How to Clean Your Tile Floors Before Your Next Professional Cleaning

Cleaning your tile floors doesn’t have to take all day folks. Nor do you have to have a professional in every time you want them sparkling clean (although we wouldn’t mind coming once a week for you!). So, we are going to share some easy tips to do yourself:

1: Groutbrush

The biggest things that can make tile floors look dirty are the grout lines. When you do just a basic mopping, you aren’t getting down in there where the dirt and grime build up.  Purchase a groutbrush at any big box home store and with a cleaner made for grout, get those grout lines clean! It goes quicker than you may think.

2: Sweep

Before you mop your tile floor, always sweep first. If you don’t, the dirt and grim just get pushed off in those grout lines and packed down.

3: Water

After you mop your tile floors, soak up any excess water so that it doesn’t soak into the grout lines. This will make them look dirty and dull which will make your whole floor look dirty and dull.

4: Bedtime

When you clean your tile floors, make it the last thing you do just before you got to bed. This allows them to dry without foot traffic tracking across them. This is especially so if you have kids or pets in the house.

This is what you can do every day, weekly or as needed depending on the traffic in your house. Once a month to every three months, call a professional to do a deep steam cleaning and keep those tile floors looking great.

Is Padding Really Necessary With Carpeting?

When you buy new carpet, no doubt you have some sticker-shock and try to cut back where you can.  Too often people are making a great investment with quality carpet but don’t buy new padding to go with it.  If they are replacing carpet, they just use the existing padding. As well, if they are buying new carpet, many people believe it is thick enough on its own.

Both of those are the wrong way to look at carpet padding. The varieties of carpet padding to choose from can depend on what kind of floor the carpet is going over and what carpet style you choose. There are many benefits to having carpet padding installed with your carpet.

Longevity is Increased: Carpet padding can increase the life-span of your carpet. It protects the backing and binding by absorbing all of the impact of all the foot traffic. It also allows air flow to the vacuum cleaner to increase the suction of the cleaner. With a better suction, more dirt, debris and dust is removed.

Insulation is Increased: Carpet padding will make the room feel warmer in the winter by providing extra insulation. It can also keep cooler air inside as well during the hot months.

Keeps the Carpet in Place: Carpet padding will grip to the hard floor surface and keep the carpet still, which means less bunching and wrinkling.

Make Carpets Cushioned and Softer: Carpet padding provides another layer of padding to your carpet and absorbs any impact your floors may take. It also makes it feel softer when walking on it barefoot.

5 Steps to Get Your House Winter-Ready

A lot of people dive into spring with “spring cleaning” but what about diving into winter with “winter cleaning”?  It is something that we should all think about because after all, we are going to be locked up inside for several months, right? So, may as well get a good clean start and here are 5 steps to help you get your home ready for winter:

The Furnace

With central air/heat units, you should be changing the filter every 30 days anyway, but if you only have central heat, you may not think about it during the summer.  Change it out now so that you have a clean, fresh filter in place before the cold snap hits. Check the furnace over as well making sure it is clear of any dirt, dust or grime that has collected during the spring and summer months. Vacuum up any dust bunnies underneath, those are a fire hazard.

Deep Clean the Floors

You’ve had the kids and their friends in and out all summer long, there is probably more dirt and sand tracked in than the beach has now! Get your carpets professionally deep cleaned now and get all that out of the fibers and deeper. Then have the hardwood and tile floors cleaned, too.

Dust From Top to Bottom

Get all that summer dusty haze cleaned out, including your ceiling fans and above the door frames and window frames. Pull the books and knick knacks off the shelves and dust, then dust the items as you put them back.  Getting all this dust out now will make your home smell better and be healthier.

You Can See Clearly Now

Get the windows cleaned on the outside and clean the insides, too. When that sun does come out during the winter, you want to see it and enjoy it right? A mixture of vinegar and water is great for the inside and is eco-friendly and safe.

The Kitchen Ceiling

If you had kids home all summer while you worked, you can bet there was more than one accident in the kitchen. If you haven’t looked up in a while, there is a good chance the ceiling has some splatters that need to be cleaned off. And while you’re at it, wipe down the cabinets, counters and walls, too.

What Does Carpet Stretching Do?

You have carpet in your home for the beauty and comfort it provides. When properly installed, it can last you for many years. Sometimes though, no matter how well carpeting has been installed, it can become lumpy and wrinkled. When this happens, have a professional carpeting service company check it out, they may recommend carpet stretching.

Things a carpet professional will look at are the depth and if there is any damage such as cuts to the base structure. Depending on the severity of the cuts or damage, they will advise if stretching will help. Using a knee kicker or a power stretcher, the technician will pull and stretch the carpeting from the middle to the edges. As they get it pulled tight they will re-tack the carpet to the tack strips along the edges.

Once they have completed this process, working around the entire room, all the bumps, lumps and wrinkles that were there are gone.  You can once again move your furniture where you want it and not where it hides waded up carpeting.

Water Damage Restoration is Important to Your Health and Structure

In regards to water damage, the old saying “What you don’t know can’t hurt you” is not correct. When a home has suffered water damage, microscopic organisms begin to build and grow, forming mildew and mold. It will grow behind the walls, in the ceiling and under the flooring.

After your home or office has been flooded by any number of reasons, the services of a professional water restoration specialist is needed. They will come in and take a survey of the area affected by the flood as well as any adjacent areas. They will document what has been affected by the water damage and provide their recommendations on what should be done.

A professional water restoration service dries out the structure as well as carpet, curtains, furniture and other belongings if they have not determined they are a total loss. They then sanitize those areas and deodorize it all.

A professional water restoration company will have equipment such as air movers and air scrubbers, and dehumidifiers. They will have a wood floor drying system as well as equipment and a process to dry the sub flooring. This process can take up to a week depending on the size of the area that was affected. The drying process is monitored by the team and equipment moved as needed for the best effect.

When water damage restoration isn’t done properly, the mildew and mold will grow and spread. It will damage the wood and other materials, making the structure weak. It also puts out bacteria and germs that when breathed in can make animals and humans sick.

Keep Those Baby Wipes On The Changing Table!

Today, most parents are using moistened wipes, which are a great tool. They are great for not just diaper changing, but cleaning faces and hands, too. As such, many parents leave the box of wipes in the den or living room and may have one in every room.

Carpet Renovations advises you to be careful where you lay them down, though. The cleaning chemicals that baby wipes are soaked in not only clean your baby, but they will damage your leather sofa. The chemicals that are contained in these wipes may be gentle on your baby’s skin, but they are not leather furniture’s best friend.

With the combination of Benzyl and Cetearyl alcohol, Sodium Benzoate, Citrate and Hydroxide as well as various acids and other ingredients, is it any wonder? The alcohol content in the solvent breaks down the lacquer finish which is a protectant of your leather sofa’s color.

Once the surface of your leather sofa is broken, it is vulnerable to any “attack” such as drink, food, soil and sweat. Even the dye used in jeans can be damaging to your leather sofa.  So, while it may be tempting to grab those wipes to clean a spill on the sofa, think again.

Carpet Cleaning and Insurance

Everyone knows how important insurance is, right? That’s why you have auto insurance, health insurance and homeowners insurance. You also make sure that any contractor that does work in your home has insurance, too. Or, at least you ask them if they do.

Then, when the carpet cleaning company finishes your job, you notice a tear in the sofa or the carpet has come loose in a corner. You call the office where you made the appointment and file a complaint. They tell you they’ll turn it over to their insurance company.

Their insurance calls you and you find out that their business insurance policy will only cover the carpet repair. So now what? If you’re lucky, that really good deal you got on full house carpet cleaning will be with a reputable company who is honest and will pay to repair or replace your sofa.  You know deep down this is probably not going to happen, though.

For this instance we’ve described, it’s hard to say how to handle it or what will come of it all. For anyone that has not experienced anything like this, they’re things to do going forward to make sure that doesn’t happen.

A reputable carpet cleaning company will be glad to show you proof of insurance upon arrival. Take a look at this insurance to make sure you are going to be covered. You want to see what is called ‘'double insurance' policy. This means that their insurance isn’t just Liability Coverage, but they also have Treatments Risk Coverage.  That second part of the insurance provides coverage that protects anything that is damaged while the company is doing the carpet cleaning.