends to disperse the stain, and because you’re shifting the fibers in your carpet and exposing deeper carpet, you can end up moving the stain around more than you’re removing it.
Lack of Maintenance
DIY carpet cleaning should be part of your regular household chores. We’re not talking about steam cleaning, but you should vacuum and remove stains regularly. This keeps them from getting deeper, and more stuck, in your carpets. Most experts in carpet cleaning in Port Orange, FL also recommend deep cleaning your carpets between once and twice each year.
Conclusion
Now that you know the most common and the worst do it yourself carpet cleaning mistakes, you’re ready to go. Just remember to test your products, maintain your carpets, and always take care of a spill right away. Cleaning your carpets doesn’t have to be hard. As long as you follow this advice, you can enjoy fresh, clean carpets all the time, not just for special occasions.
What is the Best Type of Professional Carpet Cleaning?
There are several types of professional carpet cleaning out there, all of which are meant to get the dirt out of your carpet. They all do the same thing in the end, but not all types of carpet cleaning are equal. Some work better on different types of carpeting, and others perform well in high-traffic areas. The best type depends on your home.
What is the Best Type of Professional Carpet Cleaning?
Before we go through the best type of professional carpet cleaning services in Daytona Beach, let’s talk about all of your options, including hot water extraction, carpet shampooing, and carpet dry cleaning too.
Hot Water Extraction
You’ve probably heard of this type of carpet cleaning since it’s more commonly referred to as steam cleaning. Steam cleaning works as the name suggests: using steam. The carpet is first pre-conditioned with a chemical cleaner that is meant to lift dirt and anything else that may be stuck in your carpet fibers.
Heated water is then pressurized to become steam before it is injected into the carpet. After around 15 minutes, all of this is sucked up with a vacuum.
Steam cleaning works best for the removal of ingrained dirt and deep stains, and doesn’t leave any residue or odors in your carpeting. Especially if you have pets, this is the best method for getting smelly stains out. Your only problem might be the cost, and the fact that you have to wait a while for the carpeting to dry.
Carpet Shampooing
Most people don’t shampoo their carpets anymore, but this is still a viable option. It works like you would expect as you put a cleaning solution into the carpet in the form of a wet foam. The problem with this method is that the foam can leave behind a residue, and you do have to remember to rinse out the carpet after you’ve applied the shampoo. This reduces the sticky feeling in your carpeting.
This method can feel like a lot of work for some people, since you have to apply not only the solution, but you need to rinse it out too. Then again, it is less expensive than the machinery you’ll need for a steam cleaning.
Dry Carpet Cleaning
There are solutions that you can buy at the store that will help you with dry carpet cleaning. You only need to shake these powder solutions above your carpeting. The solution will work to absorb the dirt in your carpeting, so after 15 minutes, you can just vacuum it up. If you’re looking for a quick sort of clean, this is the perfect method.
This is also a great method if you have jute, coir, or seagrass flooring, which are prone to damage and shrinkage if they get wet. For these types of carpeting, dry carpet cleaning is the best option.
This is a convenient method because there’s very little drying time and it’s easy to do. You may not like the harsh chemicals used in these solutions either, and you shouldn’t try to use this on plush pile carpeting, which can trap the powder mixture.
Foam Cleaning
You have the ability to clean with foam too. Just like the powder, a cleaning solution is distributed evenly across the surface of the carpet, but then it is whipped into a foam. The foam is then worked into your carpeting with a rotating brush. Once the foam sits for a little while, it can be removed with a vacuum cleaner, and since there’s so much foam and very little water, this works for water-sensitive carpets.
You will need about an hour to wait until the carpeting is dry and ready to use again, which is faster than other options. You won’t necessarily be able to get the dirt that’s deeply embedded into the carpeting though.
Conclusion
In terms of the best carpet cleaning option, it really depends on what you’re looking for. If you want to get the most amount of dirt possible, hot water extraction may be best. If you have carpeting that doesn’t work well with water, foam cleaning or dry carpet cleaning is better. There’s also carpet shampooing as a cheaper yet more time-consuming option. Which method you use just depends on what method will work best for your carpets.
Is It Worth Getting Carpets Professionally Cleaned?
Everyone knows that carpet can be a pain to clean. Some carpets are easier than others, but generally, carpets aren’t the easiest cleaning project. The stains don’t wipe away easily like on hardwood and sometimes, you need special cleaning products that are difficult to find or only sold by certain manufacturers. When you realize your carpet could use a bath, however, you may be wondering if it’s actually worth it to get them professionally cleaned.
To fully install carpet is costly so it’s reasonable that you want to take care of it well. In fact, if you don’t clean it at least somewhat regularly, the total lifespan of your carpet drops drastically and you’ll discover it needs a full replacement sooner than necessary. In order to avoid the high costs of replacing your carpet, it’s highly recommended you get your carpet thoroughly cleaned at least a few times in its life.
We’ll cover all the reasons why you should consider getting your carpet professionally cleaned below.
Why It’s Worth Getting Your Carpets Professionally Cleaned
You might think that vacuuming it every week and doing a major spot cleaning every spring or so seems to be enough. Taking a carpet cleaner to the floors at least once a year will certainly help your carpet live longer, but investing in a professional cleaning service every now and then can do even more wonders for your flooring.
The Cleaning is Fast
The rumors that having your carpet cleaned professionally takes forever are just that: rumors. Fact is, you’ll be able to get back into your house within just a few hours.
It Improves Your Carpet’s Life
Just like with everything else, regular care and maintenance will improve and lengthen the life of your carpet. Vacuuming and shampooing your carpet at home are great ways to keep your carpet from getting old and dirty faster than expected, but they’ll never be the same as getting your carpet professionally cleaned at least a couple of times.
When a professional cleaning company comes through and cleans your carpet, they don’t just get rid of the dirt and grime, but they also get rid of bacteria, dust mites, pollutants, and mold. In just a couple hours, your carpet is the cleanest it’s been since installation and you won’t have to pay the heavy fees involved.
It’s Fairly Cost Efficient
For how amazing your carpets will look afterwards, the price of a professional cleaning service is pretty great. As mentioned before and to be expected, getting your carpet cleaned is much cheaper than having it completely removed and replaced. However, you may be surprised at just how good your carpet looks after a professional cleaning.
A good professional carpet cleaning service can have your carpet looking almost perfect in just a couple of hours, depending on the size of your home.
Conclusion
Professional carpet cleaning in Daytona Beach can turn your well-loved carpet into a like-new carpet quickly and easily. You’ll get several more years of use out of your carpet before you have to even think about replacing it.
If you’re on the fence about the decision and your other option is to completely replace your carpeting, go for a professional cleaning service. Not only is it cheaper long term, but it allows you to wait a few more years before making the bigger decision to replace your carpets entirely.