Category: Carpet Cleaning

Tips To Help Slow Down Carpet Wear

First things first, carpet wear is something that you cannot stop but it is something that you can slow down. We have mentioned before but it bears repeating that carpet wear is caused by soil damaging the carpet fibers. Now how does this happen? It may be surprising but it happens at the microscopic level and over time we finally being to notice it. Soil is very abrasive and it performs the same action that sandpaper does on wood. As the carpet is walked on it the soils cut into the carpet fibers. It is more noticeable on thicker and longer fiber carpets. You’ll notice that the carpet looks lower in one area even after a great vacuuming. The cut and damage carpet fibers usually turn into dust and are atomized into the air when we walk or they’re swept up when vacuuming. Once the damage is done there is no way to bring the carpet back, but we can slow it down.

What Are The Problems

Transition areas are one of biggest causes of premature carpet wear. A transition area is simply when the walking traffic goes from a hard surface such as tile and grout to carpet. The soil sets on the tile face and doesn’t go anywhere which means it is just waiting to be picked up and brought onto the carpet. Something to help prevent premature wear in transition areas are to place rugs in those areas. For the home, even a cheap runner rug will work well to help this and you can even buy ones that can be thrown in the washer. We recommend you wash them once every 1-3 months to help keep the soil load out of them. We do offer a warning with this – make sure that the rug has a rubber backing so that it doesn’t slide on the carpet or you can buy rolls of rubber/latex material to put under the rug so that it doesn’t slide. If the rug slides on the carpet it can cause even more damage than normal foot traffic would because of the rubbing and friction.

In a commercial setting walk-off mats are a great way to help with this. The mats can be taken and cleaned and replaced with clean ones on a regular schedule. This is especially important in factory settings and high traffic volume commercial environments.

One More Problem

Lack of maintenance is another big problem in why carpet wears out prematurely. We’ve already wrote about why you should vacuum and if you haven’t already please feel free to read it here. We find that a lot of people wait 2-3 years to have their carpet cleaned or they wait until they can see the traffic patterns developing in the carpet. Although we pride ourselves on our great cleaning abilities, we do not recommend to wait 2-3 years to have your carpet professionally cleaned. Carpet manufacturers recommend having the carpet cleaned annually and we agree with them. If you have a larger family then we recommend having the carpet cleaned twice a year. Properly maintaining your carpet can make it last 50% longer than what the normal carpet life expectancy of 5-7 years. Carpet and flooring are one of the biggest investments for your home and we want our clients to get the most out of it.

Finally – Lies, Lies, Lies

The Internet has been a great world wide resource but unfortunately there is some bad information out there. There are companies that like to use scare tactics to sell carpet cleaning. We have built our business on integrity, honesty and doing what’s best for the client even when it may not have benefited us. We can argue all day who the best carpet cleaning company is and who can get the carpet the cleanest. But there is one thing that cannot be argued. When we enter a home or business we promise to treat it like it was our own, and we promise to give each and every client that we serve the best experience possible. For the home please check out our residential carpet cleaning process.

Carpet Cleaning & Going to the Dentist

We love to talk or preach to our clients on the importance of carpet maintenance. We try out best not to get too technical otherwise our clients look like a deer in a head light. So we have came up with the perfect analogy of how carpet cleaning is like going to the dentist - just less painful! Now stay with us we promise we’re not crazy!
From an early age our parents and our dentist tell us over and over again how important brushing our teeth and flossing is. Brushing and flossing is to teeth is what vacuuming and proper spotting is to carpet. If we brush and floss our teeth regularly when we go to the dentist it is a lot easier for the dentist to clean our teeth so we have a great smile. If we don’t brush and floss regularly then we have to deal with cavities and other often painful procedures to help save the tooth or teeth.

If you vacuum your carpet regularly it will help immensely on making your carpet last longer. You want to remove as much soil as you can within your carpet so that it doesn’t permanently damage it. There is a general rule of thumb that we like to tell our clients and that is, for every person in the home, that is how many times a week you want to vacuum your common areas where all of you convene most. We can assure you that if you follow this rule of thumb it will help your carpet last longer. Last year around this time we wrote about how your carpet is a filter and why it’s important to vacuum. We suggest you read it if you already haven’t and while you’re at it read about the good and bad about store bought spotting products. Even though you are maintaining your carpet you still need a professional to come deep clean it to remove the soils and any spots you weren’t able to remove yourself. We recommend having your carpet cleaned annually and for those with 4 or more in their home we even suggest having the traffic lanes cleaned twice a year.

Next, let’s talk about carpet and fabric protection - yes there is another dentist analogy coming up we know you were waiting for it. When you’re a child and you go to the dentist, after you have your teeth cleaned the dentist will put on a fluoride treatment. This treatment is meant to protect your teeth and the help your teeth from staining so that food and beverage stains come off easier when brushing. We offer Scotchgard for our carpet and fabric protection. Scotchgard is made of a fluorochemical that fills the empty dye sites within a carpet to stop liquids and soiling from binding to those areas. Now notice fluoride and fluorochemical both are similar and that is because the same concept for your teeth applies to your carpet. That is why we always recommend to having Scotchgard applied after your carpet cleaning because it really helps. It improves your vacuuming while making the soil easier to remove and helps to prevent staining from liquids. For more information about Scotchgard Application, please visit this link.

We know our analogy is a bit silly but when you think about it there are A LOT of similarities. We appreciate you reading and we hope that we have better educated you on why maintaining your carpet is so very important. We love seeing all of our clients regularly but we also want to help protect your textile investments and your homes that you work hard to have and keep.

How to Select the Best Carpet

Choosing carpet and any other flooring in your home can be quite the task. There is always the internal conflict between what goes with what is already there, what you want, and price. To the consumer - they often do not know what they need and rely on the carpet salesman to help determine that. Now most of the carpet salesman will steer you in the right direction, but often there is conflict between what the product brochure says and what is reality.

Quality not Price

The old saying, “You get what you pay for” is almost always true - especially when it comes to carpet or flooring. Flooring and furnishing your home is one of the bigger investments you will make in your life. You want that investment to last so that you can get all of the joy and comfort out of it that you can. We already spoke about vacuuming your carpet as being the best thing you can do for your carpet besides having it cleaned professionally regularly. The next best thing you can do for your carpet is to choose the best carpet you.

Quality Carpets

The most popular two names in the carpet manufacturer world are Shaw and Mohawk and they both make great products. Carpet comes in many different fiber types: wool, polypropylene(olefin), polyester(PET & PTT carpet), acrylic(popular in the 60’s and 70’s), soft nylon, and nylon. Out of those fiber types mentioned, nylon and soft nylon are always a great choice. The reason why nylon is always a good choice is for a few reasons: 1) Nylon resists wear and tear better as the fiber holds it retention and doesn’t become matted down as quickly as other fiber types. 2) Most if not all nylon carpet comes with a protective property already applied to the carpet. The manufacturer applies a fluorocarbon or fluorochemical product to the carpet while it is being made. This protective property aides in the carpet’s ability to resist staining from liquids and doesn’t allow soils to attach easily to cause premature wear. 3) Nylon carpet can be recycled.

How to Make Your Carpet Last

We have already told you that vacuuming and professional carpet cleaning can dramatically make your carpet last longer. We cannot stress enough how choosing the right one for you will help as well. If you have a somewhat large family, 2 adults, a few children, and pets - we highly recommend you choose a nylon carpet. We are still cleaning nylon carpets that are 11-20 years old and that is impressive as the average life expectancy of carpet is 6-9 years before needing replaced. PET or PTT carpet is also said to be great for larger families with children and animals in the home. However those types of carpets are somewhat newer in the market, and we are still waiting for the jury decision on that to see if they can hold up as well has nylon has for decades now.

In case you missed it, we wrote an article on the do’s and don’ts of store bought spotting products, you can read it here.

Carpet Fresh & Similar Products

Baking soda is one of nature’s great deodorizers. Effective and inexpensive, baking soda can be used in many ways from cooking to cleaning and everything in between. It is often used to absorb unpleasant odors - a box of baking soda in the fridge keeps food odors for smelling foul.

Many carpet freshener products on the market today are made from baking soda. They work by sprinkling them onto the carpet where they absorb bad odors and then are vacuumed up. They often include a fresh smelling fragrance so when the carpet is vacuumed it will leave the scent behind. That sounds simple and wonderful but there are TWO big problems with this.

1. The particles of baking soda are so small that a good amount of the product remains in the carpet, even after vacuuming - YIKES! Some of this remaining product even makes it way down through the carpet and onto the padding or sub floor below. What this means for your carpet is that the baking soda can do the same amount of damage that soil does, causing your carpet to wear and distort prematurely.
2. Secondly, because the backing soda particles are so fine, this can cause you vacuum to clog. Build up in the hoses, filters, and even the vacuum motor can create a loss of suction. A loss of suction means a less thorough vacuuming and less soil load being removed from the carpet. We previously spoke about the importance of vacuuming where we explained just how important vacuuming is to prolonging the life of your carpet. It is the best thing besides professional carpet cleaning that you can do to keep your carpet fresh and clean.

All Is Not Lost

The purpose of this article is not to steer you away from using baking soda or carpet freshening products. We want to make you aware of the possible problems that we see every day. Once damage is done to your carpet it is impossible to reverse it. Our warning is for any of the fine particulate baking soda based products. However, there are carpet freshening products that utilize a larger granule size that is easier to vacuum up. These products are as effective and you do not have the issues that their fine particulate relatives have.

Give us a call or email us by using the form on the right side of the page if you have any questions about the carpet freshening products you’re using.

Store Bought Spotters - Good or Bad?

This is a very common question that we get asked all of the time. Store bought spotters are often misleading and many people do not take the time to read the instructions, but we urge you to do so.

Here are some red flags to look for:

Does the product claim that it can get out a wide range of stains? There is not a single product that can get out every type of stain. Trust us, if there was - we would know about it.

Does the product have the word ‘oxy’ in it? We recommend that you steer clear of any product that has those words or a variation of them in it. Here is why - we do use products in our stain removal arsenal that are known as oxidizers. The purpose of these products are to remove organic based stains. We have spent hundreds of hours training and learning how to use these products properly. Oxy type products have the ability to remove color from your carpet causing an irreversible color loss to the carpet. This irreversible damage can generate faster with the presence of sunlight. We also completely rinse out any spotting products and cleaning agents that we put into the carpet so this never happens. Store bought ‘oxy’ products are rarely rinsed out and over time they can still cause damage to your carpet with the residue that they leave behind.

Residue, Residue, RESIDUE! We cannot stress enough how damaging residue can be to a carpet. Sure, the product you purchased may remove the spill but the residue that it leaves behind may do more damage than good. Many spills will ‘wick’ to the surface during the drying process. If you have ever successfully removed a spot, only to find it come back a day or two later - that is why. Now the big problem - many of the spotting products on the market are higher in alkalinity(higher pH), and most dyes are acid. When an alkaline meets an acid it can reach a mostly neutral state. What this means is if there were any dyes that came to the surface during the drying process, there is a good chance that they have now been neutralized and set - leaving an extremely difficult to remove stain and often permanent stain.

What can you do ?

The best thing you can do for a spill or spot is to first absorb as much of it as you can. If the spill is something solid such a food, you should remove as much of the food from the carpet before it dries as you can, and begin absorbing any liquid. Whatever you do, resist the temptation to scrub the spot! Scrubbing the spot will more than likely set it in because of the heat created from the friction of the towel and the carpet fibers. It will also distort the fibers or texture of the carpet leaving a noticeable spot.

A Clean Towel & Something Heavy

For liquid spills or even pet accidents try the following:

1. Use an absorbent towel(or two) that you won’t be upset to possibly ruin - white terry towels are perfect. If the towel is not white, be sure you have washed it first so that no color transfers to your carpet.
2. Place the towel over the spot and apply pressure with your foot for 30-60 seconds. This will help compress the spot to remove as much liquid as possible.
3. Fold the towel to a clean spot(or grab another if the towel is small) and cover the spot once more. Place something heavy on it. This will again compress the carpet and pad to remove as much liquid as possible. Leave the towel there for a few hours. In most cases during the drying process the spot will wick right into the towel and there will be no noticeable spot remaining.
4. Give us a call - we are always a call away for all of your carpet cleaning and spot removal needs.

Our goal is to help you maintain the quality, texture, and health of the carpet you worked so hard at picking out. We also want to help you maintain it to protect your investment. We are not trying to persuade you to never buy another store bought product again. We run into these mistakes and problems quite often and dislike telling our amazing clients that a store bought product has permanently damaged their carpet. We are more than happy to help advise you with spot removal tips and can even recommend products for your specific needs.

Buying a New Home?

We love cleaning carpet - but what we love more are the satisfied smiles on all of our customers’ faces after a job well done. Buying a home can be a stressful process and the last thing on your mind can be the carpets. The house you just bought could have sat empty for a while allowing some dust and outside particles to settle in the carpet fibers. There is even a chance that some dirt and soil was tracked in while moving, unpacking, and arranging everything. Do not worry! We can help you to enjoy the home you just worked so hard to buy.

We offer empty home discounts! Call Able Carpet Care of Nampa ID TODAY to schedule your carpet cleaning - 208-466-3223.

Quick drying carpet cleaning

We understand how important it is to be able to get back to normal life, or begin the move-in process and not wanting to worry if the carpet is going to be damp or not. That is why we use a rotary extraction cleaning tool. Our carpet cleaning process will NOT damage your carpet, cause mold to grow, or leave sticky residues that make your carpet become dirtier quicker.

Here is a video of our rotary extraction cleaning tool in action:

More on our cleaning process

As you can see we can actually see the dirt that we are removing. We do not just guess that it’s clean we know that it is. Having the ability to see what we are removing allows us to extract as much moisture and soil from the carpet as possible. Leaving you with fresh, soft, truly clean carpet. Our carpet cleaning machine heats the safe cleaning solution up to 220° which will also help to sanitize your carpet as well. After we have cleaned your carpet, we can help you to keep cleaner for longer and by protecting your investment.

Click here to learn more about our Scotchgard Application service.

Call Able Carpet Care of Nampa ID Today to Schedule Your Carpet Cleaning Appointment - 208-466-3223

Rental Property - We Can Help!

Do you own a rental property? We work with many property management companies big and small, and we would love to work with you. We offer higher volume discounts and as always - we offer 10% off for vacant/empty properties for our carpet cleaning service. Remember - “When you need clean, we are Able.” Call us today to talk about your rental property carpet cleaning or discuss high volume discounts - 208-466-3223 or email us with the form on the right.

What we can do for you

Don’t let turn over time frustrate you, let us help!

Deep Cleaning - Our rotary extraction steam cleaning will dig even the most stubborn soils out of carpet, saving you/your company money in replacement costs. We tackle even the most dirtiest of carpets and produce amazing results. Click here to see a collection of our before and after photos.

We are spot and stain specialists! We have a whole arsenal of spotting products to get out any type of stain and have a great success rate of removing most spots. If we do not feel we are Able to save a carpet from replacement, we will be 100% honest and let you know. Remember, we want to save you money, but at your discretion we can still try to save the carpet and bring all of our Able Carpet Care magic. There have been very few that we haven’t been Able to save, but those were pretty extreme cases where the property had been destroyed.

Pet Stain and Odor Removal - Perhaps you allow your tenants to have pets and the fluffy bundles of joy weren’t so nice to the carpet. We have specialized products that help to remove pet stains and odor from the carpet. Again, if we feel we cannot save the carpet and a full odor restoration needs to be done, we will let you know and we can either provide those services or give you tips on how to deal with the damage. We want to make the turn over process as easy as we can!

Quick turn over times - Our power carpet cleaning machine and rotary extraction system not only digs the dirt out, but helps us produce great dry times as well. The carpet will not be left wet for days, in fact even heavily soiled carpet that we have to really flush the soil out of dries in about 6-8 hours. We offer same day service and can get last minute carpet cleanings in and dry by the next day so a new tenant can move in.

If you’re having a bad day -

Here is a video of cats being crazy and funny - Enjoy!

Did You Know, Your Carpet Is a Filter ?

Did you know that your carpet is a filter? It’s true!

Studies have shown that the indoor air quality of a home is worse than the outside air quality. So what does that mean for your home? It means that all of the dust, dander, allergens, and other air contaminants settle on your carpet. Regular vacuuming does help - but periodically the carpet needs to be rinsed by a professional carpet cleaning company.

That’s where we come in!

Our powerful truck mounted carpet cleaning machine connected to our rotary extractor makes quick work of getting the impacted soil out of your carpet. Not only will your carpet look and feel better, but regular carpet cleaning can improve your overall indoor air quality.

Those pesky black lines

Have you ever noticed that over time, black lines appear along the baseboards of your light colored carpet? Those are called filtration soil lines and they are exactly what they sound like. Think of your home as being alive, I know that sounds crazy but bare with me. Your house breaths with the HVAC system. There is a void of space between your drywall and the floor and the air is pulled to that void by the return vents of your HVAC system; meaning the dust and other air contaminants pass through this space. Over time it builds up and forms a dark, undesirable line. You can minimize this by making sure that while you vacuum you take your edge tool and go around the perimeter of each room. ( Read the importance of vacuuming here ) If you enjoy burning candles, this issue can occur frequently. These lines can be very difficult to remove depending how long it has been since your last cleaning, but we do have special spotting agents that give us a competitive edge. To learn more about our carpet cleaning service in Nampa <— click here.

Thank you for referring our company!

We have recently received many referrals from our regular clients and we greatly appreciate it. The biggest compliment we can receive is a referral to a family member, co-worker, or friend. We wanted to remind you of our referral program - aside from top notch service, it is our way of saying thank you for supporting a local family owned business.

See whats happening!

Periodically, we will post specials on our Facebook page or Google+ page. In fact there is special on our Facebook page that expires May 31st, so be sure to take a look.

We welcome you to “like” and share our Facebook page or follow us on Google+. We have 25(and growing) reviews from satisfied clients on Google+. Join our family of satisfied clients today - call to schedule your carpet cleaning, upholstery cleaning, or tile cleaning appointment today.

208-466-3223

Did you know we clean upholstery?

Yes that’s right, we clean upholstery! In fact we bought a new piece of equipment specifically for upholstery cleaning.

Take a look here:

Upholstery can come in a wide range of textures, colors, and fiber content, yes not all upholstery is the same. We go through a series of steps in order to clean your furniture safely and effectively.

First we will test the fabric to see what fiber content its made of to determine what safe cleaning solution(s) we will use to clean it. Not all upholstery is created equal, and we want to be sure we get the best results possible. When needed we will gently agitate the cleaning solution to help break up the oils and soil that has attached to the fabric.

Finally we rinse the soils suspended in the cleaning solution(s) leaving the fabric soft. Leaving the fabric soft ensures that there are no soil attracting residues so that your furniture will stay cleaner longer.

The great feature of this machine is everything runs inside the home so it is perfect for cleaning upholstery during the winter time without having to have the door cracked to allow our hoses in. Give us a call to schedule your upholstery/furniture cleaning today. We’ll even clean your husbands favorite chair!

Did you see our announcement below? Our very own technician Nathan just completed his Carpet Cleaning Technician class and certification course from the IICRC last month. Read about it here.

Yes, we can clean your upholstery at the same time of your nampa carpet cleaning appointment. Just let us know when you call us 208-466-3223