Holiday NYC Carpet Cleaning Helps with Winter Allergies and Asthma

Here’s one bad side effect of the holiday season—if you suffer from allergies or asthma, chances are that you will notice an uptick in your symptoms. The reason for why this happens is usually due to your holiday decorations.

Think about it this way, you just unpacked several boxes that have been gathering dust for an entire year. Some of your holiday decorations also pick up dust in and of themselves, like garlands on your tree. Not only that, but if you use a real tree or a wreath, then your allergies might be sensitive to that as well. When you combine all these elements, it is no wonder so many people find that the season is not as jolly as it should be.

When you unpack your decorations in your home, the dust and allergens transfer to your carpets, where they will take up permanent residence until you get them cleaned. If you have company coming over before, during, or after the holidays, then hiring a professional carpet cleaning Queens company can help you out in this area.

The winter season is already cold enough to make things miserable, so don’t suffer through your allergies on top of everything else. A lot of stress can build up over the holidays, so let a professional NYC carpet cleaning company handle everything for you. This year, get a gift that everyone can enjoy, because you will also live healthier as a result.

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NYC Carpet Cleaning Help – Removing Christmas Tree Sap

We all love the holidays, and nothing brings in the season cheer like a fresh, live Christmas tree decorated in your own particular style. However, if there’s one thing we know about the holidays, it’s that Christmas trees can often be especially messy, both during the month they are up and when you try to remove them from your home.

Live Christmas trees shed needles and leave sap on the ground, and if you have carpets, this can be incredibly frustrating. To counter this, many people use a tree skirt, but those can only do so much and you are still left scrubbing the carpets for any sap that happened to leak through.

To help lessen the problem, you can keep your tree well watered. A tree that is properly watered will shed less needles, and the sap will drain into a water filled basin, rather than an empty one. With a water filled basin, the sap becomes diluted and easier to clean.

However, even when you do this, sap can still reach your carpets. The best option you have is to call a carpet cleaning NYC company. A professional company can remove the sap without damaging your carpets, leaving them soft rather than stiff.

If, however, you want to try some things on your own first, then the most common household solution involves rubbing alcohol, which dries the sap. Be sure that you test this on a hidden portion of the carpet to make sure that it doesn’t discolor anything. Using a cloth that is moistened with the rubbing alcohol, dab at the sap. You will constantly want to use a clean portion of the cloth so that you do not rub the sap into the fibers of your carpet. If the sap is especially deep, you can massage the carpet with your fingers to loosen the sap. Before the alcohol dries, use a clean cloth to remove the sap and alcohol. You may have to try this several times until all the sap is removed from your carpets, but you might want to wait for your carpet to dry between treatments.

If that fails, be sure to call the carpet cleaning Long Island professionals to help get your carpets in top shape.

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Vacuuming Tips To Get The Most Out of Periodic Manhattan Carpet Cleaning

We’ve talked before about how important vacuuming is in keeping your carpets clean and healthy. While we all wish we could hire a professional Manhattan carpet cleaning company whenever we like, the truth is we need to do our part to keep our carpets clean during the interim visits. To get the most out of your vacuum cleaner, follow these handy tips:

• Make sure the brushes of your vacuum cleaner are clean, and replace them whenever they are worn out.
• Keep the belts in good shape, and make sure that you have a replacement on hand should you need it.
• After using the vacuum hoses, make sure they are clear of any obstructions before you wind it back up.
• Make sure your vacuum doesn’t have any bent metal or rough edges that would damage your carpet fibers if caught.
• Change the vacuum bag or compartment when it is half full (after which it is less efficient at removing dirt, losing more than 80% of its suction power).
• Focus your vacuuming on areas by entries, in front of furniture and principal passage routes. Most of the soil tracked into your home will stay within 12 feet of the outside doors, so vacuum these areas heavily.
• Consider using carpet runners and door mats both indoors and outdoors of your home to trap the most dirt.
• If you want to use the professional carpet cleaners in NYC less, then pull the vacuum cleaner in the opposite direction of the way the carpet leans.

You want your carpets to stay in good condition, and you want them to last as long as they can while still looking nice. If you follow these tips, then hiring a professional NYC carpet cleaning company will only add to their durability, beauty and long-lasting appeal.

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Characteristics Of A Good Vacuum Cleaner

You want your carpets to look as nice as possible, and a main part of maintaining healthy carpets is in the type of vacuum cleaner you use. We all wish we could hire a carpet cleaning NYC company more frequently, but you have to do your part on your own as well. Dry dirt is one of the leading causes of wearing down your carpets, because dirt acts like razor blades and cut into the carpet fibers. If you have a vacuum cleaner that not only doesn’t pick up the dirt but causes its own damage to the carpet fiber (with a brush that is too aggressive) then you can simulate a year’s worth of foot traffic within a few weeks of vacuum use.

There are three factors you should consider when you purchase a vacuum cleaner:

1. The percentage of dry dirt and soil that it picks up. In order to pass the CRI test, vacuum cleaners need to pick up at least 18% of dirt, while some pick up as much as 82%. Look at this list of CRI approved vacuum cleaners to find one that meets your requirements.
2. The damage done to the pile fiber by vacuum brushes that are overly aggressive. Brushes can permanently damage fibers by fraying and disentangling them, so you want this level to be low.
3. Health attributes of the vacuum cleaner, such as benefits to indoor air quality and allergen reduction. Sometime these claims are hard to verify, so make sure that your vacuum cleaner doesn’t sacrifice its dirt pick-up for claims of being an allergen reducer.

You want a vacuum cleaner that can do all three well, rather than a cleaner that can do one task but not the other. To keep good care of your carpets, it is important that you vacuum regularly, and hire a professional carpet cleaning NY company to periodically do deep cleanings.

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Tips for Carpet Cleaning In NYC After Halloween – Gum, Chocolate and Fake Blood, Oh My!

We all like to watch our kids have fun on Halloween, but sometimes this can lead to a mess in the house and on the carpets. If you are a victim of gum, chocolate or candy being entrenched in your carpet, take these easy steps and experience the clean carpets your house deserves – just in time for all your holiday guests. Of course, if your fake bloodstain is too much for these tips to handle, then you might want to consider hiring a NYC carpet cleaning company to do the work for you, especially if your carpets or rugs have natural fibers or dyes or require any sort of special attention.

One thing you will want to keep in mind is that you should never use a circular motion when you are trying to remove stains, as this can harm the texture of your carpet. If your carpet manufacturer has provided any sort of care instructions, make sure you read them before attempting any cleaning. Remember, when in doubt; hire professionals to do the job right.

• To clean chewing gum: Take an ice cube and use it to freeze the gum in the carpet. This should take approximately five minutes, when the gum gets hard. Using a dull knife, break up the gum and then use a vacuum to get rid of the pieces. If your carpet still has some sticky residue, look for a detergent with a citrus base.
• Taffy and other soft candy: Scrape away as much of the candy as possible, and then blot the affected area with a detergent that does not include any lanolin or bleach. Continue to blot the stain, using a spray bottle of water until the stain is removed.
• Chocolate: Scrape away as much of the chocolate as possible. Create an ammonia mixture of one tablespoon ammonia to ½ cup water, and put this mixture in a spray bottle. Using the detergent, spray the area and blot with a paper towel until the stain is gone.
• Fake blood: First you want to figure out what chemicals are in the fake blood. After you have removed as much of the blood as possible, use an oxygen-based detergent to blot the remaining stain. Continue to rinse with water, blotting the stain until it is gone. If that does not work, you might need to use a hydrogen-peroxide solution (no more than three percent) and let the stain sit for an hour before rinsing.

Don’t let the fear of stains keep you from having fun this Halloween, but use these handy tricks to keep your carpet looking like new. If all else fails, you can always hire a carpet cleaning New York company to get the job done just in time for the holidays.

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Mold Control and Removal

Mold plays a very important part of the natural lifecycle… outdoors. When it gets inside your home, however, there are a lot of problems that can be associated with it. Molds can produce allergens, irritants, and, in some cases, toxic substances. These spores often cause allergic reactions in some and asthma attacks in others, and it can grow on almost any substance as long as there is some moisture present. You will have to be very vigilant in order to catch it before it gets out of control.

If you catch it in time, the mold removal shouldn’t be too hard. Hard surfaces can be cleaned with a detergent to remove the mold, but the job doesn’t end there. The source of the problem must be fixed because if the area continues to build moisture, the mold will just come back.

Mold Prevention Tips

The EPA has listed several tips that you can use to prevent mold from spreading throughout your home. While it is impossible to completely eliminate all mold spores in the house, there are a number of things you can do to make sure they don’t grow into colonies that can damage your house and threaten your health.

• Act fast to clean up any leaks or spills (within 24 – 48 hours)
• Clean and repair roof gutters regularly
• Keep indoor humidity low
• Maintain air conditioners, drip pans, and drain lines
• Quickly dry any condensation or moisture found on windows

Prevention may take a little bit of effort, but it will be worth it if you can stop mold spores from finding the spills and leaks in your house and setting up shop. Just re

member, the key to mold control is moisture control.

Finding Hidden Mold

Mold is tricky stuff, and it can sneak into areas you don’t normally see. That doesn’t mean it won’t be a health risk, though. Mold can get behind wallpaper and drywall, underneath carpets, and on the topside of ceilings, and it can still release its spores into the air.

If you suspect that you have mold growing in these places, you should be very careful when you investigate. There is a danger here of disturbing the mold and causing more spores to fly into the air. If you’re not sure what you’re doing, it’s always a good idea to contact some professionals for expert mold removal. Professionals provide New York carpet cleaning, steam cleaning, and other services that will help prevent and get rid of these infestations.

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Carpet Cleaning and Vacuum Cleaner Basics

If you want clean carpets year round, it starts with the proper vacuum cleaner. While you can hire a NYC carpet cleaning company to routinely clean your carpets, you also have to do your part in the interim. Vacuuming regularly is the key to a clean environment, and with a clean environment, you also decrease your chances of catching air-borne illnesses.

There are many good brands of vacuum cleaners, so once you have done your research to determine which one is good for you, you need to maintain it properly. Just because it gets rid of dust and dirt does not mean it’s okay for it to be dusty and dirty. In order for it to work properly, you need to clean your vacuum cleaner regularly.

If your vacuum cleaner has a bag, you should empty it regularly. Bagless cleaners have a compartment that you need to empty. If you wait too long between cleaning out the dirt container, you make your vacuum work even harder, using more energy and essentially losing efficiency.

In between professional cleanings from your carpet cleaning New York company, try to vacuum at least two or three times a week. When vacuuming, pay special attention to the power cord and make sure you don’t damage the prongs on the plug or the cord itself.

Make sure that you keep up with your vacuum’s maintenance needs, replacing parts and filters as needed. Make sure that you never try to vacuum up liquids, unless of course, your model allows for that. Last but not least, don’t let your vacuum overheat. Overheating your vacuum cleaner can lead to costly repairs or ineffective cleaning.

If you follow these easy steps in between your professional cleanings, you’ll be able to keep your carpets in great condition.

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Fresh Air Starts With Fresh Carpets

You want a clean home, and sometimes it seems like no matter what you do or how much you clean, you can still smell odors in your house. Whether you have pets, kids or a husband, you can get a clean home if you start with the carpets. Besides hiring a professional carpet cleaning company in New York, you can follow these simple steps to make sure your carpets stay fresh.

1.      Watch your step: You can carry a lot of dirt in on your shoes, so you might want to consider making your home a shoe-free place. You can also cut down on dirt by putting a welcome mat outside your door and inside your entry area.

2.      Vacuum your odors away: Most people don’t vacuum enough. Carpets will hold fast to dirt, dust, hair bugs and odors. Because you spend a lot of your time in your home, you are breathing this bad air all the time. You should be vacuuming every other day, but most people vacuum once a week – at most.

3.      This is another reason why you need to hire a professional NYC carpet cleaning company. You should get a deep cleaning at least once a year, but more if you can afford it. You can’t always see the dirt, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t there. Even if you can’t see the dirt, it can still be adding to the odor in your home.

You want your home to smell fresh, and carpets are an important step in keeping it that way. When you follow these steps, you’ll have carpets that look and smell fresh.

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Don’t Take Bedbug Extermination Into Your Own Hands

There has been a lot of talk recently about maintaining sanitary conditions and fighting the recent surge in bedbug infestations. Fifty years ago, we thought that we had taken care of the bedbug problem for good, but their population has rebounded and, according to Dale Kemery of the Environmental Protection Agency, incidents of infestations have tripled since 2005.

Bedbugs have been appearing all across the country, and not just in the places where you might expect. When you think of bugs getting into the mattresses, pillows, boxsprings and other pieces of furniture, you think of shoddy, rundown hotels that believe that “sanitary conditions” is something that happens to other people’s hotels. The truth, though, is that infestations of bedbugs have been discovered in upscale apartments, pricey retail establishments, and even in movie theaters.

All it takes is a small encounter with these creatures and you could be bringing home a number of unwanted guests. New York residents have to be especially careful, because the city has been hit especially hard, with more than 4,500 bedbug complaints.

What You Should and Should Not Do

It’s going to take more than simple NYC carpet cleaning and upholstery cleaning to get rid of an infestation once it gets inside. Unfortunately, many unqualified people have made some serious mistakes trying to wipe out their own infestation, which is why it is so important that you don’t take bedbug extermination into your own hands.

In a recent article from the Associated Press, the bedbug problem was detailed, as well as some of the problems that stem from people taking the matter into their own hands. There have been reports of illness the result from unlicensed applicators saturating a home with chemicals that were intended only for outdoor use. There have even been some cases of fires when homeowners used highly flammable chemicals inside.

These desperate measures have been employed because, over the years, bedbugs have developed a resistance to most of the chemicals that have been approved for indoor use. Getting rid of bedbugs is obviously a top priority, but you should not start using chemicals that will do more harm than good.

What You Should Do

Be vigilant. Like any other kind of infestation, bedbug cleaning will be a lot easier if you can catch them before they start to spread. Try to keep your home as clean as possible. Bedbugs can hide almost anywhere (not just beds), so thorough cleaning of everything from the carpet and upholstery to your clothing and curtains will help you spot any unwanted visitors.

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Emergency Carpet Cleaning

Whether it’s because of severe rain storms or a mishap with the plumbing, sometimes carpet cleaning isn’t about simply maintaining a nice clean carpet, it’s about doing everything you can to avoid having to throw your carpets out. Disasters like this can permanently damage carpets, create a breeding ground for mold, and fill your house with a smell that never seems to goes away.

Emergency situations like this require swift action, but it’s not always possible to get the professionals there fast enough. In these cases, though, there are some things you can do to preserve your carpets and deal with the emergency until someone can show up and help.

1. Remove all standing water – Use a wet vac to get as much water as possible out of your carpets. Most commercial models won’t be able to pull out as much as a professional, industrial vacuum, but every little bit helps.
2. Dry and clean the carpets and walls – Use a towel, set up some of your fans, do what you can to start drying out the carpets. Again, most home fans won’t do as much as an industrial strength fan, but it’s a start. (Don’t pull up your own carpets unless the water has been sitting for a few days and a distinctive smell is starting to permeate the house.)
3. Consider using disinfectants – Mold breeds in standing water, and if it has started to grow on your carpets, you may need to apply some cleaning and disinfectant products.
4. Properly dispose of materials – When you’ve finished your carpet cleaning, be sure to dispose of any cleaning and refurbishing supplies (as well as any damaged carpets or other materials) in a safe and appropriate manner.

When the need arises for an emergency carpet cleaning, New York residents have a lot of choices. However, if the disaster was a big one and a lot of homes were flooded, it might be difficult to get someone to your home as fast as you want. If you follow these steps, though, you’ll be able to preserve your carpet and your home until a professional can reach you and fully take care of the situation.

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