• Your Chicago carpet cleaning service wants you to know that dirt is your number one enemy. Contrary to popular belief, wear and tear is not the reason why carpets lose their good looks.  Your carpet will attract dirt, allergens, pet hair, lint and oils.  These all act like sandpaper to harm carpet fibers and the look of your carpet.
• Your Chicago carpet cleaning service wants you to know that vacuuming regularly will extend the life of your carpets. Removing as much of the dirt that destroys carpets as possible is the key to extending their life.  Vacuuming at least weekly will go a long way toward protecting your carpets.
• Your Chicago carpet cleaning service wants you to know that doormats matter. Putting a doormat at each entrance to your home will remove a large percentage of the dirt that enters your home.  Removing shoes will also make a dramatic difference in the amount of dirt tracked onto your carpets.
• Your Chicago carpet cleaning service wants you to know that re-arranging your furniture will extend the life of your carpets. Moving furniture is an easy way to change traffic patterns, and spread the wear and tear among more areas of the carpet.
• Your Chicago carpet cleaning service wants you to know that rental or home cleaning machines are great for spot cleaning. However, for deep cleaning, it is necessary to hire a professional.  A professional carpet cleaning service will be able to achieve a deeper clean, that lengthens the life of your carpet.
• Your Chicago carpet cleaning service wants you to know that frequent professional cleaning is essential. While your manufacturer’s warranty recommends cleaning every 18 months, we know that cleaning every 6-12 months is even better.  This is especially important for rooms that get heavy foot traffic and for families with children and/or pets.

If your carpet has been urinated on many times (for example, if you used
to have a dog that frequently marked all around the house), you might want
to pay for professional cleaning.  This is an especially good idea if you
no longer have this dog; your money won’t be wasted, as the carpet won’t
be urinated on again right away.  However, if you have an ongoing problem
(you still own that dog that urine-marks), purchasing a steam carpet
cleaner designed for small-scale domestic use might be your best bet; you
can use this carpet cleaner over and over whenever you need to.  These
products deep-clean carpets, removing all traces of urine.  Instead of
using regular carpet shampoo in these, you can use a special shampoo for
pet accidents; this shampoo contains enzymes that break down the urine
smell and will prevent repeat accidents.  This is especially important if
the urine in the carpet was from a true pet “accident” (rather than a male
dog purposefully marking his territory, a young puppy or kitten still
confused about where it is supposed to go to the bathroom).

However, if you need a “quick fix” and don’t have time to thoroughly
remove the urine, there are many ways to cover up the smell indefinitely
even if the urine is still on the carpet.  Odor removers for cloth
surfaces, such as Febreeze, will almost entirely eliminate odors from the
carpet.  Inexpensive household baking soda, which is frequently contained
in more expensive odor-fighting cleaners, can also work wonders on urine
odors in carpet.  After the urine has been cleaned up and the carpet is
dry, sprinkle it liberally over the area, let it sit for an hour, and
vacuum it up.

Fortunately, removing urine smell from carpet is possible.  The odor will
become undetectable if you properly remove the urine and deodorize the
carpet.

A professional cleaning service, if competent and well-trained, can make
your carpets and upholstery look bright and new. The power of
truck-mounted equipment and hot water extraction can make all the
difference in the world.

Begin by looking in the Yellow Pages (in print or online at
yellowpages.com), under Carpet & Rug Cleaners. You will no doubt find at
least a handful, and in a large city, probably a few dozen. How do you
decide which of these companies is right for you? If you are methodical
about it, you can narrow down the choices until you find the best cleaning
service.

Make a few telephone calls and get price quotes, starting with companies
that are smaller and locally-owned. Ask them exactly:

* what they do,

* how they do it,

* how much it costs, and

* what kinds of machines and chemicals are involved.

Truck-mounted equipment is standard, but is not always necessary for a
thorough, professional cleaning job. The good companies will have portable
equipment that does the same job as a truck-mounted extractor. What you
want is to make sure that they vacuum, treat stains, spray with detergent
(what kind?), and have some sort of agitation or scrubbing, then hot-water
extraction — in that order. You also want to make sure that they wear
shoe covers when they come into your home. Many companies describe on
their websites exactly what they do.

Try to find a company such as oxifresh.com that uses “green” or
eco-friendly cleaning products; they’re better for the environment and for
your health and your family’s. This is especially important if you have
pets and/or small children. You can even use the words “green carpet
cleaning” in a web search. Many small, locally-owned companies such as
missoulagreencarpetcleaning.com now offer environmentally safe services –
check in your area.

Don’t base your decision solely on the above, but ask a few more
sophisticated questions.

* Is the company insured and bonded? If they do any damage in your home,
who pays for it?  If you are injured because of something directly related
to the cleaning (breathing fumes, or slipping on a wet carpet) who pays
for it?

* Do they do the work themselves? Some places advertising themselves as
carpet/upholstery cleaning companies are actually sub-contractors who hire
the work out to a third, independent person. Some of these are good, but
many are not! You can’t take that risk.

* Is the company a member of the Better Business Bureau? (Often it’s a
good idea to check the company out with the BBB at http://www.bbb.org to
see what their record is.)

* Ask around the neighborhood — talk to people at your church, school,
grocery store. Has anyone ever heard of or employed this company? How
satisfied were they? Look on the internet and see if the company is listed
on any consumer reports-type websites, and what kind of ratings they
received.

* Are the workers trained and certified with an organization such as the
Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification
(http://www.iicrc.org) or the Restoration Industry Association
(http://www.ascr.org)?

* Do they have an iron-clad guarantee — if they messed up, missed
something, or in any way you are not pleased with the results, do they
offer a full refund?, will they come back and correct the problems for
free?

It’s not impossible to find high quality carpet and upholstery cleaning
service at reasonable prices. Follow these guidelines, and you will avoid
a lot of unnecessary frustration.

So, what do you do to remove stubborn pet odors, stale cigarette smells,
or smelly food spills from your carpet?  You deodorize.

There are many over the counter products being sold in stores today that
promise everything from great smelling carpets to complete sanitation.
The problem is that most of these preparations can’t actually deliver on
their promises, no matter how fastidious the user is.  The problem is that
there is a lack of understanding of the proper methods of removing
specific odors by the homeowner.

Odor chemistry is as diverse as the situations that make them.  The
chemical make up of each odor determines the best method of odor removal.
For example, did you know that a urine stain contains an ammonia base that
is best neutralized with a specific enzyme?  Most people believe that over
the counter carpet stain removers will also remove odors, but most merely
cover it up.  As soon as your nose becomes accustomed to the perfume in
the cleaner, the original odor is noticeable again.  Professional carpet
cleaners are skilled in the art of understanding what causes specific
odors and the best way at removing them.

Your health and the health of your family can also be directly affected by
the improper use of deodorizers.  The chemicals used to remove odors can
poison small children or pets and should be used sparingly.  A
professional carpet cleaner can thoroughly sanitize your carpet, keeping
your carpet from releasing pollutants into your indoor air, reducing the
instance of respiratory illnesses such as asthma and allergies.

You should have your carpet professionally cleaned and deodorized at
minimum every year, but it is recommended that you have it done semi
annually, especially in high traffic areas to prolong the life of your
carpet and maintain a healthy, happy home.

Professional carpet cleaning companies using foam will use a machine to
apply the foam solution onto the carpet fibers.  Once treated, the carpet
is vacuumed with a special extraction wand to pick up dirt and moisture
from the carpet.  Before the cleaning foam is applied, it is recommended
to vacuum the area completely to avoid wasting the foam treatment on loose
particles and instead have the foam work on the grime deep in the carpet
fibers.

An alternative method is to shampoo carpets or rugs by using a machine
that pushes the cleaning solution into the carpet and then brushes on the
machine work the cleaning agents into the carpet fibers.  The rotating
motion of the brushes helps drive the solution into the fibers and helps
loosen soil to wash away stains.

Bonneting carpets requires a low speed rotary machine similar to the
familiar buffer used to polish hard floors.  Bonnets are round and
commonly made out of rayon or cotton and once washed can be reused.  With
the bonnet method, a cleaning solution can be sprayed onto the carpet and
allowed to settle into the fibers which drive soil and dirt to the surface
of the carpet.  After letting the solution work, a bonnet, is attached to
the rotary machine and operated over the carpet to allow the bonnet to
absorb the dirt and grime.

As far as dry cleaning methods go, they do not use water or moisture at
all but a powder solution of detergents that are brushed into the carpet
with a special machine.  Once in the carpet, this powder detergent
attracts dirt that is then vacuumed from the carpet.

Finally, steam cleaning is good way to deep clean without necessarily
depending on chemicals.  Before steam cleaning it is important to vacuum
the carpet as thoroughly as possible to remove loose dirt which helps
minimize the sludgy mess that will eventually be discarded from the steam
cleaner.  Once the carpet is vacuumed well, the steam cleaner will eject
steam onto the carpet which gets deep into the fibers to loosen dirt,
soil, and other grime.  Since steam cleaning uses large amounts of water,
carpets are likely to be thoroughly wet after the cleaning is complete.
Once dry, however, carpet fibers will be clean and loose and vacuuming
will be more effective.

Many carpet cleaners will charge by the room. They will have deals like
“Clean 2 bedrooms and 1 living room for only $XX.00.” With these,
customers need to make sure to read the fine print. Usually they will
assume a certain size for the rooms in their offers. If your rooms are
over that size, the price goes up.

Others will charge by the square foot. While figuring out what your cost
will be is easy with this method, they can be more expensive than if you
can get a by-the-room deal. However, they can be more economical if you
only want to do one room, for instance a family room or dining room. Since
you wouldn’t be getting any other rooms done, a multi-room pack wouldn’t
make sense.

There are also variations in cleaning methods. House carpet cleaning can
range from shampooing up to steam cleaning. Shampooing gets rid of surface
dirt and leaves a clean smell, but stains can still be hidden deep inside
the carpet fibers. Steam cleaning, also known as hot water extraction,
gets deep into the carpet to remove most dirt and stains. Therefore, this
cleaning is longer-lasting. It also leaves a clean smell.

The methods used to clean normal household carpeting are different from
what can be done with tough commercial carpets. There is a method used
with commercial carpet which can make it look good without really doing
much in the line of actual dirt removal. While this is economical for a
big store like Sears, it can harm the top fibers of the carpet found in a
normal house. Therefore, for your home, you should find a professional
service with house carpet cleaning as a specialty.

A good site to use to find a house carpet cleaner is
www.CarpetCleaning.org. This site combines a directory of carpet cleaning
services with social media to allow you to find a good professional in
your area. Users are able to rate the companies and leave comments, so you
can get an idea of how good a prospective carpet cleaner’s service is. It
is far better than looking at a list of unknown names in a phone book.

Instead of sifting through all of the yellow pages in your phone book,
CarpetCleaning.org offers a well compiled list of over 34,000 companies -
all with reviews or raves from people that have actually experienced the
company’s services, as well as advice on what to ask carpet cleaning
companies if you have never had a professional cleaning service in your
home, faqs about the carpet cleaning companies, tips on keeping your home
spot-free in between professional carpet cleanings, and special
promotions that companies listed on CarpetCleaning.org are currently
offering.

While some people may not look forward to having their carpets cleaned,
partly because it does not fit in to everyone’s financial budget or they
possibly get a somewhat unsettling feeling in their stomachs about having
complete strangers in their homes, rest assured that you will feel
confident with the decision you make. CarpetCleaning.org will have all of
the important information directly at your fingertips when the time to
choose a carpet cleaning company comes. Once you have chosen a reputable
carpet cleaning company from CarpetCleaning.org, schedule an appointment.
After you have had the opportunity to experience the company’s services,
you will be able to write a review or rave all of your own for others to
take into consideration when choosing a trust-worthy company to clean the
carpets in their own homes.

You may, however, already have a reliable and recommendation-worthy
company clean the carpets in your home. If this is the case,
CarpetCleaning.org also has a feature that allows you to add your
favorite dependable carpet cleaning company to their list and even write
your own personal raves and reviews for other people in the Seattle,
Washington area to consider!

Try CarpetCleaning.org to easily and conveniently find all of the
reputable and trustworthy carpet cleaning companies in the Seattle,
Washington area.

How do you find the most reliable and affordable carpet cleaners in the
greater Chicago area? You have to know what to look for.  That’s where
www.carpetcleaning.org can help.  An informed consumer makes better
choices than just pulling a name out of the Yellow Pages.

First, make sure the company you are considering is certified.  The
Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification is the
industry standard.  This means the company has gone through proper
training and adheres to industry guidelines.  This is not a fly-by-night
guy with a truck and a vacuum cleaner.

Next, find out what kind of guarantee they offer.  It is common practice
to offer at least a two-week guarantee.  If stains return within that time
frame, the company will come back out and make sure you are satisfied.

Talk with the owner or manager about what kind of cleaning they offer.
The most popular method is steam cleaning, where a solution is applied to
the carpet, allowed to saturate the fibers, and then extracted by hot
water.  It is a very effective method, but it does require about 6 – 8
hours to dry.  Steam cleaning is recommended for the Chicago area due to
the amount of dirt blown indoors by the high winds.

Another method is simple shampooing.  A sudsy detergent is applied to your
carpet and immediately removed by suction.  This is similar to the
“physician”-type machines you can rent at the supermarket.  They do an
adequate job, but because the solution isn’t completely removed, carpets
tend to attract more dirt after being shampooed.

Last, make sure you know what’s included in the price.  Some unscrupulous
companies use a bait-and-switch tactic by offering a low introductory
price and tacking on additional services once they’re at the house.  Don’t
forget to ask for any discounts that might be available on your next
cleaning.  Good companies want to keep you as a customer.

Armed with some information beforehand, you can make a wise choice when
looking for a carpet cleaning in Chicago.

Carpets are composed of tiny strands of woven fabric, and each strand has
multiple fibers that can catch and hold dirt and dust. Vacuuming your
carpet is not enough. Many of these tiny particles can remain even after
multiple passes with a vacuum. Houston carpet cleaning can help remove
these tiny particles, preserving your carpet and prolonging its life.

Dirt and dust aren’t the only things that can become trapped in carpet
fibers. Pet and human odors, cooking odors, and smoke and other odors can
easily become trapped in fibers. Every step releases odors into the air.
Even though your nose may be used to these odors, visitors will notice them
right away. Houston carpet cleaning services use special solutions which
are designed to rid your carpets and rugs of unpleasant odors, making your
home feel and smell fresh and clean.

Many homeowners believe that if they select carpet or floor coverings that
are treated to resist stains, they can skip having their carpets cleaned.
But your Houston carpet cleaning service knows that just isn’t true. Even
carpets which are treated to resist stains can still trap dirt and dust,
causing carpets to wear out sooner.

All Houston carpet cleaning services are not created equal. When looking
for a Houston carpet cleaning service, be sure to ask about the different
types of services they provide. The method of cleaning generally depends
on the type of carpet or rugs you have in your home. A Houston carpet
cleaning specialist can help you select the type of cleaning that’s best
for your carpet.

So how do you find a Houston carpet cleaning company that suits your
needs? When you’re ready to find the service that’s right for you,
www.carpetcleaning.org is a great place to start. Their online reviews
from actual consumers will help you decide which Houston carpet cleaning
company offers the best value, as well as the types of services that are
best for your carpet cleaning needs.

Forget spring cleaning!  If you want a home that’s beautiful year round,
then maybe it’s time to hire an extra hand.  Professional Dallas carpet
cleaning services aren’t too hard to find; in fact they’re only a click
away.  Carpetcleaning.org has compiled a comprehensive list of carpet
cleaning services in the Dallas area.  There are over 100 current listings
to date!  Find their names, addresses and phone numbers immediately,
compare quotes, and then come back and review the pro you used.

In the current economic crunch, new carpets aren’t an option for everyone,
but you can have your old carpets looking brand new with the help of
Dallas carpet cleaning services.  You’ll be amazed by what a professional
carpet shampooing service can actually do for your timeworn floors.  Many
of them offer additional services for hardwood and laminate floors, so you
can have your whole house sparkling by the holidays.

Looking for something special from your Dallas carpet cleaning services?
Carpetcleaning.org breaks the many carpet cleaning services in Dallas down
into distinct categories.  Whether you’re looking for a service that
specializes in certain carpet and rug types, one that focuses exclusively
on general carpet cleaning, one that restores and cleans, or one that
offers specialized cleaning, www.carpetcleaning.org will point the way
toward your perfect pro.

If you’re unsure of what you need, where to start, what to expect, or how
to pick the best Dallas carpet cleaning services, the carpetcleaning.org
site can help you there too!  They offer an abundance of free carpet
cleaning advice right on their site.

So why settle for less than beautiful carpets?  You don’t have to learn to
live with those stains!  Live in a home you’re proud of with the help of
professional Dallas carpet cleaning services.