Maintaining Your Furniture

   Are you taking care of your upholstery?

With so much to take care of in our homes, it often doesn't get cared for properly. Sometimes by the time we think of having it cleaned, it can be too late, damage has already been done.

How to Care for Your Upholstery

Following these simple guidelines will help keep your upholstered living room, dining room, and bedroom furniture looking like new.

• To avoid fading, keep upholstered home furniture out of direct sunlight.

• Vacuum upholstered furniture as often as possible. Even if your home furniture has seen little use, the abrasive action of dirt and dust particles can wear on the fibers of your upholstery fabric. For high-use furniture, it’s a good idea to frequently beat the cushions and then vacuum and rotate them.

• Do not place newspapers directly on home furniture upholstery fabric, since ink will accumulate and is difficult to remove.

• Never cover your upholstered furniture with dark-colored blankets, sheets, etc., because the colored dyes can rub off onto fabric when dry or bleed when wet.

• Avoid the use of dyes, paints, inks, nail polishes, and Mercurochrome around your fabric upholstery, since these substances alter color and will stain.

• Never remove cushion covers for dry cleaning or machine washing, even though they have zippers. The colors can fade and no longer match the rest of the upholstery, or they can shrink or be damaged in the wash.

• Periodic professional Sarasota furniture cleaning will keep soil accumulation from marring the beauty of the upholstery of your home living room, dining room, and bedroom furniture.

Use Professional Grade Cleaning Products
Overturf’s Cleaning has partnered with one of the cleaning industry leaders, Bridgepoint Systems, to offer you professional grade cleaning supplies that are safe for household consumers and at a discounted cost. Please visit www.CleaningManatee.com/shop for details.
Products available that you may find useful for your upholstery include:

• Spot & Stain Remover
• Pet Spotter
• Heavy Duty Spotter
• Laminated Spotting Guide
• Odor Eliminator Kit

Remember to always test any cleaning product in an inconspicuous area of your upholstery or carpet before using.

Safely Removing Spots from Carpet

Although we've posted various types of spots and how to get rid of them, here are some basic steps for effective removal no matter the spot, along with some precautions.

Act Quickly!

Most carpet available today has been treated with a stain-resist treatment, so many spills can be removed if immediate action is taken. The longer the delay, the higher the probability of a spill becoming a permanent stain. Remember, staining is influenced by many factors, and no carpet is completely stain proof.

Blot liquids with a dry, white, absorbent cloth or or white paper toweling (no printing or colors on the paper towels).

Do not scrub! Scrubbing may cause pile distortion in the affected area. Continue to use a dry cloth or paper towels until the area is completely dry. For semi-solids, gently scrape up with a rounded spoon. Solids should be broken up and vacuumed until completely removed.

Pretest any spot removal agent in an inconspicuous area to be certain the solution will not damage the fiber or the dye. After applying several drops to the testing area, hold a white cloth on the wet area for 10 seconds. Examine the carpet and cloth for color transfer, color change, or damage to the carpet. If a change occurs or any color comes off onto your cloth, another cleaning solution should be selected.

Apply a small amount of the selected cleaning solution to a white cloth and work in gently.
Work from the edges of the spill to the center to prevent the spill from spreading. Remember, do no scrub! Blot in order to absorb as much as possible, and repeat if necessary.

Continue using the first cleaning solution as long as there is a transfer of the spill to the cloth. It is not necessary to use all of the cleaning solutions if the first solution removes the spill.

Be patient! Complete removal of the spill may require repeating the same step several times.

After the spill has been completely removed, rinse the affected area thoroughly with cold water, and blot with a dry cloth until all of the solution has been removed. Some cleaning solutions, especially the over the counter variety, can dry leaving behind residue. This will cause rapid soiling if the solution is not completely removed. Apply a one-half inch layer of white paper towels to the affected area, and weigh down with a flat, heavy object. Continue to change paper towels as needed.

A dry, absorbent, cleaning compound may be used as a substitute to accelerate drying time.
For more detailed information on a specific spill, please feel free to contact us or refer to our newsletters that contain this information.

Also, many fiber manufacturers provide toll-free cleaning assistance and advice (consult your carpet or fabric's warranty).

If you're looking for professional grade spot cleaners and other cleaning supplies, please visit our website at www.CleaningManatee.com/shop.

Successfully Maintaining Wool Carpets

Please note: these are not instructions for taking care of a wool rug, or an oriental rug.
Oriental rugs should always be cleaned in a rug plant by professionals, not at your home. “Why not at my home, so and so cleaning company did it before?” many ask. If you had your oriental rug successfully cleaned before, consider yourself fortunate. These rugs may have loose dye that will bleed or crock. You may have 10 colors in your rug and only one bleeds. This can be cared for and prevented much better at a rug plant, plus the cleaning, dusting and drying process is far superior than what can be done at your home. If you decide to spot clean your Oriental rug, make sure you test every color separately for color fastness. You test for color fastness by taking a white cotton towel that has been dipped with a small amount of wool safe cleaner, and then patting the towel on each color separately.

Regular Maintenance of your wool carpets
If you have wool carpets, get rid of all your store bought carpet cleaning spotters. Many of these products not only leave behind dirt attracting residue, they also have a high pH that is too aggressive to use on wool and can ruin your carpets.
Use a product that indicates on the packaging that it is wool safe. Using too high a PH cleaner on your wool carpet can turn the fibers brown or yellow.
High PH cleaners will also break down the cuticle or hard scaly surface that holds the fiber together. Breaking down the cuticle leaves you with a fuzzy mess. When using a wool safe product – blot. Scrubbing will also cause the fiber to fuzz out.
Do not get bleach on your wool carpet. Bleach will dissolve wool carpet and leave a hole behind.
As with all carpet, vacuum as often as you can, at least once a week.

You want your wool carpet to dry quickly when it is cleaned. If the carpet takes too long to dry it can turn yellow or brown. Your professional Sarasota carpet cleaner will run an air mover to help dry the carpet faster while he is there. He will also give you instructions so you can help the drying process to happen quicker after he leaves.
Much effort, training, and specialty products go into cleaning wool carpets correctly. That’s why using the right professionals like those at Overturf’s Cleaning makes this job a successful one with no headaches down the road. You also want to be sure the carpet cleaner you use is IICRC Certified. That means he has undergone formal training and has received at least some education in carpet cleaning. At Overturf's Cleaning, we help you avoid uneducated, uninformed, and even downright unscrupulous carpet cleaners by providing the most outstanding service experience ever, guaranteed.

Indoor Air Quality and Your Carpet

Recently, the EPA had put into the Congressional Record the fact that indoor air is more polluted than outdoor air.

How can that be true? The main reason is that indoor air is trapped.  Rarely does it get completely replaced.  Outdoor air on the other hand gets blown away and new, cleaner air replaces it. 

Trapped air in our home continues to gather pollutants: from our clothes, shoes, our bodies, our hair, our pets, our garages, and many other sources. These contaminants eventually settle on our furniture, our floors, our rugs, and yes, our carpet. 
Then, when someone walks over them, they get re-dispersed into your air and you and your family breathe them.  A great example is when you look at a stream of sunlight and see all the dust floating around.  You breathe that air over and over.  That's why indoor air is more polluted than outdoor air.

There is a way out of this vicious cycle: Getting your carpet cleaned thoroughly and regularly rids your home of these pollutants lurking in your carpet. Yes Sarasota carpet cleaning is a major factor.

The polluted air is circulated and some of it settles on horizontal surfaces--the largest horizontal surface being your carpet.  That's why cleaning your carpet is the best solution for removing indoor air pollution.  And that's why we recommend cleaning all rooms of carpet even if they don't look dirty.

Believe it or not, that's also why carpet is a superior flooring choice for indoor air quality, since it traps these pollutants in the air. The key is keeping it regularly cleaned, not just when it looks dirty.

What's regular? That can vary, based on conditions in the home such as smoking, pets, children, the amount of foot traffic.
According to the U.S. EPA Letter, January 1989, the longest recommended interval between cleanings to maintain indoor air quality is 12 months.

Ask yourself: What would it be worth if regular carpet cleanings could mean one less doctor visit for my child per year? What is it worth to me to be able to breath better and get sick less?

The Second Reason Spots Sometimes Reappear

Reason # 2: Re-soiling. Re-soiling is caused by a sticky residue that has been left behind. What causes the residue? It may be from the spot itself, the cleaner that was used (especially an over the counter cleaner, like those foam type), or both. I once had a residue issue at a job due to me not rinsing out the spot cleaner I used thoroughly enough. Once I returned and flushed the cleaner out, the carpet looked as good as new.  

Some common residue causes are over-the-counter carpet cleaners purchased at the grocery store. The sticky residue they leave behind often attracts more dirt. They are usually not rinsed out properly, since their instructions often say to let them dry on the carpet then vacuum them up.

Avoid using these cleaners all together. If you have to use one of these cleaners, or you have to use dish washing detergent, use as little as possible and rinse with water thoroughly.

  

Other residue causes would be oily spots. Duct tape residue, body oils (like from our bare feet), lotions, sticky mats or other types of adhesive, etc. If all of the oily residue is not removed, it will attract soil as the carpet is walked on. Even quality professional cleaning may not remove all oily residue the first time.

SPECIAL NOTE: Cheap carpet cleaners use cheap products that are loaded with Optical Brighteners. Optical Brighteners are most commonly used in laundry detergent. They create an illusion of clean that causes the soil or spot to appear to be removed. The spot is still there. The soil is still there. Optical Brighteners create a film that reflects light so that the carpet looks incredibly clean. It's an optical illusion.

Using optical brighteners will often void your carpet's warranty. See your warranty for details.  

An illustration of this can be seen at a flea market, home show, or a late night infomercial. Someone will be demonstrating a miracle cleaner on a small rug. The rug is saturated with motor oil. The salesman then scoops off just the foam of the miracle cleaner and then presto, the motor oil is gone! This is physically impossible. Notice that the salesman has several bright lights shining on the demo rug to create the illusion.

Quality cleaning companies use quality, professional products, and they guarantee their work. Even though we could use cheaper products without our clients knowing, we've found that using a better quality means fewer call backs and happier clients.

Why Spots on Your Carpet Keep Coming Back

Have you ever wondered why spots return after having your carpet cleaned?

There are two reasons that spots return:

Reason # 1: Wicking. Wicking is the upward migration of moisture or other substances during drying.  

Many times, the spots in your carpet have seeped into the backing of the carpet. This is common with liquids such as pet urine, beverages, and anything that is spilled in “volume”. The substance dries in the backing and the cushion (pad) of the carpet. When the spot is cleaned, only the material in the “pile” of the carpet is removed. However, moisture is introduced to into the backing of the carpet. As the spot dries, the material that is in the backing of the carpet “wicks” back into the pile of the carpet and comes to the surface much like a candle wick.

Even traffic area soil that is embedded can wick back. This is especially common in glue down carpet that is heavily impacted with soil. When the carpet is cleaned, it looks good. When it dries, the spots and traffic areas come back.

The good news is that if a spot actually wicks back, it can be removed. When spot cleaning yourself, place a folded white terry cloth towel over the spot just after you clean it while the spot is still moist. Place a heavy object on top of the cloth. Be sure to use something non porous that won’t transfer color onto the carpet (like a paper book cover). Use a brick, a planting pot, or something like that.

When you have your carpet cleaned professionally, be sure to point out spots that have wicked back in the past, so they can be treated properly.Often, getting the carpets dry quickly will help prevent wicking. Your carpet cleaner can do this by running air movers to help dry the room (one of Overturf's Cleaning's steps in our 12 step process). You can assist in your carpets dry time by running any available fans like ceiling fans, along with turning your air conditioner on to about 70 degrees. The sooner the carpet dries, the less chance for any substance on the backing of the carpet has to wick up to the surface.

We will discuss reason number 2 for spots returning in a future post.

How to Stop Dirt at the Door

Preventing dirt and grime from getting on the carpet in the first place is a great way to start keeping it clean. It helps keep those traffic paths we get in our carpet from wearing out so quickly .

The following helpful hints can stop dirt in its tracks.

Use mats - Outdoor and indoor mats or runners can reduce the amount of dirt that enters the house.

Take off your shoes - You can save wear and tear on carpet by asking everyone to take their shoes off before entering your home.

Change your air filters - Change air filters in your heating and air-conditioning systems as recommended by the manufacturer's directions. The more dust and particles removed by the filter, the fewer that fall onto the carpet.

Carpet Protector Bradenton FL Brandon FL

A Word About Carpet Protector

Residential carpets are treated with stain resist properties and soil resisting agents when you buy them.

With time and use, some of the protector wears off. I compare it to the protection you get from waxing your car. While it provides immense benefits, like making spills and spots easy to clean up, at some point it's no longer effective. At that point you should consider have a professional carpet cleaner re-apply the carpet protector treatment. The best time to do this? When would you wax your car? Right after you wash it. Similarly, the best time to apply carpet protector is right after professional cleaning.

Overturf's Cleaning doesn't settle for cheap, ineffective "protectors" that may save a few bucks but may or may not be effective. We use proven solutions from proven, tested brands. Our solution will protect against liquid spills, resist oily, liquid, or dry soil, and make your vacuuming more efficient. Spots will be easier to remove.

Contact us today to schedule your Bradenton FL carpet cleaning. We also serve many of the surrounding areas, such as Sarasota as far up as Brandon FL tile cleaning. Visit our site at www.CleaningManatee.com for all the details or call us at 941-301-9555.