Month: July 2020

You’ve booked a carpet clean.

To get ready, you’ve decided to move some of the bigger furniture so you can clean the skirting board behind them and give the place a spring clean.

But, there is a problem – where the furniture was, the carpet has turned blue – or has it?

Yes, your carpet has blue squares that match your furniture exactly.  So how did they get there?

Easy – they always were there.  It’s the rest of the carpet that’s changed.

First a little bit of science.

Carpets are dyed with a mix of colours (remeber mixing paints together in primary school).

Of all the colours used, blue is usually the first to be removed by chemical reactions.

The possible reactions are wide and varied, but ozone fading is one and ultra-violet bleaching is another.

Some early nylon carpets used dyes that simply broke down over time with exposure to ozone and sunlight – both naturally substances.

With the blue component of the carpet colour being the most likely to react, it was the first colour to fade.

Hence, the carpet went from a blue-ish colour to a yellow-ish colour (yellow being more stable than blue).

So why are there blue squares on my carpet?

Easy – the furniture has protected the carpet from the chemical reaction – the ozone or the sunlight, so it stays blue.

This may sound like a weird subject to write about, but it is a question that I get asked regularly.

Well, does the furniture have to be moved?

I’ll answer it this way.  The first thing that I notice is that some people think I come in and become the Lord and Master.

Now I might have enough equipment to make it look like I am trying to take over the house, but I am a guest in your house. You have the right to kick me out at any time, even before I finish the job.

So, when the subject of moving furniture is mentioned, my answer is, “You move what you want to move. I will work around what you want.”

To help you figure out what is normally moved, most people don’t move their TV. Modern televisions are large, heavy and are plugged into around 14 other appliances using approximately 87 separate leads and cords. They take about five hours to pull apart and the rest of the month to put back together. Most people look at their TV and just walk away.

The same goes with wall units. When we moved into our current house, it came with a free wall unit, because it was too big to move. So if professional removalists can’t move it, when I clean the carpets, I don’t move it either.

Large dining tables are another item I usually work around. After all the chairs have been moved, the table is moved to one side of the room to allow as much of the room to be cleaned in one pass. Then the table gets moved over to the clean side to allow the other half to be done.

Couches and recliners are treated the same. Push them to one side of the lounge room, clean and then push them back.

There is only one question that I have when pushing furniture around during cleaning and that is “Does it have wooden feet?”

Although I take care with my machines, accidents can happen. If you have a particular item that is fragile or valuable (or both), then it might be a good idea to put it in a safe place. The little bit of time you spend shifting those special items might save you hours of heartache if I accidentally bump them and damage them.

I have insurance, but as a volunteer firefighter, the saying

Prevention is Better than Cure

certainly applies in this case.

I hope this helps you next time I call and visit your house.

Are you thinking about booking a carpet clean to Make Your Space A Better Place?

• So when do you want it done?
• When are you going to call?
• How much time do I need?

I have a basic rule of thumb.

Allow Two Weeks

It may sound like a simple thing, but anything that is high quality is usually in demand.

Carpet cleaning professionals are exactly the same.

Imagine booking open heart surgery with a cardiac specialist and they say “We can fit you in this afternoon.”  You would have second thoughts about why they can fit you in so quickly.

All the good operators will have full diaries, so if Aunty Mavis is making her trip of a lifetime from London, don’t try to book a cleaner the day before she arrives.

Christmas Carpet Clean

Ahh, yes!!  Christmas – everybody wants their house looking great for Santa, and everybody leaves it to the last minute and then complains that they can’t make it fit their plans.

So just book your Christmas clean in November, please!!

Spring Cleaning

Before you pick up the phone, what else needs cleaning?

The majority of carpet cleaners are equipped with the right gear for basic upholstery cleaning as well as tiles and grout.

Asking for a package deal could get much more of your house sparkling for just little extra cash.

For specialty cleaning, such as leather, silk and cotton, you will probably have to do some research to find a business that has the training and experience in these fields.

It’s common for cleaning firms to start out with carpet cleaning and then add more services as they grow, so other services like pressure cleaning and gutter cleaning is possible.

And before they knock on the door, how about a spring clean?

By de-cluttering your wardrobes and spare room, it’s easier for the cleaner and you’ll have less junk as well.

Don’t forget to dust up high, including the tops of the ceiling fans. Any dust that falls onto the carpet will be removed by the cleaning process.

Renovations

I understand that people want their house to look great after renovations but booking a carpet clean before all the other work is completed can backfire.

The first issue is other trades don’t like working on wet carpet – it just complicates things and makes their socks wet (if they remember to take their boots off).

They also don’t like big hoses running through their workplaces as the hoses can pull over ladders, toolboxes and paint cans (remember – a paint spill can make a BIIIGGGG mess).

Floorboards – if the lacquer hasn’t fully cured, running carpet cleaning hoses over freshly lacquered floorboards can leave permanent marks.

Not only can the heat from the supply hose and metal fittings cause issue permanent issues, but the vibration from the vacuum hose can leave unwelcome prints in your brand new floor.

Curing can take up to four weeks, so talk to your floorboard installer first to understand the risks.

Painting – paint also has an optimal curing time. Carpet cleaning hoses and wands can get a bit clumsy in tight spaces.  Very fresh paint can be easily damaged. Talk to your painter and find out how long they recommend to let the paint FULLY cure.

Carpentry – any sawing, drilling and sanding will leave behind some debris and rubbish.

This must be removed from your carpet before cleaning, so please tell your carpet cleaner as large amounts of debris can affect the price.

The upper level professionals will have counter rotating brush units that can be used before vacuuming to remove bigger particles like sawdust and wood shavings.

Pets

Now is the time to sort out Tibbles and Fido – before you make the booking.

There are a few little things to think about.

Doors being open provide plenty of escape paths for cats and dogs and the noise of vacuum cleaners and carpet cleaning machines can scare some animals .

And remember, you can’t lock them in the bedroom if the bedroom carpets are being cleaned.

If you have booked a tile and grout clean, tile cleaning detergent is quite strong and could burn the pads of your cat or dog, so it’s best that they be locked up for their own safety.

Power and Water

So, you’ve made the phone calls, packed away the valuables and the van backs up into your driveway. There are still some questions you’ll be asked about.

First is water. If your cleaner has a truck-mounted system that’s bolted inside the van, they will be looking for an outside tap to hook up to.

If they use a portable machine, it’s likely they will look for a hot water tap in the laundry or kitchen.

For vacuuming as a minimum, access to power points will be needed. Again, if your cleaner uses a portable machine, they will need extra power points for the machine too.

One of the rules of carpet cleaning is to be careful of the water.

That may sound a bit stupid, but I will explain.

The water is used as part of the cleaning process – everybody knows that, but how the technician uses the water can make a big difference.

First, steam cleaning water has to be hot. The main reasons are that hot water will clean better than cold water and hot water will evaporate faster than cold water.

The second point is important as the speed of evaporation means faster drying. Faster drying means your furniture can go back on your carpets faster, which means your house is back to normal and your life is back to normal.

When wooden furniture is put back on wet carpet, the moisture from the carpet can work its way into the timber, especially if the end of the timber is open and unpainted.

The water can leach out the tannin in the timber and allow the tannin into the carpet.

The tannin will show up in the carpet as brown coluring which will be the same shape as the furniture legs. When this happens, the carpet is potentially un-repairable as the tannin is a natural dye and cannot be shifted by normal stain removal processes.

The tannin needs to be stripped from the carpets and the carpet re-dyed back to the original colour. The success of this colour repair is dependent on a number of factors.

So if you get your carpet cleaned and the feet of your furniture are NOT plastic or metal, then you will have to leave the floors clear until the carpet is completely dry OR you can ask the cleaner for some temporary feet to place under the furniture.

Normally the feet are small sheets of plastic or foam blocks, which proivide a barrier to stop the moisture in the carpet from getting into the timber.

What happens if the electricity is disconnected before you arrive?

To vacuum carpet, you need vacuum (no kidding you say!!)

Almost all truckmounted carpet cleaning machines will outperform your standard electric vacuum cleaner with ridiculous ease.

And this is how it’s done.