Caring For It

Useful, Accurate Care Information

Knowing how to maximize the life of carpet and interior textiles will not only save you money, but it will help you keep them looking clean, fresh, and inviting. Our passion is professional cleaning for your carpets, fine rugs, upholstered furniture, blinds, leather, and other fine surfaces, but just as importantly, we want to make sure you have useful, accurate care information. If your carpets or rugs have stain resist warranties, then you must have them regularly cleaned and quickly attend to spots to maintain the validity of your warranties. Here are some basic cleaning and care tips.

Carpet Care Basics

High traffic areas retain ground in soil that, if not removed on a regular basis, will begin to cause excessive premature wear. Dirt particles are very sharp and abrasive and no match for delicate carpet fibers. When people walk back and forth across the carpet, these dirt particles cut, scrape, and cause damage. To protect against such damage, vacuum often, at least once or twice per week or more as needed. It’s good to vacuum frequently, even if the carpet doesn’t look dirty, because soil tends to settle down below the visible surface of the carpet. It’s also recommended that you have your carpets professionally cleaned at least once per year or more when high traffic, kids, and pets are involved.

Area Rug Care Basics

Rotate your rug at least once per year to ensure even wear and use high quality padding to protect against premature wear and slippage. Just like carpeting, your rugs should be vacuumed often and periodically professionally cleaned. Be careful if your rug has fringes, though, because the fringe will get caught in the rotating beater bar. Use a brush hand attachment with the vacuum hose instead.

Upholstery Care Basics

By far, professional upholstery cleaning is the best possible way to extend the life of your upholstered furniture. Vacuum often and reverse loose cushions weekly to ensure even wear. UV light can cause your upholstery to deteriorate. If possible, position your furniture out of direct sunlight. Other precautions include keeping pets off your furniture and be aware that certain clothing fabrics can transfer dyes to upholstery.

Spot Removal

When it comes to spills and spots on carpets, rugs, and upholstery, you must react immediately. Red wine, colored beverages, urine, blood, and the like may start off as a spill or spot, but will quickly become a permanent stain if not treated right away.

For carpets and rugs, use tap water to remove spots if the carpet or rug is new or has sufficient protector on it. If water is ineffective, use a spot cleaner recommended by the carpet or rug manufacturer. If that information is not available, you can check with us about what spot cleaner to use. Many store bought spot cleaners leave soap residue and can cause yellowing.

Use a white, absorbent cloth or paper towels to blot the spot and remove excess moisture. Never pour spot cleaner directly on carpet or rug, instead apply it to your cloth or towel and blot to wick or transfer the spill from the carpet to the cloth or towel. You may need to repeat this process over and over. Be patient.

For upholstery, follow manufacturer’s instructions for cleaning spills. There should be cleaning codes (W, S, WS, X) on the tag. For W and S, you can use distilled water to clean, for WS recommended detergents can be used, and for X, only professional cleaning is recommended.

If you are ultimately not able to remove the spot (especially pet urine or feces), contact us immediately. We specialize in spot removal.