Are Those Stain Protectors Worth Their Cost?

The carpeting you put in your home is one of the most expensive investments you'll ever make. So you want it to stay bright, clean and last forever. The salesperson encourages you to upgrade with a protection of Guardsman, Scotchgard, Stainguard, Teflon or some other name.

Before you agree to that upgrade, you wonder are you really getting something extra that works. American Cleaning & Restoration would like to educate you on those carpet protectors. When we know how something works, we have a better understanding if we need it or even want it.

Carpet Protectors such as those listed above adhere to the carpet's fiber. It’s like a hard shell that isn't hard. Once the molecules that have adhered are completely dried, spilled liquids actually will bead up instead of soaking through the fibers. This allows you time to blot and dry the spill before it has time to soak into the fibers of your carpet.

Keep in mind though, any protector, regardless the brand you choose, can only do so much for so long. After a while, it does start breaking down. There are also something’s that can get spilled and go right
through the protector, especially hot liquids.

With your first appointment for a carpet cleaning with American Cleaning & Restoration, our technicians will talk to you about the protection you currently have, how old it is and discuss having it recoated.

Who Has Professional Carpet Cleaning Performed Daily?

As much as we would like the business here at American Cleaning & Restoration, we know it is just isn't practical to have your home's carpet professionally cleaned every day. For those of you who have pets though, you may think that's what you need sometimes.

To help you minimize the amount of cleaning you have to yourself and keep it all looking and smelling good between our visits, we offer the following suggestions for a home with pets:

Regular Vacuuming

Before you got Sparky the cat, may be you could get away with this chore like every other week. Now though, with a furry four legged family member, to keep your home looking good and smelling fresh, you'll need to vacuum twice a week at the very least. The more pets, the more vacuuming. The hairier the pet, the more vacuuming.

Frequent Bathing

Not you, your pet. By keeping the cat and dog clean, you'll keep your house cleaner and longer. Frequent bathing keeps the hair balls to a minimum and that not only keeps the floor clean, but the drapes and furniture too.

Stain-resistant Fabrics

Once you have brought a pet into the family, gone are the days of chintz or silk covered furniture. You want to get something that is odor resistant, stain resistant like Krypton. Leather is another good choice because it is durable and easy to clean. Or maybe go with Ultra-suede which is machine-washable, durable and feels good to the touch too.

Keep Bedding Washable

You can pretty much bet that with a pet in bed with you, accidents will happen like cat barfing. Make sure you have a good mattress cover and pad and cotton bed sheets that are patterned to better hide that pet hair and pet stains. Wash the bedspreads, comforter or duvet frequently.

Wall-to-wall Carpet Is a No-No

Nothing absorbs odor more than carpet. It also holds pet hair. Choose flooring that is pet friendly.

Not All Tiles Are Same When It Comes To Flooring

American Carpet & Restoration technicians are asked by customers if they were to replace the carpeting in the homes with tile, which type of tile is the best choice? We aren't in the business of recommending flooring materials, but we can offer you some information that may help you choose:

Stain-Resistant Porcelain

This is probably the most popular choice for kitchens simply because it is tough. Meaning it can take drops and spills and still look great. Whatever color you go with, get a grout color that is darker so that it will hide those stains.

Durable Slate-Look Porcelain

This is a strong tile and perfect for the laundry room or the mudroom. This tile has an indistinguishable look and resist moisture. It can take the muddy boots as well as the vibrating washing machine and still look good.

Small Mosaic Tiles

Great for a small area like a guest bath because they are small and they are great in moisture-prone areas.

Vinyl Tile

A heavy tile, you need to be cautious where you're installing this tile. Best when used in a basement room because it is the lowest point of the house, so the weight won't matter.

Oversized Travertine Tile

This is really popular in the Southwest, especially in ranch-style homes where hot is hot when it comes to weather. Why? Because it is a cool substance and feels good on the feet. For a home with radiant heat, this is the perfect flooring.

Stone-Like Porcelain

A great tile for the wine cellar because it won't stain permanently every time a little wine is spilled. This tile gives you Old World charm and looks while tough against chips and resisting moisture.

Natural Stone Tiles

Probably the best tile because it is all natural and can hold up to the outdoor elements, making it great for the kitchen and perfect for around the pool. Because grout is man-made and this area of the country has erratic temperature swings, it will need the grout replaced ever so often.

Slip-Resistant Slate

The entry to your home often takes the most traffic. This is the perfect tile because it is slip-resistance and the muddy, wet foot prints are hidden.

What Carpet Is Best For Houses With Kids?

A home with small children is a busy home and keeping it clean can be a monumental task, not to mention things wearing out all along. One of those things that may wear out is your carpeting but getting new carpet is not always a financial feasibility for most of us. So we must make what we have last and while it is a challenge it can be done.

The first thing to making your carpet last for as long as possible is to buy a good quality carpet to start with. Kids are rough on everything, especially flooring, so stain resistant carpeting is a must. Carpets comes in four types of fiber or a combination of the four. Here we offer a quick look at those choices and why they are, or are not, what you need with children.

Nylon Fiber

Since the 1960s, nylon fiber carpet has been used because it is durable and versatile. However it is not stain resistant without some type of treatment when installed. Nylon carpet is long lasting, but also most expensive.

Polypropylene Fiber

This carpet will hold its color and is stain resistant. However, it will wear down quicker than nylon, thus losing its shape quick. As such, it is inexpensive, thus making it the most affordable.

Polyester Fiber

A soft carpet that is stain resistant and keeps it color well. It too though, will wear down quick and is not recommended for high traffic areas, which with kids, is the whole house.

Polytrimethylene Terephthalate Fiber

This carpet is a polyester fiber type that is not soil or stain resistant without special treatment after installation.

In Your Bathroom Floor Go With Wall-To-Wall Rugs

One of the latest designs in bathrooms is covering a tiled floor with wall-to-wall small bathmats. So how is this a great idea? Well if you don't like cold bathroom floors in the winter, but you don't like carpeting because it gets nasty in the bathroom, this new trend takes care of that!

However, you don't want to just buy any bathroom rugs, you want to make sure you get the right kind that will do the trick. You want it to absorb, but not soak all the way through, so Olefin is the better choice and if you want to make this flooring permanent, use an indoor/outdoor adhesive and is water-resistant.

A short pile is best and even if you already have carpeting, you can still do the wall-to-wall rug thing because will absorb all the excessive wetness and the carpeting won't get nasty. If you are putting these rugs on top of tile or wood, make sure each one has non-skid rubber backing for safety.

For the bathroom with carpeting already, before you lay your wall-to-wall rugs, have a professional carpet cleaning performed. You want it to be clean and fresh underneath so that there isn't any dampness or dirty that can mildew and grow mold.

Summer Is Winding Down – Get Your Carpet Ready For Winter

Summer is dwindling to a close now and before long the guests won't be coming and the kids will be back to school. On your list of things to do in getting the kids ready for school, the last thing on there should be get the carpets cleaned.

Why? Well, summer is a busy time. Kids home all day, guests in and out. The foot traffic is heavy and your carpets have taken a beating. Even though there were the weekly vacuuming chores for the kids, or even if you do it yourself, the dirt and grime that gets worked into the fibers is still there.

Before winter gets here and locks everyone up inside for endless weeks, take the time now to get your carpeting professionally cleaned. This will not only get the dirt and grime down deep into the fibers, but it also gets rid of bacteria and germs that you and your family will be breathing in. You may be thinking you'll just rent one of those machines and do it yourself, but when not done right or if the machine isn't working right, can only bury the dirt and grime down even further.

With the dirt and grime buried down deeper and deeper, it makes a good place for more bacteria, dirt, germs and grime to keep building up. Your carpeting will start to look dingy and lose its color too. However, the equipment that professional carpet cleaners like American Cleaning and Restoration can pull up all that nasty stuff and make your floors as well as your whole home healthier.

Be Careful Using Plain Water To Clean Your Furniture

The kids have been home and they've had friends in and out all summer. Maybe you've had guests staying a few days here and there as well. With that going on, the chances of something getting spilled on a chair or your sofa is pretty high. If you attempted to clean it up with plain water, you may have just made it worse.

A popular fabric on furniture right now is Viscose, or you may know it as Rayon. It is manmade from natural materials that include wood pulp, which is similar to cotton. It is nearly pure cellulose and has been around for what seems like forever. Viscose gives furniture a high sheen pile fabric that feels good and looks good.

The downside to viscose is that when it comes in contact with any form of water, drinks, wet hands, etc., the fibers of the fabric swell and stay swollen. The spot becomes even more visible because Viscose fibers that have been in contact with water remain swollen because they reflect light. This will make the spot stand out massively more so than the rest of the furniture that didn't get wet. That spot now looks a different color permanently and when viscose fibers become wet, they become 40% weaker as well.

So what do you do to clean this type of furniture? A steam cleaner can be your best friend when you own furniture with viscose fabric. The main purpose of these machines is to clean floors, but some come with attachments for cleaning upholstery too. However, steam is made of water and if not done properly can make the matter even worse. You could even ruin your furniture completely if not careful.

Depending on how old your furniture is, how long you plan to keep your furniture, and how bad the wet spots are, it may be in your best interest to call a professional service such as American Cleaning and Restoration. We not only have the experience, knowledge, and skills to clean your viscose furniture, but we also have the proper equipment.