If you’re new to getting your carpets cleaning and don’t know what to expect, I will go over some commonly asked questions.

• How long does it take?- Typically a standard 2-3 bedroom houses will take about 1.5 hours
• How long does it take to dry?- Under normal conditions it will take about 2 hours to dry completely, although as some as the job is done you may walk on it in your socks and they will barely get wet, moving the furniture back before it is dry is a bigger concern, you do not want to trap moist under a couch, placing wood or metal legged furniture onto wet carpet can cause wood stain to bleed and metal can rust into the carpet if moved back to soon. Turning on ceiling fans and opening windows will speed up the dry times. Air circulation is key.
• Why are there darker areas in the carpet after cleaning?- When a carpet looks to be darker in a certain areas which is not caused by a stain, this known as wear patterns. This is when the fibers of the carpet are physically damaged from heavy traffic, commonly seen in front of a couch where feet will rest. The darkness you’re seeing is the distorted fiber which have lost there color and shape. If you can imagine only washing half of your hair for a year! I think you get the idea.
• Can I walk on the carpet after its complete?- It is best to wait for the carpet to dry, when you walk on the carpet while it is wet, the fibers will mat down and take longer to dry. But it will not damage the carpet in any way.
• How often should I have my carpets cleaned?- This all depends on the traffic/people in the home, the amount of pets and if there is a no shoe policy. Even with regular vacuuming it is wise to get your carpets cleaned atleast once a year. In some cases a cleaning every 6 months is needed to keep the carpet clean. Cleaning your carpets is very beneficial for the overall health inside your home. Everything from dust mites to pollen that float around your home settles into the carpet, so it can get soiled very quickly.
• Do I need to move my furniture?- Typically, the advertised price will not include moving furniture. Things that will not move until you move out like= Dressers, beds and entertainment centers will not need to be moved for a cleaning.  Small things like recliners, coffee tables and lamps should be moved prior to the cleaning. It Is always best to ask questions before the appointment.

Oriental rug cleaning is much different in many cases than cleaning wall to wall residential carpet. You need to hire a company that can actually clean your oriental rugs safely and effectively.

So what is considered quality oriental rug cleaning? Let’s take a look at the differences between wall to wall carpet cleaning and PROPER oriental rug cleaning.

Oriental Rugs are made out of natural fibers, which can lead to problems not typically associated with cleaning wall to wall synthetic carpeting. Because the fibers are natural; usually wool, cotton, and silk the tendency for trouble when cleaning these fibers is much higher. It is very important that you hire a professional to clean your valuable oriental/area rugs.

Oriental Rug Cleaning- Area Rug Cleaning

One of the other MAJOR differences in cleaning oriental rugs and synthetic carpets is the amount of soil a oriental rug can hold. Synthetic wall to wall carpets can hold a lot of soil but a wool area rug can hold a HUGE amount of soil. Much more soil than you might imagine. In order to get this soil out of the carpet you need to flush the carpet aggressively, which is something that is harder to do with wall to wall carpet because of dry times.

With oriental rugs they can, and should, be taken offsite and flushed aggressively and then properly dried. Because oriental rugs are mostly made out of natural fibers there are cleaning issues that can cause problems. Below are some of the major cleaning issues when dealing with oriental/area rug cleaning.

 Fiber Distortion: Much like natural fibers in upholstery, when cleaning oriental rugs the chance of fiber distortion is much higher than with synthetic fibers. You simply have to be more careful with fibers such as silk and cotton than you would have to be with synthetic fibers. Some of the spotting agents that will easily get out stains in synthetic carpet cannot even be used on natural fibers.

Color Bleeding: Color bleeding is when the colors from a fiber want to move into other areas of the carpet during the wet stage. Many older oriental rugs are made with dyes that are much less stable and the chance of the color moving is much greater. This is a very serious problem and one that can be EXTREMELY difficult to correct.

Shrinkage: This is just as it sounds. The carpet shrinks in size! This is almost impossible to correct. The proper cleaning and post drying of oriental rugs is very important.

Fringe Cleaning: Most fringe is made out of cotton, and at times can be very fragile. Fringe can get extremely dirty and should be cleaned with the proper tools and cleaning agents in order to get the clean and NOT damage them. Many times cleaners simply do not pay much attention to the fringe so you left with bad looking fringe. Or…they clean the fringe much too aggressively and do damage. Either way, the proper cleaning of fringe on oriental/area rugs is really important.

Pet odor is not something that can usually be removed with “normal” cleaning. In fact, if you try to clean pet stains, and the odor, with regular carpet cleaning methods you can actually end up with the carpet smelling worse! Heating up dried urine with 215+ degree steam and water will not leave a pleasant smell behind!

Let’s take a look at some pet odor removal techniques. As we said before, pet odor removal is not normal cleaning. There are special techniques and cleaning agents that need to be used.

• Find the source of the pet urine and odor: Not all stains actually show up to the naked eye. Many times the urine spots cannot be seen, and this can lead to many failed attempts at removing the stains and odor. The proper equipment is needed to locate all urine sources such as a powerful black light and UV protection glasses which will light up the urine green like nuclear waste. If all urine sources are not found and eliminated you are almost guaranteed to have a bad end result. Always remember, the carpet pad is like a sponge soaking up the urine as it passes thru the carpet. The size of urine stain in the pad can be 4-6-8 times larger compared to the stain you see on the surface.
• Extract the urine from the carpet: Normal cleaning methods will RARELY get rid of the pet odor. Many times the urine is not only in the face fibers but also in the backing of the carpet, the pad, and the sub-floor. If a cleaner just tries to clean the face fibers they are missing most of the actual urine and will only end up making the carpet smell worse. If a home owner attempts to clean the urine themselves, most of the time this will also worsen the problem spreading the urine out further.

There are three types of pet odor removal categories and all three can be dealt with as long as you use the proper techniques. Below are the three types of pet odor issues you will usually have in your carpet.

• Face Fiber Contamination: This is when the face fibers ONLY are affected with urine. Rarely, especially with large dogs, will the face fibers be the only part of the carpet contaminated with urine. If this is what you have in your carpet the success rate for removing the odor is really high. But as we said, most of the time the face fibers are not the only part of the carpet affected.
• Face Fiber, Backing, and Padding Contamination: This category is probably the most common. In most cases the face fibers, the backing, and the padding of the carpet have urine in them. This is much more difficult to deal with than the first category, but in most cases it can be dealt with quite effectively. Special extraction tools called a water claw is needed in order to extract the urine out of the padding and out of the house. After all urine is removed using this procedure, traditional cleaning methods can then be done.
• Face Fiber, Backing, Padding, and Sub-Floor Contamination: This is the most serious type of pet odor contamination you can have. Not only does the carpet need to cleaned properly “front and back” but the padding needs to be replaced, the sub-floor needs to be cleaned and sealed before everything can be layed back down and restretched.  No matter how much you water claw the pad and clean the carpet, if the subfloor is soaked in urine you will never get rid of the smell.