The Best Way To Take Care Of Pet Stains On Your Carpet

While pets can be an enormous and lovable addition to any home, even the most house trained of pups can end up wreaking havoc on your carpets. So what is the best method of dealing with those stains in the immediate? Especially when you don’t want to leave any cleaning chemicals around that could put your pet in danger.

Believe it or not, a combination of vinegar and baking soda can be your best bet when it comes to pet stains. But the steps are what’s important here. Firstly, pour some vinegar on the stain, enough to soak the stain up, and then sprinkle some baking soda over it. If you put the baking soda first you’ll end up with a bubbly foamy mess (as I’m sure we all remember from junior high science class). But if you pour the vinegar first you avoid the overflowing reaction. Done the right way you’ll be able to hear the baking soda pop and crackle as it’s deodorizing the carpet while the vinegar absorbs the stain.

You’ll want to leave this for a day or two to the let stain be fully absorbed. It’s a good idea to put a bowl or some sort of covering over the stain to keep the foot traffic from kicking over your baking soda. But after about thirty six hours you can sweep up the baking soda and vacuum over the stain and voila, you’ll see a completely clean and fresh smelling section of carpet instead of the lingering remnants of a pet stain.

And while this method is all well and good for small stains here and there, anything larger is best treated by a team of carpet cleaning professionals like American Carpet Clean. They can handle your toughest pet stains and will do so with environmentally safe and non-toxic cleaning supplies that will be safe for even the smallest of puppies to be around.

Winter Care For Your Upholstered Furniture

Chances are you don't buy new furniture on a daily or weekly basis.  Most of us buy a living room suit once every 10 years, some of us even less often.  So in the meantime, it is important that you take care of this semi-major investment to keeping it looking good and in good shape. 

That means even during the holiday season and the cold, wet winter, you may need to take some extra caution and care. Here we offer a few  tips to help you preserve your upholstered furniture and keep it 'health' and new. 

As soon as there is a spill – wipe it up! Spills do not need to sit and soak in, this will only make it more difficult to get clean. As well, when furniture has a stain, it will accumulate even more dirt there. Dirt and grim build up only weakens the fiber of the fabrics which in turn, lessens the life span of our furniture. 

Flip the cushions weekly to retain their shape and keep them from getting permanent indentations. This should include changing the positions as well, meaning switch end cushions with the middle cushion on the couch, etc.  This is akin to rotating your car's tires.   

Keep your furniture out of direct sun light. This will fade your furniture quicker than you can image. If you do have your furniture placed in sunlight, rotate your furniture from time to time. Use a fabric protection like stain repellent and on furniture that gets heavy use, place washable covers over the arms, the back for protection.   

Not only is smoking bad for your health, it is not good for your upholstered furniture either. It leaves a foul smell and sticky, yellow coating on everything. If you have a smoker in the house, ask them to smoke outside. Or hire a professional furniture cleaner twice a year to keep your furniture fresh and healthy. 

With just a few extra steps you can keep you upholstered furniture healthy and live a long happy life with you and your family! 

Winter Care For Your Carpeting

Winter in this part of the country can play havoc on your home or offices carpet. With the ice, mud, salt and snow being tracked in, it will really begin to look old and worn quick. So do you wait till spring time to clean this up? Or should you clean in the mean time? 

Any professional flooring person will recommend that you  maintain your carpet with regular cleaning. While it may seem like a worthless effort, it is a must to keep your carpet 'healthy' and give it a long life. After all, replacing carpet is not cheap, but cleaning it is! 

When left alone, all that wetness along with the dirt, grim and salt will simply get pushed deep down in the fibers and begin to weaken the carpet not to mention, make it look dingy, dirty and dull. Think of the nastiness left there that you and your family are breathing in as well! 

The first thing you should is place door mats at every entrance of your home, inside and outside each door. These will pick up so much of that mess it's amazing. Whether you realize it or not, when people see a door mat, even kids, it is a natural reaction to wipe their feet. 

Make it a habit to shake those door mats at least once a day, more on snow days. Even though those mats are catching all that loose dirt, grim, mud and wet, when the door mat gets filled up, it just starts getting tracked into the rest of the house. 

Regardless of all this door mat effort, there will be some spots here and there. Those can be spot cleaned with a damp rag and dish soap, blot, do not rub the stain. Rubbing will only spread the stain and push it deeper into the fibers. Then blot with a clean towel. Wet carpet should be dried as soon as possible to prevent mold and mildew. Use a clean towels to blot it dry, a hair dryer or if you have  shop-vac, even better. 

Be patient and take a deep breath. Spring is not that far away and you can schedule an appointment with a professional carpet cleaner now to be ahead of the rush!