Area Rug Cleaning Utah

Have you ever had a carpet cleaning company clean your expensive area rugs onsite? This is a big mistake because even though the area rug may look good when they are finished,dye migration usually does not happen until the area rug is just about to dry. Fine wool area rugs should be picked up and cleaned or washed in a closed environment. This allows the technician to dust the rug, (one of the most important steps in area rug cleaning) dusting the rug allows the cleaning to be more effective and does not create mud when doing a final cleaning or washing. Some rugs can be cleaned on site such as nylon, polyester and olefin these area rugs are very stable and dye migration is very rare. Another reason it is important to clean or wash your fine rugs in a facility is that we can get them dry very quick and this allows us to monitor your fine wool area rugs very closely and any issues can be dealt with right away. Please do not allow your expensive fine wool are rugs to be cleaned like your wall to wall carpet, look at these rugs as important investments.

Have you ever woke up and said "what's that smell?"

Have you ever woke up and said "what's that smell?" It could be dog pee or cat pee if you are an animal owner. My company Carpet Care and Repair of Utah specializes in removing cat pee and dog pee from your home, but I want to talk about how to prevent dog pee and cat pee from ever getting into your carpets. I have had dogs all my life and I have 2 right now a Weimaraner and a Golden Retriever and they are not allowed to urinate in my home. Have there been accidents? Sure, but with further investigation there was always a reason. Now I don't own a cat and never will but being in this business I have learned a lot about cats.
1. Never use pee-pads. All you are teaching the animal is its okay to use your home as a bathroom.

2. Get a dog door or a cat door. This is the best investment you can make. It does take some training but worth every minute you spend training your dog or cat to use it. There even window companies that can install them in sliding glass doors. I can't tell you how many people call me for pet urine removal and blame it on the animal but all the urine is right next to the door and sometimes on the door. These animal are telling their owner that they need to get out but cant. What about security? If a thief can even fit through a doggy door he's probably going to the next house because they do not want to meet up with your big dog.

3.Clean your litter box daily. Cats are very clean desert animals and do not walk in their own cat feces or cat urine. Because cats are desert animals they retain water and this is the reason their urine is so potent. Maybe get 2 boxes and a cat door and put the cat litter box in your garage so you don't have to smell their cat urine. (Just a thought)

4. Feed your cat or dog premium dog food. Why would this matter? Because if they can digest more food there's less waste to clean up. Look at the label on your dog food and at the first 3 ingredients, they should be chicken, beef, fish or any kind of protein this tells you if you are feeding quality food. I even supplement my dog food with a product called Dinovite. When dog food or cat food is made most of the beneficial enzymes are cooked out of it Dinovite adds these essential additives back in my dogs love it and thrive on it.

5. Get your animal spayed or nurtured. This will help stop your dog or cat from marking it's territory in your home.

So the next question is how did I train my 2 dogs Cooper and Chloe not to use my home as a toilet?
Well they are both rescues and it just took time. First my Weimaraner Chloe. You must understand the breed you are getting and in fact the Weimaraner is #1 in returned dogs in the United States. People just don't understand what they are getting with this breed. They are high strung and need to be social with their owner and will not do well just being left in the backyard by themselves. Training her was tough and took about 2 weeks. You need to purchase a crate.  She was not aloud out of my sight and if she left my sight she was crated which she hated and figured out quickly not to leave my side. First thing in the morning we went out to use the bathroom and yes i stood and watched her and when she went I threw a party I mean jumped up and down and ran around with her and praised her over and over again. She soon figured out that this made me very happy and wanted to please me. I would let her out after she got a drink and after she ate and never left her unattended for those 2 weeks and Wallah she was potty trained.
Cooper the Golden was a rescue and he was a little easier and only took 2 days, Why? well if you know a Golden Retriever you know they are an awesome family dog and their whole goal in life is to please their owner. They love praise and he understood the first day what I wanted.
I hope this helps in some way and if you are going to get an animal please look at your local shelter there are so many great animals out there looking for a home.

Who is the best carpet cleaning company or carpet cleaner in Utah?

Who is the best carpet cleaning company or carpet cleaner in Utah? This a great question and I will do my best to answer it. First, if you have a carpet cleaner you like and trust stick with him or her. If its not broke don't fix it. But here are some questions you can ask if your looking for a carpet cleaning company in Utah.

1. Trust: Ask your friend, family and neighbors who they use for carpet cleaning and are they happy? Next read reviews and call around and ask questions. What questions do I ask? I will tell you how to screen a carpet cleaning company in Utah and what questions to ask.

2 Experience: How long has the carpet cleaning company been in business? But more important how long has the carpet cleaner they will be sending to your home been cleaning carpets? This is crucial because it takes time to learn the correct way to clean carpets. Isn't just a menial task that anyone can do? Actually your carpet cleaner is dealing with one of your most expensive purchases (after your home and vehicles) and to have a carpet cleaner come to your home and ruin your investment, and it is an investment, is just sad but it happens every day. This mostly happens because some carpet cleaning companies do not understand the science and chemistry of carpet cleaning which brings me to my next point.

3. Education: I believe this is the most important question to ask, Why? Because really great carpet cleaning companies spend a lot of time and money to go to school to learn the right way to clean carpets. The certification you are looking for is the IICRC The Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification. Ask on the phone if the carpet cleaning company and carpet cleaner coming to your home is certified by the IICRC.

4. Systems: Some carpet cleaning companies carry 1 or 2 products to do all their carpet cleaning. What if its wool their cleaning and their 1 product has a Ph of 12 and you are never supposed to put a Ph above 8.5 on wool. Well guess what? They just ruined your expensive wool carpet. Lets say you've spilled grease on your carpet. Do they carry a safe solvent made from citrus or do their solvents have carcinogens in them? Or do they just leave your home because that's the best they can do with what they have. Take a walk out to the van is it leaking oil on your driveway? When was the last time their truck-mount was serviced, it should be displayed on the truck-mount.

5. Guarantee: Why would you choose a carpet cleaning company or any company that does not give a 100% money back guarantee? This tells me that they are not confident about their service and not a very good company.

These are the 5 things to look for in a carpet cleaning company in Utah. I hope this helps you find your carpet cleaning superhero, he or she will become an important part of your maintenance team.

Steve Heller is the owner of carpetcareandrepair.com

Do-IT-Yourself Pet Urine Removal

I have clients ask me all the time "What is the best way to treat fresh urine spots?" First if it is fresh and you catch sparky in the act, the best thing you can do is get a white (Not Colored) absorbent terrycloth towel and quarter it and stick it on the fresh urine. Then take a empty gallon jug or laundry detergent bottle and fill it with fresh water. Now put the jug or bottle on the terrycloth towel for weight and walk away. What happens is the carpet fiber dries like a candle wick from the bottom up. As the urine dries it wicks up into the towel. wait 3 or 4 hours then lift the towel you will be amazed at how much urine is wicked up into the towel. Now grab a fresh white towel (You can dedicate these towels for this purpose either wash them or throw them away) and a cup of water with a tablespoon of vinegar (I like apple cider vinegar) and pour it on the spot, then re-apply the towel and weight and let it set for another 3 or 4 hours. Why would you put vinegar on urine isn't that an acid on an acid? Actually as the the urine dries it turned into salt crystals and these crystal are very alkaline, so you need to return those alkaline salt crystals back to an acid to remove them. Now if you have a home cleaner or spot machine just clean the area if not you will still be o.k. After all this you can add your enzyme while it's still wet the longer the better the enzymes thrive in moist dark places. These enzymes will populate and digest any residue left. A note on enzymes such as Natures Miracle found at most pet stores, see if you can find out how long they have been on the shelf, I have found that a lot of these products are expired before you even get them out of the store. What about older urine spots? In this case just go right to the water/vinegar mixture first. If you live in Utah and would like a FREE pet urine inspection just call me at 801-716-0363 as usual no pressure and no obligation to use my service.

Carpet Repair Utah wrinkled,bubbled,damaged carpet

Why is there so much wrinkled carpet in Utah? First all carpet these days must be Powered Stretched. The knee kicker is just a setting tool not an installation tool. A power stretcher is a tool with long poles and is set along a wall against a base board and ran across the room with a head and handle on the opposite end. Then its is cranked down getting 2-3 inches of carpet up the wall. It is cut to the wall and tucked (not crammed) to the wall. The tackless (called because in the old days carpet was tacked to the floor) which is is secured to the sub-floor and has pins at a 33 degree angle which holds the carpet in place. Between the the tackless and the baseboard is a space called a "gully" that the carpet is tucked to. The reason there is so much re-stretching going on is that in the state of Utah this is considered day labor and there is no required training on carpet installation. Why someone would spend $10,000.00 on carpet and then let their painter put it in or even worse try to do it themselves is beyond my comprehension.Another reason carpet back up or bubbles is it is cut to long and then crammed in the gully and has no where to go but back in the room causing wrinkles. I have made a very good living fixing these problems and it will usually happen within a year of installation. I get the question all the time "How long till I need to get them stretched again?" Like this is to be expected. Once I re-stretch your carpet it will not return why? because I've been trained to do it right. When my company installs new carpet we give a lifetime (carpet installation) guarantee. If it bubbles or wrinkles
(it never does unless you slide really heavy furniture on the carpet) we come back and fix it at no charge and that's just how it should be for every installation.

Pet Urine Removal Utah

Superficial-When animal odors are present in carpet or upholstery but there is little or no urine contamination - we apply a bonding/encapsulating deodorizer according to directions. We then proceed with carpet cleaning as usual. The bonding/encapsulating deodorizer will absorb odors on contact. Odors deeper in the tufts will be reached as we groom our prespray into the carpet.

Light-Apply an Enzyme Producing Deodorizing liberally to visible stains and other locations where we have detected urine with our High-Intensity Ultra Violet Light. We allow as much dwell time as practical. Effective dwell time can range from 20 minutes to a couple of hours for light contamination. Our Enzyme Producing Deodorizer can be working while we set up our truck mount carpet cleaning equipment. Our carpet cleaning service can clean the affected areas using the bonding/encapsulating deodorizer in our prespray as described above.

Moderate-As the extent of contamination increases, so do the choices and the necessity for complex treatments increases. The basic process will be described first. Then we'll discuss additional steps that may be used. We prespray any  stains we have located with our High-Intensity Ultra Violet Light using a Urine Pre-treatment. This is an acid side product that breaks down the alkaline salts. For best results, we make a liberal application that will reach not only the stains on the surface but dried urine residues in the backing. We allow the urine pre-treatment at least 15 minutes dwell time. If all the carpet is being cleaned at this time, we go ahead with our carpet cleaning now. We include a step to work your pretreatment into the face fibers.
After completing the rinse and extract step, we saturate contaminated areas with Bonding/Encapsulating Deodorizer. For the best result, the Bonding/Encapsulating Deodorizer must come in contact with all the source of the odor. If the urine has reached the backing, the cushion and the subfloor then the Bonding/Encapsulating Deodorizer must also reach there. Be aware that the size of the stain on the surface will be significantly smaller than the area to which the urine has spread. As the urine reaches the backing it spreads horizontally before soaking through. On reaching the subfloor, the liquid again spreads laterally in addition to soaking into the flooring. What appears to be a 6" stain on the surface may have expanded to several square feet by the time it has penetrated the floor. We do not skimp on the application of the Bonding/Encapsulating Deodorizer. It must reach every place the urine went.
We use our Sub-Surface Extraction Tool to extract moisture from the spots we've treated. We thoroughly flush all contamination from the area by allowing additional water to flow to the spot while continuing to extract with the Sub-Surface Extraction Tool.

Severe-For complete odor removal in a severely affected carpet, an extensive treatment is required. Often a pet will "go" in the same general area for a period of a year or two or more before remediation is started. Considering the volume of urine deposited over time you can be sure that the cushion and the floor have been saturated.
Given the extent of contamination, we'll cover the steps necessary for complete odor removal. You and I can decide if it will be possible to skip any steps and still achieve an acceptable result.
1.Disengage the carpet. Turn back the carpet to expose the effected area. Some furniture moving may be required. The pad should be removed and thrown away. Inspect the floor. Wood floors should be cleaned followed by an application of your Enzyme Producing Deodorizer or they may be sanded. Concrete floors can be cleaned by wet mopping with Enzyme Producing Deodorizer. Floors should then be sealed with a pigmented shellac or a clear acrylic. Extend the application of the sealer at least 1' beyond contamination. While the carpet is turned back, we examine the tackless strip, baseboards and walls. Any contaminated materials must be removed and replaced or cleaned and possibly sealed. After the sealer dries replace the pad.
2. We treat both the front and back side of the carpet with a solution of your Urine Pre-treatment. Allow 15 minutes or more dwell time.
3.Extract affected areas, both front and back. This will clean the carpets including removing urine.
4. Reinstall the carpet.
5. Saturate spray the carpet with your Enzyme Producing Deodorizer. Allow the solution to dwell 20 minutes to 24 hours depending upon the severity of the odor. For best results, extract out the Enzyme Producing deodorizer. Drying time will range from 24 to 48 hours. Ventilate. The final result will be evident about 24 hours after the carpets dry.
6. Clean and deodorize other surfaces that may have absorbed odors over time. If male animals were in the home, check for urine on vertical surfaces such as walls and furniture. A Bonding/Encapsulating Deodorizer can be used on upholstery, in wall cleaning solutions and for many other surfaces. Change the air return filters in the HVAC system. Check to see if the air handling system could be redistributing odors. If so, then the ductwork may need cleaning as well.






Today we are going to talk about pets and how Pet Urine Removal is removed from your carpet, upholstery and any other areas accidents happen. In my 10 + years in this part of my business I have learned a lot, mostly from education but also trial and error. First most carpet cleaners think when they are doing pet urine removal they are dealing with an acid after all isn't urine slightly acidic? Well yes when its fresh but as it dries it turns to a salt crystal and these are very alkaline. So most carpet cleaners are using alkaline cleaners and are just spreading it around (I see this everyday). First you must saturate the area with an acid that is safe for carpets this breaks down those salt crystals and returns them to there natural state. Then we take a tool called a sub-surface extractor which compresses the carpet and pad to the sub-floor. as we are compressing the carpet with this tool we are flushing the carpet with fresh water until it is clear. Now the exciting part. We used to use enzymes and then it shifted to encapsulation which were just an amazing breakthrough for pet urine removal. Around 4 months ago Interlink supply came out wit a new product that combined them both plus added a nice fragrance its called the triple whammy. Where the old enzymes were good this new product reproduces very 20 minutes and gets up into the billions of beneficial bacteria. The exciting part about this product is the spores go dormant and if sparky goes to that area again it re-activates. This is amazing stuff and I have used it on dog pee, cat pee and even skunk and so far it is 100% effective, I could never say that before. So if your looking for pet urine removal find a certified cleaner which specializes in Pet Urine Removal and ask if they are certified by the IICRC. Most carpet cleaners do do like to try new products because they are very comfortable and change is hard, but they are being left behind. I carry over 30 products on my van so I am always prepared for any situation How many products does your carpet cleaner bring to your home? Just a thought.

Upholstery Cleaning-Bacteria

Well I just got back from another class to expand my knowledge even more and this class was a 4 hour class on bacteria. I'm going to break down what I learned into just a couple of key facts. What do you think holds the most bacteria in your home? There were about 40 people in the class and some of the answers were bathroom, kitchen, laundry room, then it got more detailed like kitchen sink, behind the toilet, the toilet, in the bathtub, shower and on and on. No one guessed it it was your couch (upholstery) I was shocked a study of 100 homes found that the couch held the most bacteria. So this got me thinking how is this possible and I came to the conclusion that it is just overlooked. We clean and scrub those other ares all the time but how often do we have our upholstery cleaned. I own a cleaning company and I'm lucky if we clean our upholstery once a year. Needless to say all my upholstery will be cleaned this weekend. Another thing I found out is the reason we are getting these so called "Super bugs." People are not letting there chemical to kill the bacteria or bugs dwell long enough. The recommended dwell time is 10 minutes but most of us just spray and wipe letting most of the bacteria build a resistance to our cleaning agents. Being in the business I understand about dwell time but I am guilty of using the spray and wipe technique myself. So remember get your upholstery cleaned and don't forget about dwell time when your cleaning.