Carpet That Last Forever

If you want carpets that sparkle and last as long as possible, use these tips.

Tip 1: Choose High Quality Carpet. Builder grade carpet or really cheap carpet will not release stains and damages easily. For the best carpet price stay in the mid-range rates. Make sure your carpet comes with a Stainmaster warranty. If your looking to go top-shelf buy a wool carpet. These natural fibers are hypo allergenic and wool carpets can last a lifetime.
Tip 2: Clean Up Pet Accidents. Do this immediately. Otherwise they will cause permanent damage.
Tip 3: Leave The Dirt Outside. Invest in heavy-duty door mats and remove your shoes.
Tip 4: Avoid Accidents. Confine all drinks and meals to the kitchen. It’s the only way to prevent spills.
Tip 5: Vacuum Often. In high-traffic areas daily. For less-traveled areas, one to two times per week.  Use multiple overlapping passes and you will remove damaging dirt from the fibers.
Tip 6: Clean Spills Quickly. Dry blot first. Then apply spotter. Agitate and rinse carpet until no product remains. Dry area with clean towel until no moisture wicks up from the carpet.
Tip 7: Avoid Traffic Lanes. Once you start to see traffic lanes its time to act. High traffic areas can crush your carpet fibers. Prevent traffic patterns with regular care and by moving your furniture around.
Tip 8: Clean The Carpet. Hire an IICRC, truck mount steam carpet cleaning company at least yearly.

For Professional Carpet Cleaning In The Philadelphia Area Click or Call 610-292-9069.

Natural Carpet Cleaning - Hydrogen Peroxide

Carpet Cleaning For Health

Most carpet cleaners rely on traditional butyl-based chemicals. While effective, these carpet pretreatment products could also damage carpet fibers, cause premature stain master wear, and be detrimental to occupant and worker health. Also known as butyl glycol, Dowanol, and ethylene glycol monobutyl ether (EGBE), which has made it on to the list of California’s toxic air substances, and some animal studies indicate that it produces reproductive problems, such as testicular damage, reduced fertility, death of embryos and birth defects. In humans, it can irritate mucous membranes and cause liver and kidney damage. Butyl cello solve is also a neurotoxin that can depress the nervous system and cause a variety of associated problems. Sounds like something we should be using around our house, no?" I've had customers call to have us re-clean their carpet (after the last carpet cleaning company) because they were coughing and hacking. Natural and Green carpet cleaners use alternative cleaners such as oxygen-based products to provide a safer environment. 

This is where oxygen based carpet cleaners come into play. One type of oxygen cleaner is oxygen-based bleach cleaner that uses sodium per carbonate as its main ingredient. However, the superior oxygen cleaners in today’s market and the one we use are hydrogen peroxide-based. 
Hydrogen peroxide molecules are comprised of two atoms of hydrogen and two atoms of oxygen. Orange oil is added to the hydrogen peroxide to help it penetrate the surface and reach the embedded soil. When the cleaner comes into contact with the soil, the hydrogen peroxide releases oxygen to boost the cleaning. The only by-products of the reaction between the cleaner and the stain are oxygen and water. Followed up with purified stream rinse the result is no chemical residue, which can lead to re-soiling, and adverse health effects.

Hydrogen-peroxide cleaners are designed to remove proteins and other stains and soil of organic nature. They work well on dried tannin stains, such as coffee, red wine and cola. The cleaners are effective on both porous and non-porous surfaces including marble, stone, wood laminate, white boards, desktops, tile, grout, glass, carpet, leather and porcelain. 
Oxygen cleaners deodorize the surface in addition to cleaning it because the hydrogen peroxide actually destroys the organic source of odors. 

Question: Does Professional Carpet Cleaning Shrink Your Carpet?

It's everyone's worse nightmare. You hire someone to clean your carpet and when they're done it's shrunk into a smaller pile. I've dreamed that dream before, and the carpet technician in my dream didn't understand why I was upset. In reality though, this isn't usually a concern in our modern day. Find out why.

Answer: When carpets were made of lots of natural fibers, shrinking was a major concern. Still, most professionals knew how to handle all types of carpets. Today most carpets are made of synthetic materials, reducing the risk of shrinking to almost nothing. It's always a good idea to know your carpet type and the manufacturer's instructions for it.

One thing that could cause minimal shrinkage would be an overly wet carpet after your technician is finished cleaning. Reputable companies and technicians don't allow this to happen. Even so, it's a good idea to check your carpet's wetness before the tech leaves your home. Express concerns if you have them. And be sure to hire a reputable company to clean your carpets.  For most carpets, the risk of shrinking is almost nothing. Hiring a reputable company makes all the difference in your satisfaction, though.

A1 Sparkles Cleaning & Restoration

How To Remove Urine From Carpet

Keep the following items on hand so you will be prepared to handle fresh spills on your carpet:

Neutral dish detergent such as Dawn®

Spotter such as our free life time replacement Spot Out® and Enzyme product for urine stains

Clean Rags, Small Scrub Brush, and Bottled/Purified Water

Hydrogen peroxide (3% solution) for browning stains; isopropyl alcohol for inks or other colored stains

A Wet/dry vac is great to have as well.

THE 8 STEPS TO REMOVING CARPET SPOTS, AND PET URINE.

1. Act fast. The key any successful spot removal is extracting it from the fibers as quickly as possible. Don't use hot water on a fresh stain. Heat will set most stains.
2. Blot as much of the spill as possible and remove any solids. For large spills use a wet/dry vac. Work from the outside in.
3. Carefully apply cool purified or bottled water to the stain, do not over saturate. Blot, gently pressing a clean towel into the carpet pile in the stained area to remove as much moisture a possible. Start your blotting on the outside edges of the stain.
4. Apply appropriate spotter, and wait. Let the product do its job! At this time you may want to slightly agitate the carpet fibers. After at least 5 minutes began blotting, working from the outside perimeter of the stain, moving inward. If no spotter is available use dish detergent diluted at 30:1
5. To prevent re-soiling extract spotters with purified water; blot the area dry paying special attention the edges. This is a step is critical step, because you do not want to leave and chemical residue in the carpet fibers.
6. To remove any remaining moisture, place several towels over the spot, weight them down, and leave it there overnight.
7. When the carpet is dry, vacuum the pile using multiple passes.
8. If you can still see the stain, call your professional carpet cleaning company.

It is not unusual for stains to sometimes reappear after spot-cleaning. This occurs for two primary reasons.

1. Chemical Residue - When spotting and even with some professional carpet cleaners, some residue remains in the carpet, causing rapid re-soiling. If this happens repeat step 5.
2. Wicking occurs when a liquid has been spilled on the carpet (usually a large quantity) and cleaning attempts remove only the stain and liquid from the carpet fibers. Liquid still remains in the carpet backing or padding. Through capillary action, the stain can "wick" back up into the carpet fibers.

Residual re-soiling occurs if staining substances or cleaning products are left in the carpet and attract soil.

These stains are not permanent and typically can be removed by simply repeating these steps. Here are some additional suggestions:

Avoid over wetting the carpet backing during spot-cleaning and rising. Blotting to remove excess moisture reduces the occurrence of wicking stains.

Use a "wet-vac" to extract liquid from the area if possible. Paper toweling placed over the cleaned area and weight with a color-fast object will help absorb resurfacing stains. Use of fans to decrease the drying time will also help.

Carpet Cleaning Tips

A1 Sparkles Natural Carpet Cleaning

What are the methods of carpet cleaning

There are 6 different methods of carpet cleaning. A1 Sparkles has added to the final method Natural Carpet Cleaning.

1. Absorbent Compound - An organic or synthetic compound that is spread into the carpet, absorbs soils, and is removed by dry vacuuming. 

Advantage                                           Disadvantage
Low Moisture                                        Low Cleaning Power
Allows Blending                                    Carpet Fiber Distortion
Quick Return to Service                       Leaves Some Residue – No Rinse

Uses

Not recommended.  Used as an interim or spot cleaning for commercial carpet or dry rug cleaning applications.

2.  Dry Foam - A preconditioner may or may not be used prior to application of a foam detergent.  Once the foam is distributed suspended soils and the foam are extracted by a wet vacuum.

Advantage                                           Disadvantage
Low Moisture                                        Low Cleaning Power – Surface Only
Surface Cleaning                                  Increased Resoling – Low Extraction
Easy Application                                   Leaves Dry Dirt Residue – No Rinse

Uses

Not recommended. Out dated technology, sometimes used in quick cleaning carpet cleaning for hospitality industry.

3.  Shampoo - A preconditioner may or may not be used prior to shampooing.  A foaming detergent is showered into the carpet surface followed by a nylon rotating brush that creates a foam suspends soil. Either a wet vacuum or dry vacuum is used to extract soils. 

 Advantage                                           Disadvantage

Aggressive Cleaning Power                Surface Only
Surface Cleaning                                  Very High Resoling – Little Soil Extraction
Easy Application                                   High Soapy Residue – No Rinse

Uses

Not recommended.

Out dated technology, sometimes used in hospitality industry.

4. Encapsulation - A cleaning agent is brushed into the carpet using a cylindrical or rotary brush machine. Encapsulation chemistry surrounds each soil particle and crystallizes so it can attract other soils. The encapsulated soil particles are removed through dry vacuuming or pile lifters.

Advantage                                           Disadvantage

Excellent Cleaning Power                      No Health Benefits

Mid Surface Cleaning                            May Cause De laminating

Improved Vacuuming                            Chemical Residue

Uses

Recommended for commercial use only.  Encapsulation Carpet Cleaning is technologically advanced, providing excellent low moisture mid surface carpet cleaning. Carpet surface continues to improve over time with regular vacuuming.  At this time residential applications are not considered a professional carpet cleaners best practice.

5.  Absorbent Pad (Bonnet / Oscillating Pad) - A carbonated preconditioner may be used prior to application.  Once the precondidtioner is distributed suspended soils are agitated and extracted via rotary bonnet absorbsution. Bonnets must be turned over or replace frequently to ensure good absorption rates. 

Advantage                                           Disadvantage
Low Moisture                                        Moderate Cleaning Power
Mid-Surface Cleaning                         Professional Use Only
Easy Application                                  Little Residue - No Rinse

Uses

Interim or Combined Carpet Cleaning Only.

Often used by franchise carpet cleaners for commercial and residential applications for its easy application.  Bonnet Carpet Cleaning produces good visual results but does not clean deep down,  reducing the ability to remove stains and offering little health benefits. Excellent Carpet Cleaning results can be achieved when combined with Hot Water Extraction Carpet Cleaning.

6.  Hot Water Extraction (Steam Cleaning - Although there are many different carpet cleaning methods Hot Water Extraction is the safest and most effective method for deep down carpet cleaning. Often called Steam Cleaning this proven technology is a favorite among professional carpet cleaners, and customers. Our method of Hot Water Extraction Carpet Cleaning involves an organic or synthetic preconditioner that breaks down and suspends soils so that they may be flushed out from the carpet using a hot water rinse.  Even heavily soiled carpets will look and feel like new. The rinsing process is completed by powerful vacuums that extract the suspended soils and any remaining water. The result is a healthy deep down carpet clean.

Under normal circumstances your carpets will be dry to the touch with in 2 to 3 hours. Drying times vary according to humidity, and soil levels. The use of high speed air movers will drastically increase your carpets drying time. For heavily soiled carpets complete drying should be accomplished with in 6 to 8 hours. Included in our process we provide you with shoe covers or “booties” that allow you immediate access to the cleaned carpets. 

Advantage                                                       Disadvantage
Excellent Cleaning Power                                  4 - 8  Hour Drying Time
Deep Down & Surface Cleaning                       IICRC Professional Use Only
Safe, Healthy and No Chemical Residue         Suitable To Over Wetting / Operator Error 

Uses

Commercial And Residential Carpet Cleaning. Heavy Duty Carpet Restoration, Disaster Recovery or Interim Carpet Cleaning.  Considered the Gold Standard, Hot Water Extraction Carpet Cleaning is the most popular choice among professional and consumers alike. Hot Water Extraction Carpet Cleaning not only produces excellent visual and textural results, it also is the only carpet cleaning method that has added health benefits to indoor air quality.  When properly applied by a certified Carpet Cleaning Technician (CCT) you can expect clean, soft, healthy and longer lasting carpets.

Natural Carpet Cleaning