How to Clean Mud Out of Your Carpet

With all the rain we have been having, I am sure you have had your share of Mud being tracked into your home. The problem is even worse if you have children or pets. Pets need to go outside, yet it can be difficult to completely towel dry them every time they come back into the house. Children often forget to take their shoes off or to clean them properly. The result is the same: muddy prints on the carpets.

How to Get Mud Out of Carpets?

vacuum mud on carpet1. The first step is to let the mud dry. This might seem counter intuitive, but the mud will be much easier to remove dry and you want to avoid rubbing the mud deeper into your carpets fibers. If the mud is VERY wet, you can blot gently with a towel to prevent the moisture from soaking unto the carpet pad. No rubbing! It is much better to simply allow the mud to dry.
2. Now that the mud is dry, slowly vacuum the affected areas to remove the dirt. Vacuuming slowly will remove more dirt then making quick passes. Vacuum for two or three times longer then you normally would. Make at least 16 passes over the muddy area, being sure to vacuum in all directions. The more vacuuming the better.
water blot carpet3. After you have removed as much dirt as possible with the vacuum, it is time to move on to cleaning. What should you use? WATER! Simply heat up some water in the microwave and douse the areas. Why Water?? See why Here.
4. Use a folded up towel to blot the water out of the carpet. You can stand on it to increase absorption. A white cloth will allow you to see the stain lifting.
5. Continue the process of water and blotting, switching out the towel as necessary until the stain is gone.
towel blotting6. Gently blot with a clean cloth or paper towels to dry the area.
7. If the carpet still has mud stains, consider getting the carpet professionally cleaned. Prestige has powerful vacuums that can often remove stains that are impossible to get out with home spot removal treatments.

One good way to prevent mud from staining carpets is to create a mudroom or landing pad at your main entryway. You can use this area to remove shoes and towel off muddy pets before they track mud into the home.

BAIT & SWITCH….Buyers Beware

I was watching TV with my daughter one night when my phone chimed. It was Yelp notifying me we had a new review. I was very excited until I read it and immediately became alarmed.

The writer was very angry saying ‘Bob’ had done a terrible job and couldn’t be trusted and claimed ‘Bob’ used “Bait & Switch”.  Well we don’t have a ‘Bob’, always make sure our clients are happy before we leave and MOST DEFINITELY DO NOT use “Bait & Switch” to acquire new customers. Digging a little deeper I found that the company he was referring to was also called Prestige, but it was in Dallas. I was able to respond and quickly get the review removed, but it makes me sad that this type of advertising is still prevalent in our industry.

Some companies advertise a low price, then charge you more when they get there. That is called “Bait & Switch”. 

You know the type – they “bait” you with a low price like $15 a room or $59 for your whole house. Then they “switch” you to their “dual scrub” or “deep clean” system. This of course jacks up the price.

In their ad, the fine print says “we recommend our dual scrub method for all heavily soiled carpet”. How many carpets are heavily soiled? All of them! Even if you held them to the “$59”, you would get a very poor cleaning.

They proceed to soak your carpet and leave a soapy residue behind. Then your spots come back! Good luck getting them back again to fix it!

Beware of low priced carpet cleaning. Just because a guy has a truck does not make him a qualified Carpet Cleaner. If their price is truly low, you should be concerned about their quality. How can you pay technicians a decent wage and have the best products and equipment at the lowest price? You can’t.

We on the other hand are Boerne’s Oldest and Most Trusted Cleaner. Family owned and operated right here since 2004. Other companies have come and gone. We have proved we are the best. We only use Truck Mounted Hot Water Extraction—No portable cleaning machines! No Dirt left behind! No wet carpets! And of course there are no hidden charges. You get our Best cleaning every time and we are not happy until YOU are pleased with the work we have performed.

Don’t fall for the “Bait”. Give us a call instead. 830-248-1264 www.prestigefloorcare.com

How to get Wax off of your Carpet and Walls

I love it when my house smells fresh! Somehow it just makes me happier. So I have always loved candles and fragrance Wax warmers. What I DON’T like is when they get jolted and wax goes everywhere! UUUGGGG! It’s on the wall, it’s on the table and it’s in the carpet! Really??

Well fortunately cleaning up wax is not as hard as you may think. It’s just a matter of warming it up again. Here’s what I do.

Let’s deal with the wall first. How do we get rid of those lovely drips without scraping the paint? Simple. Grab your hair dryer and some paper towels. Bigger chunks will probably be easy to pick off. But for the rest, you need to heat up the wax until it is liquid again and then quickly wipe with the paper towel. The Towel will absorb the wax and leave your wall nice and clean.

Use the same technique with your table. Obviously if your candle was on a counter you can just scrape the wax off.

Now to the Carpet. I suppose you could use your hair dryer as well, but a better way is to use your iron.

Now to the Carpet. I suppose you could use your hair dryer as well, but a better way is to use your iron. Heat your iron to an appropriate setting for the fibers of your carpet.

If you’re in an industrial space, it probably has a lot of polyester or plastic or some such thing in it, and the highest setting is going to melt those fibers! So set it as high as it can go without doing more damage!

Place several paper towels over the offending stain and apply the iron. Let it sit for a few seconds and check out the towel. If you’ve got a bunch of wax marks on the towel already, reposition it. 

When there is a lot of wax showing, change to fresh towels. Repeat this process until no more wax is absorbed. The wax is melting and binds to the paper and the wax will be gone after a few more applications.

Now place fresh towels on the area ‘around’ where the stain was and warm them with the iron as well. You may be surprised to see where else wax landed that you didn’t notice.

Important note: Don’t use the iron this way for more than 30 seconds or you risk burning the carpet. And be sure to use white towels since colored ones can transfer the color onto the carpet when heated up, especially if you have a light-colored carpet.

Important note: Don’t use the iron this way for more than 30 seconds or you risk burning the carpet. And be sure to use white towels since colored ones can transfer the color onto the carpet when heated up, especially if you have a light-colored carpet.

And guess what???  This works on upholstery and clothing too!

Whether from burning candles or making lip balm, getting wax on the rug is a major bummer. Don’t waste your time scraping, soaking, or even cutting out the offending wax stain. My way is much faster, simpler, and a gentler way to treat your wax-soaked fibers.

5 Ways to Clean with Vinegar

Going green is more than just a trend it is a global movement to create a healthier living environment and when it comes to green cleaning, vinegar is one of the most talked about and versatile green cleaning solutions. White distilled vinegar, during its fermentation process creates acetic acid which is effective at killing bacteria, mold and breaking up deposits such as stuck on food or soap scum. Vinegar based cleaning products can even be found at your local supermarket. Here are four ways in which you can use vinegar to clean.

Odor Removal: Aerosol spray cans are good at masking odors, but they will not entirely remove an odor and they can be harmful to the environment. Vinegar is effective at removing unwanted odors because the acetic acid absorbs odors and dissolves them. You can apply vinegar to pet stains, bathrooms or your fridge to remove unwanted odors. Vinegar does not smell the best at first, but it becomes odorless when it dries.

Disinfectant: Vinegar is a great cleaning supply to keep in your bathroom as it is very effective at disinfecting and killing germs. You can clean a sink or toilet bowl by filling them with vinegar and letting the vinegar sit overnight. You can also use it in your bathroom to clean grout and remove soap scum. Pour some in your laundry to kill germs on those stinky shirts.

Surface Cleaner: As a surface cleaner, vinegar can disinfect and polish. The acetic acid will not only kill bacteria it will break down and remove dust and dirt particles. It is perfect for wiping your kitchen counter tops and cleaning the inside of your fridge. We recommend keeping your cleaning vinegar inside a spray bottle for convenience. Note* Do not use vinegar on surfaces such as marble, waxed floors, and the screens of your electronic devices.  The acidity can be damaging.

Stain Remover: The acidity of vinegar gives it the ability to loosen bonding molecules and proteins that cause most stains. When cleaning up a stain you should always begin by blotting the area to soak up as much of the staining solution as possible. Then soak the stained item in vinegar before laundering.

Calcium Deposits: Vinegar is great at getting rid of Calcium deposits too! Run it through your coffee maker to get rid of unwanted buildup or pour some in the bottom of your kettle for an hour and watch the build up disappear. Use a plastic bag with vinegar to soak your showerhead. Spray it on your faucets or better yet, soak a wash cloth in vinegar and let it sit on heavy deposits. Rinse and repeat until all calcium is gone.

We at Prestige always recommend using Vinegar and water after we clean Tile Floors and Showers for our clients. It prevents dirt buildup so you won’t have to have it professionally cleaned as often. I use it pretty much everywhere in our house. It’s cheap, it’s effective and it’s safe. How many other cleaners do you know of that you cook with??

Wet or Dry Carpet Cleaning?

 

Wet or Dry Carpet Cleaning? Which is better? Here’s my take.

Imagine your hair is dirty. So, you lather it up with shampoo and then………do NOT rinse it, but instead rub your hair with multiple towels until it is dry. Would you think your hair was clean? Probably not.

‘Dry Cleaning’ sprays a cleaning product onto your carpet and a circular rotating buffer with an absorbent pad attached is run over it. The soil attaches itself to the pad and the pad is changed with a clean one after becoming dirty.

This method doesn’t really extract the heavier grit and sand that damages carpet over time and their buffers wear carpet down. Plus residue is left behind, meaning your family can be exposed to these chemicals and some complain that carpets are extremely stiff after cleaning.

MANY times we have cleaned for someone after they have been using Dry Cleaning for a while. The carpet actually creates suds that have to be rinsed out by pulling the wand over the same area 3 to 4 times….or more!

On the other hand, ‘Hot Water Extraction’ or ‘Steam Cleaning’ sprays hot water under pressure onto the carpet and is immediately extracted with a vacuum source. The dirty solution is collected in a recovery tank and taken away.

This system flushes out large amounts of soil and contaminants in carpet and is the most preferred method by all of the major fiber producers, such as Dupont and Monsanto as well as carpet manufacturers like Shaw and Mohawk.

Because it removes more contaminants than the other carpet cleaning methods, hot water extraction is favored by the EPA and most higher quality carpets that have extended warranties require this type of cleaning in order to retain the warranty coverage.

Truck mounted machines have large independent engines which can develop up to 1000 pounds of pressure and heat the water to 180 or more degrees. These machines are expensive but they have very powerful vacuums which leave the carpets drier than with portable machines. Your carpet will only be damp and should dry within 4-6 hours.

Steam cleaning is the only method known to remove up to 97% of dirt and bacteria from carpeting. It is also the only method that reaches all the way down to the lowest layer, or “pile”, of your carpeting to clean it thoroughly. This makes it the best method for dealing with ground in or difficult stains.

We at Prestige ONLY use Hot Water Extraction. We have found it to be the best way to completely clean carpets without leaving dirt attracting residue or excess moisture in the fibers. Give us a call! I think you will agree. 830-248-1264 www.prestogefloorcare.com

CLEANING UP CARPET SPILLS

When I was in my twenties I moved into a one bedroom apartment all by myself. It was SO exciting. Everything was new and perfect and clean. I spent a few days unpacking and getting everything just the way I wanted it.

It was amazing! I felt like I was living in a model home! I couldn’t be happier! My apartment was perfect and I was going to keep it that way!

Wine spillTHAT NIGHT I was watching TV and drinking a glass of cool-aid………… did you just cringe?? Can you feel what’s coming?

YES! I knocked over my glass and spilled red cool-aid onto my brand new beige carpet!! My perfectly perfect carpet in my perfectly new apartment! UUGGG!!!

In a flash I ran to the kitchen, grabbed a towel and my heavy duty carpet cleaning spray! I then proceeded to frantically scrub as hard as I could to try to bring my beautiful carpet back to its pristine condition.

Guess what? It didn’t work and I spent the next 2 years in a lovely apartment with a light pink spot on my rug.

Sadly, this didn’t have to happen! Now that I own a Carpet Cleaning business I know that the VERY BEST product you can use to clean up spots on your carpet is……wait for it……….WATER!!

That’s right! Hot water is perfect for cleaning up spills and unlike cleaners you buy at the store it won’t mess with the PH of the spill leaving you with a lovely permanent stain on your carpet. EVEN Cool-aid!

Why HOT Water??

Water cleans so well because it is a very good solvent (it dissolves things.)  Any solid material that is soluble in water is more soluble in hot water.  Solubility of solids in liquid solvents increases as you increase the temperature.  Therefore, hotter water dissolves dirt away easier.

Detergent also leaves a residue that attracts more dirt. Think about the last time you cleaned up with a detergent. Did it get dirty looking soon after? Did the spot come back?

Next time you have a spill, quickly soak up the excess with a towel, heat up some water in the microwave and douse the area.

Clean carpet with water!
Clean carpet with water!

Then put a new folded up towel on top and step on it to soak up the water.

DON’T RUB!

Then repeat until the stain is gone.

PLEASE TRY IT!

It Works!

Especially if you have Scotch Guard on your carpet. This protector is a barrier on the carpet fibers that gives you time to wash away the spill before it can even sink in.

So throw out your sprays and embrace your carpet’s new friend! WATER!

Say it with me, “WATER”! I know it sounds too simple to be true, but PLEASE, PLEASE just try it next time you have a spill.

Tips to take care of your Carpet between Cleanings!

I have come to realize…..after 13 years in the Carpet Cleaning business… that a lot of our success in bringing Carpets back to life depends on what happens before we arrive. Carpet is expensive to replace! Use these tips to keep it looking great and make it last longer.

  • Walk-off mats should be used at the exterior of all entrances. They can help trap the excessive dirt, sand, grit, and other substances such as oil that would otherwise be tracked into your home. Mats should also be cleaned on a regular basis so they don’t become sources of soil themselves.
  • Use walk-off mats in High Traffic areas Inside too. Any place you have lots of traffic will wear your carpet fibers more. Places where Tile meets Carpet, in front of Dad’s favorite chair and hallways can really take a beating. You can always pick them up when company comes over revealing the lovely clean carpet underneath.
  • Use a quality pad under your carpet, particularly on stairs. A good carpet pad not only gives better resilience and comfort underfoot, it can extend the life of your carpet.
  • Move heavy furniture occasionally to avoid excessive pile crushing. Also, use floor protectors designed for carpet under the legs of tables, chairs, and other furniture to help distribute the weight.
  • Protect carpet when moving furniture (pianos, buffets, etc.) by using furniture movers. Placing a protective barrier of heavy cardboard or putting plywood between the wheels and the carpet can prevent damage.
  • Protect your carpet from prolonged periods of direct sunlight with blinds, shades or awnings.
  • The most important step in caring for your carpet is vacuuming. Vacuum carpet thoroughly and frequently, particularly in high-traffic areas. Realize that walking on soiled carpet allows the soil particles to work their way below the surface of the pile where they are far more difficult to remove and can damage the carpet fibers. Frequent vacuuming removes these particles from the surface before problems occur. Also, change the vacuuming direction occasionally to help stand the pile upright and reduce matting.

Finally…….and you knew this was coming…..but it is true……. Having your Carpets professionally cleaned regularly will always extend their life. New carpets today are made to last…and can if you take care of them. Don’t let your carpet “ugly” out long before it “wears” out. Use the tips above and call us when you are ready to Clean.  830-248-1264  www.prestigefloorcare.com