How to prepare your home for carpet cleaning

You have the carpet cleaners coming, what should you do to prepare your home?

 

If your anything like me then there will be places where "things" are stored/places/tucked away and hidden from sight that, when you get down to it, takes a bit of time to clear out.  So start out early.  This is also a great time to have a little sort out!

Firstly - Remove the small stuff

Give your self a little time time to go round the rooms and make a little mental list of what needs to be moved from the floor area. You want the floor to be completely clear of odds and ends, for example:

• Kids toys / pets toys / scratching posts
• Pets bedding
• Magazine racks
• Vases
• Statues
• Anything stored under/behind furniture

Store these in another room for the time being, one that is not due to be cleaned.

Now your room should be looking quite clear

 Next - Prepare the big stuff

A good carpet cleaner will clean the entire carpet including both beneath and behind the furniture.  They will move the furniture for you but you will need to consider removing the following items before their arrival:

• Any objects on top of furniture or inside display cabinets - such as ornaments, vases, picture frames, ashtrays - anything that could move/fall/break when furniture is moved should be removed and stored away safely.
• Any small furniture such as stools and side tables should be stored elsewhere.
• The contents or drawers of heavy furniture such as chests and dressers should be removed to allow the technician to move the heavy furniture.

Now your room will be looking a little empty!

Finally

 There are just a few last points to consider removing from the room:

• Any excessive soil or debris from the carpet
• Any pets and/or children!

Your room should now be ready for the team to come in and whip through their work, obstacle free

REMINDER - A GOOD CARPET CLEANER WILL PLACE FOIL TABS OF SOME OTHER PROTECTION UNDERNEATH THE FURNITURE TO PREVENT IT FROM ABSORBING MOISTURE THAT COULD 1) DAMAGE THE FURNITURE, OR 2) CAUSE COLOUR TRANSFER FROM THE FURNITURE TO THE DAMP CARPET.

We are a professional cleaning company who specialise in Carpet, Rug, Hardwood floor, Stone floor, Upholstery and Leather cleaning for domestic an commercial clients.

 For more information about our services contact the team on 01223 863632 or at www.artofclean.co.uk to find out more.

Aaah....Clean carpet

If you want carpets clean enough to take a nap on call Art of Clean!

We are a professional cleaning company who specialise in Carpet, Rug, Hardwood floor, Stone floor, Upholstery and Leather cleaning for domestic an commercial clients.

 For more information about our services contact the team on 01223 863632 or at www.artofclean.co.uk to find out more.

Preparing your renovation project for the carpet clean

Running a restoration project on a short timeline can sometimes pose a problem as this can lead to trades people working in each others way and this can have a great effect of the efficiency of the trades’ people.

Here are a few pointers to help you plan ahead:

Choose the right people
Look at previous work they have done, speak to their previous clients and look at their profiles and work online. Ask direct questions such as "have they worked on projects to a strict timelines before?"


Allow for a contingency
If a builder say it will take 10 days add 20% extra time on.  Then you know 12 days may be a more realistic goal.


Work top to bottom
If you are going to have your carpets cleaned or wood floor sanded and the room decorated – let the painter/decorator do his work first!  Leave the skirting boards until last as in some cases sanding or carpet cleaning up to the edge of the floor can leave light scuff marks.

Note: If electrical work needs to be done and ladders have to stand on the floor – get it done before the floor gets cleaned or sanded.

Make your plan clear to every trade’s person on the project – Let them know the timescale (share your contingency time allowed carefully, it will certainly get used up if they are aware of it!)


And importantly, work out a budget and stick to it.  Just like your time your budget is important.

For more information about our professional carpet cleaning service, or floor restoration service contact the team on 01223 863632 or at www.artofclean.co.uk to find out more.

New baby? Give your baby a royal entrance to your home

As we've all now probably heard the royals are expecting a new bouncing baby, but it also seems like there are a lot of other expectant parents at the moment.

A lot of changes are afoot for new parents, having a baby can be a very exciting and scary time especially if they are looking forward to having their first child.

So how do you prepare for your new arrival???

You may want to rush out an buy lots of lovely things for your baby...cute clothes, a beautiful cot, toys, rattles, and much more. The list really is endless.

Once you arrive home with all this new baby booty, where will you put it?...Time to start preparing the nursery! This can all be lots of fun.

Create a baby checklist

This will help you be well prepared for their arrival.  After listing the fun things like the shopping and baby names you may also want to think of the practical, down to the ground stuff....literally.

Preparing your home:

Are there hazards? To get the best idea of the the hazards is to get down on all fours and take a good look at your home from a baby's eye view.  You may be surprised just what you come across!  Whats do you find in reach?

• Cat litter tray? (Faeces is very harmful!)
• Small bin ( could they reach in a pull something out?
• Cleaning products? (put they up high out of reach!)
• Cat toys? (could go in mouth)
• Plugs/cables?
• Are there any rust or splintered furniture legs?

You'll be surprised what hazard are! So give your house a once over and move any potential hazards.

Clean your floors.  Your baby will be spending a lot of time adventuring around on the floor so this is important.  Wooden floors aren't so hard to sterilize, using a steam cleaner is a a good way to clean your floor and make sure harmful bacteria is removed.  However the carpet will need a deeper clean.  Carpet fibers not only hold onto dirt but also allergens, so have your carpets deep cleaned before the arrival of your baby, especially if you have pets in the house.

For further information on carpet cleaning and the services we provide please contact us on 01223 863632 or visit www.artofclean.co.uk.  Ask about our Maintenance Plan if your'd like your carpets to be kept clean and hygenic all year round.

Cat Poo....Perhaps you can relate to our clients scenario...

We recently had an email from a client with an enormous cat poop problem…

“I arrived home last Friday evening, ready to rush around and pack our bags before heading out promptly to Somerset for a friend’s wedding the next day.

But….upon opening the front door I noticed one of the cats had decided to poop right by the door, underneath the post flap, so that my post could land right in it……GROSE RIGHT!

Being pregnant and knowing the hazards of cat poop can cause to my unborn child I left the door open to air the place and thinking my husband would clean the mess when he got home a few minutes later….

But….

In his excitement at arriving home he completely didn't see the mess, proceeded to walk through it and transferred it on his shoes ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE HOUSE!

My nose picked up the problem first…..I turned from doing the washing up in the kitchen I noticed brown marks all over the floor! Screaming, I demanded my husband stopped moving IMMEDIATELY!

What a mess.

I think I need Art of Clean pronto……..”


Dear Serena

Thanks for getting in touch. It does sound like you need our help as soon as possible. The staining on the carpet – like you pointed out is not healthy as bacteria will start breaking the staining down and this is not healthy for your unborn child. The best way to treat this is by rinsing it (steam cleaning) from the carpet. We will apply a sanitizer to the carpets to get rid of the smell.

Our truck mounted cleaning system will also ensure the dirty air gets vented outside the property rather than in your home keeping a healthy living environment.

Please call us on 01223 863632 when it is convenient and we can schedule a visit or you.

Warmest Regards and thanks for choosing Art of Clean

Gail

Check out some more naughty cats at Dailymail

How to remove blue tack from the carpet

We recently completed a cleaning job where blue tack was stuck to a carpet, this is a very common problem, especially in family homes. Home owners are so used to searching on the internet for solutions for everyday problems, that we decided to check out what advice is available.

The advice offered ranged from an amusing freezing a whole carpet – which could be very difficult due to the average, and in fact the person with the problem did have trouble closing her freezer door, to pouring oil, including pharmaceutical grade oil onto the stained area – any type of oil poured onto the carpet could be really difficult to lift off, so we would strongly not recommend you do this. Another one is Dylon stain remover, which could cause serious discolouration to a carpet, especially if it is a wool carpet, to Vanish which would have not impact much impact on removing blue tack, it would just make the blue tack go further into the carpet grain if rubbed as suggested on the stain removal instructions.

If you find yourself with a tricky stain, the best thing to do is to call in a professional carpet cleaner, such as Art of Clean, and we will be able to give you immediate advice over the phone to make sure it doesn’t get any worse. We will then probably need to steam the area, which will help to remove the blue tack. Please see the before and after picture, we have restored the carpet to as good as new, and there are definitely no oily stains!