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!
My Carpets Are Really Dirty; Should I Just Replace Them?
Your carpets may be extremely stained and dirty, causing you to wonder what to do with it. However, it may just be dirty due to a lack of proper cleaning. If that’s the case, you may be able to get away with hiring a professional to come in and take care of them. Other times, though, it may be time to replace your carpet. It can be hard to tell which solution is best, so here’s a quick guide:
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Clean Your Carpets If…
It’s Been More Than a Year Since the Last Cleaning
You don’t need to clean your carpets every few months, but you should bring in a professional at least once a year. If you know it’s been longer than that since your last cleaning, or if you can’t remember if your carpet has ever been cleaned, you should clean them before trying to replace them. Carpet installation is expensive, and a thorough cleaning may be just what you need.
There Are Superficial Stains
Some stains won’t go away with a household cleaner, but they will go away with a professional cleaning. Pet and ink stains are the most common examples of stains that may not go away with soap and water but can be removed with a professional cleaning.
You Are Struggling With Allergies
Dirty carpets harbor a lot of harmful dust and bacteria. While vacuuming will help, your carpet will still need to be thoroughly washed and cleaned in order to prevent dust, bacteria, and dander from becoming a bigger problem.
If you notice your allergies or asthma is starting to act up, it’s likely a sign that you should have your carpets cleaned. This will remove the irritants from deep within your carpets and help bring dirty carpets back to life.
Replace Your Carpets If…
They’re Older Than 15 Years
Carpets usually have a lifespan of five to fifteen years, depending on the quality and how much foot traffic they undergo. So if you know your carpets are older than that, you’re probably better off replacing them rather than cleaning them.
They’re Showing Excessive Wear and Tear
Over time, your carpets will endure a lot. You’ll probably notice more stains, some fibers coming loose, and furniture dents that will become deeper and harder to remove. If your carpets aren’t just dirty but also show excessive signs of wear and tear, then it’s in your best interest to replace them.
Your carpet will only last so long, even if you take good care of it. Once your carpets start to look worn out or begin to come apart at the seams, it’s only a matter of time before they look even worse, and they really will need to be replaced.
There Are Foul and Permanent Stains
Some stains won’t come out even with a professional cleaning. If you’ve had your carpets cleaned in the past and those same pesky stains just aren’t budging, then there isn’t anything you can do about it. You’ll need to replace the carpet if you want to get rid of it.
Similarly, if you notice some stains smell bad or your carpet seems to stink, you may just need to toss it. Professional cleaners can do a lot to bring your dirty carpet back to life, but some smells and stains are irreversible.
The Carpet Padding Is Wearing Down
When your carpet was installed, padding was likely laid down between the floor and the carpet. This makes the carpeting softer to walk on, but it’s also something you’ll need to pay attention to. Also, as it gets older, it starts to wear down, which may make your carpet look wrinkly or uneven. Old carpet padding may also trap bad smells to the point that your carpets stink.
Conclusion
No one wants to have dirty carpets, but before you decide to replace them, you might want to try getting them professionally cleaned. In many cases, this will solve your carpet problem and help them look new once again. Call our carpet care The Villages office today to give your carpets a thorough clean!
Should I Stop Wearing Shoes While on My Carpet?
Unsurprisingly, wearing shoes indoors can be detrimental to the quality and cleanliness of your carpet. It may feel comfortable for some people to wear their shoes indoors, but they may also be unaware of all the dirt and toxins they are bringing in.
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Should I Stop Wearing Shoes While on My Carpet?
Overall, it is heavily recommended to stop wearing shoes indoors, especially if your floors are carpeted. This is because shoes can bring in dirt, toxins, and many forms of harmful bacteria into your home, which can become trapped within your carpet and build up over a short amount of time.
Even if you think your shoes aren’t exceptionally dirty, whatever they track over your carpet can eventually cause damage and become a health hazard. It can lead to stains, discoloration, fiber damage, and many other adverse effects if your carpet is not treated properly.
Along with the pollutants your shoes can track in, the overall quality of your carpet will continue to deteriorate. Your carpet will inevitably become dirtier and worse each time you track dirt and grime in with your shoes.
Ultimately, it is best to just leave your shoes at the doorstep so your carpet can stay fresh and clean for longer periods of time. This way, you can also keep the rest of your house cleaner.
Going Barefoot?
Since shoes aren’t the best for carpets, should you go barefoot then? Contrary to popular belief, going barefoot on carpeted floors can also cause harm to your carpet.
The sweat glands on your feet will create sweat and moisture that get trapped within the fibers of your carpet. This can also build up over time and cause your carpet to deteriorate just as much, if not more, than wearing shoes on them can. Furthermore, the smell of the carpet can also become worse over time with the amount of dirt being left in the fibers.
Instead of wearing your shoes or being barefoot on the carpet, it may be best to get into the habit of wearing socks or clean slippers on carpeted floors. This can help you avoid tracking dirt and debris everywhere and help your carpet stay cleaner for longer periods of time. Keeping a pair of slippers or socks somewhere by the entryway of your door can be beneficial for the long-term health of your carpet.
Professional carpet cleaning
Whether you wear shoes on your carpet, the importance of keeping a reliable cleaning schedule can’t be underestimated. Sweeping and vacuuming your carpet regularly can help, and it’s vital to hire our carpet cleaning professionals to give your carpet a thorough clean. Carpets are more delicate than you may think, so it is crucial to hire professionals like us to clean your carpet effectively without damaging it.
With our expertise, industrial equipment, and cleaning solutions, we can effectively remove stains, bacteria, pollutants, and other harmful forms of residue from your carpet. This will help extend the life of your carpet and keep your home fresh and clean.
Conclusion
Overall, wearing shoes is detrimental to your carpet. Wearing socks or clean slippers is a better way to keep your carpet cleaner longer. If you want to keep your carpet in optimal condition for a longer time, it might be time to change your daily habits and stop wearing shoes on your carpet or going barefoot. Don’t forget to call our carpet cleaning service in Kissimmee so your carpet can be clean and fresh again.
What Kind of Homeowner Needs More Frequent Dryer Vent Cleaning?
Most homeowners empty the lint trap with every new load and think it’s adequate. While everyone should clean out their dryer vent regularly, there are some specific homeowners who should clean it out even more frequently.
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How Often Should You Clean Out Your Dryer Vents?
While cleaning your dryer vent should happen at least once a year, there are some households that should consider doing it more often. There are some laundry habits that may result in your dryer vents getting clogged more often and needing more frequent cleaning.
What Kind of Homeowner Needs More Frequent Dryer Vent Cleaning?
Large families
If you have a large family, chances are your dryer has seen a lot of laundry in the past year. While the average household of four can get away with cleaning their dryer vents once a year, families that are larger should have their dryer vents cleaned out more frequently.
Large families tend to have the washer and dryer going more often, and even if you don’t, a lot of laundry is still being done every week. Even if your dryer is quite large, you probably end up running it much more often, and the more frequently you use your dryer, the sooner the vents will need to be cleaned.
If you have a large family, you should clean out your dryer vents at least twice a year. If your family is exceptionally large, with more than seven or eight people, then you should clean out your dryer vents even more frequently. When in doubt, contact our experts, and we can let you know how often you should clean your vents.
Pet Owners
Pet fur and dander get everywhere, even if you have a lint roller and use it every day. When you own pets, their fur gets all over your clothes, and when you do laundry, this fur gets sucked up and trapped in the dryer vents.
While removing fur will help prolong the lifespan of your dryer, you’ll still need to clean out the vents more frequently if you have pets. If you have multiple pets or pets that shed excessively, you may find yourself needing to clean out dryer vents three or more times a year just to be safe.
Bulky Loads
If you or someone in your family has a lot of bulky clothing or you do several bulky loads (such as blankets, towels, or other large laundry items), your dryer vent will clog up much quicker. Bulky loads will need to dry for longer times, and they’ll expel a lot more lint and debris into the dryer vent, so you’ll want to make sure you’re cleaning them more frequently.
If you only do bulky loads occasionally, you may not have cause for concern. If you notice that it’s taking longer for your loads to dry, though, or you find yourself running bulky loads more often, make sure you get your dryer vents checked and clean at least twice per year.
Why Should You Clean Your Dryer Vents Often?
Clogged dryer vents are a major cause of house fires. When your vents get clogged with extremely flammable lint and debris, it’s only a matter of time before disaster strikes. Many people don’t realize this, though, and put off cleaning out their dryer vents because they don’t think it’s necessary. Unfortunately, if left ignored, you put your home at risk of fire.
Conclusion
As part of routine home maintenance, it’s crucial to ensure your dryer vents are being cleaned out regularly. If you overlook this simple maintenance task, the risk of a house fire increases drastically, putting yourself and your family at risk. Fortunately, dryer fires are easy to prevent if you ensure they are cleaned regularly and frequently enough for your household.
What Will Happen if I Don’t Shampoo My Carpets?
Vacuuming your carpets weekly is an easy task. However, it isn’t enough to keep them truly clean. While vacuuming will undoubtedly keep them cleaner, they still need to be professionally cleaned to avoid the buildup of dirt, bacteria, and debris. Over time, all sorts of debris will get stuck in your carpet fibers. Keep reading to find out what can happen if you don’t shampoo your carpets.
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What Will Happen if I Don’t Shampoo My Carpets?
You’ll Need to Replace Them Sooner
As dirt and debris build up in your carpet fibers, they deteriorate faster. Even if you vacuum often and never wear shoes inside the house, dirt, dust, debris, and bacteria will start to grow and live on your carpet. Shampooing will eliminate them, but if you never shampoo your carpets, they’ll grow worse and worse until you have to replace your carpet much sooner than expected.
You Could Get Sick
Any debris or bacteria that live in your carpet fibers will have an impact on the air quality inside your home. If you or anyone in your household has allergies or asthma, your carpets could be worsening symptoms. Whereas shampooing your carpets would kill harmful bacteria and help improve air quality, neglecting your carpets can lead to you and your family falling ill often.
Your Home May Stink
If you have pets, it’s entirely possible that traces of feces or urine are tracked around your home. If your carpets aren’t shampooed, the buildup of material and any dirt, feces, or urine tracked through your carpets will start to make your home stink.
Even if you don’t have pets, it doesn’t take much for built-up dirt and debris to make your home stink. Many odors sink deep into your carpets and no matter how often your vacuum or how quickly you clean up spills, the smell won’t come out unless you shampoo your carpets.
Your Carpets May Look Worse
Even if you don’t have spills or stains on your carpets, bacteria, and dirt that are allowed to build up will start to discolor your carpet. You may not even notice it at first, but shampooing will quickly reveal just how much damage has been done.
Normal wear and tear will result in discoloration, and your carpets will look old after a while. Shampoo can do wonders to reverse the damage done and help bring your carpets back to life at a much cheaper cost than replacing all your carpeting.
Why Should I Shampoo My Carpets Regularly?
You can do a lot to keep your carpets clean and avoid tracking dirt into your house, but the fact is that it won’t be as effective as an actual professional shampoo.
Shampooing does more for your carpets than just keeping them clean. Your carpets need to be cared for and maintained, or they’ll deteriorate quicker. While this may not seem like a problem right now, it will be when you end up replacing your carpets five or ten years sooner than you expected.
Replacing your carpets is an expensive and time-consuming endeavor. By scheduling regular shampooing for your carpet, you can extend the lifespan of your carpet and avoid replacing your carpet for as long as possible.
Conclusion
When you choose not to shampoo your carpets, you put your health at risk as well as shorten the lifespan of your carpets. Fortunately, shampooing your carpet doesn’t need to be done nearly as often as vacuuming and when you work with professionals like us, it’s quick and easy.
Types of Food and Drinks That Do the Most Damage to Your Carpet
The carpet in your home takes on a lot of foot traffic, especially when it’s the first floor your feet hit when entering your home. While carpet is durable, aesthetically pleasing, and comfortable on bare feet after a long day, it does have an arch-nemesis: food and drink stains. Keep reading to find out the worst types of food and drink stains that do the most damage.
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Types of Food and Drinks That Do the Most Damage to Your Carpet
Stains are the bane of every carpet’s existence and a tremendous hassle to remove. Stains can take your carpet from looking fab to drab in no time, especially food and drink stains. Some are far worse than others, though.
Carpet stains from beverages and foods are hard to remove, and some more so than others, because of certain chemicals. Therefore, some food and drinks are more hazardous than others to your carpet and should be avoided. Spills involving these specific food and drinks should be tended to immediately.
Grape Juice & Red Wine
Grape juice, and even red wine in small quantities, can wreak havoc on carpets and fabrics in general. Spills involving these liquids should be cleaned up immediately and treated with caution. The natural dyeing capabilities of grape juices make them hard to remove.
Wine stains can be removed by removing the liquid quickly and then using a damp rag to soak up as much of the wine as possible before introducing a cleaning agent like a heavy-duty stain remover. Even after you try these, you might still have a slight stain which is where our professional carpet cleaning services will help.
Tomato-Based Sauces
Everyone loves spaghetti and lasagna, but these tomato sauce-heavy foods make terrible stains if spilled on your carpet. They cause dull red stains that stand out glaringly against light-colored fabrics.
You will have a better chance of removing these stains if you act quickly. Cold water is the key to preventing tomato stains from setting in. Using hot water will set the stain, making it nearly impossible to remove.
Dyed/Colored Beverages & foods
Drinks with dyes added in, such as juices, drink mixes (kool-aid, crystal light, etc.), and jello will leave a challenging stain. The sooner the spill is cleaned up; the less dye will be left behind to stain your carpets. The best way to remove these spills is to treat them exactly like how you react to red wine or grape juice spills.
Coffee
Coffee can be a challenge to tackle if it spills on your carpets, but if you attack the spill immediately, you get a better chance against the stain. First, remove as much liquid as possible using a rag or towel to blot up the spill, then apply your stain removing agent and blot from the outside and work your way towards the center of the spill.
Conclusion
Ultimately, the faster you act when a spill happens, the better off your carpet will be. The trick is to clean the spill as soon as possible and treat the area with a cleaning agent to prevent stains from setting into the fibers of the carpet, and the layers beneath.
Still, you might not notice some stains until it is too late, or perhaps the stain is just too deep to be removed. This is where our Kissimmee carpet cleaning company will come to the rescue. With our industrial equipment and effective solutions, we will be able to help you remove the stains, so give us a call as soon as possible!
Is a Tile and Grout Cleaning Service Safe for My Pets and Family?
Your kids and pets play on the floor daily, which might make you a little nervous when you hire a tile and grout cleaning service. You might be worried about the use of harmful chemicals or the specific cleaning methods used. The key is to get your house cleaned safely with the right service. Our tile and grout cleaning service is indeed safe for your pets and family.
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Is a Tile and Grout Cleaning Service Safe for My Pets and Family?
Our tile and grout cleaning service uses pet and kid safe solutions and methods. We don’t believe in using harsh or harmful chemicals that can do more damage than good. That being said, you will need to keep your kids and pets away from the flooring for at least a little while as our professionals get to work.
Our professionals will apply a pre-cleaning solution over the tiled area. They’ll then add a concentrated cleaning solution to penetrate the grout. Once this is done, they’ll use their machinery to remove the dirt and bacteria and get your floor finished. While you’ll need to wait for the floor to dry naturally, they can give you tips in the meantime on how to maintain it properly.
Importance of Tile and Grout Cleaning for your Pets and Family
Our tile and grout cleaning service will clean your home safely with natural yet effective cleaning agents, so you don’t need to worry about dangerous chemicals. There’s no reason not to get your tile and grout cleaned then, not when it’s so important.
Reduce Allergens
Regular tile and grout cleaning can help reduce the risk of allergens in your home because those allergens sit atop the tiles where your children and pets crawl and walk. It’s easy for your children to put their hands in their mouths or for pets to groom themselves, which can potentially cause health issues or allergic reactions.
Reduce Risk of Illness
Bacteria can gather on your tiles, leading to potential illnesses. If you don’t have the ability to constantly clean your tiles yourself, this is where our professional cleaning service helps.
We have cleaning solutions that can effectively and safely get rid of bacteria that might be impacting your health. We can also reach all those little spots that you normally wouldn’t be able to reach.
Improves Tiles and Grout
Cleaning your tiles and your grout can actually improve your flooring by preventing the build-up of dirt that dulls the appearance of your tiles. You should notice how bright your tiles and grout are once you have them cleaned, which will also improve their condition over time. Keeping your tiles grout clean improves their longevity.
Reapply Sealant
You might think that your tiles are protected because you have them sealed. To some extent, this is true. But that sealant does fade over time and will need to be reapplied. Once you have your tiles and grout cleaned, you can start this process. Not only will a sealant keep your tiles cleaner for longer, but it will protect them from staining and damage as well.
Conclusion
Cleaning your tiles and grout is a crucial part of caring for your home. We only use cleaning methods that are not just environmentally friendly but also pet and child safe. A thorough clean will also give your family a clean and healthier environment, so call us today to clean your tile and grout!