How To Protect Your Upholstery From Pets
Pets are a cherished part of the family, but many customers ask A Personal Touch Carpet Cleaning for advice on pet-proofing their upholstery. This is an area of considerable experience for our professional carpet cleaners, and we think the following tips will come in handy. Buy Furniture That Uses Pet-Friendly Materials This is an ideal way for both you and your pet to enjoy the comfort of your living room sofa, and the two best materials are microfiber and leather. Microfiber offers impressive durability, while pet owners love leather because it’s easy to clean. Also, both materials are far more odor-resistant than competing alternatives. Match Your Furniture Color With Your Pet’s Unless you own a hairless cat or routinely shave your dog, you’ll probably end up with at least a minimal amount of pet hair on your furniture. Rather than fight it, why not use your pet’s color to your advantage and buy furniture of a similar color? Or at the very least, purchase blankets/throws that are of a similar hue. This will cut down on your regular cleaning, and probably keep you from tearing your own hair out. Buy a Dog Bed While there’s no guarantee that your dog will like a bed as much as the couch, it’s safe to say that most dogs will spend at least part of their time in a bed that’s just for them. Nowadays you’ll find beds with all sorts of added benefits: heated, pillowed, bolstered, orthopedic, the list goes on. If your dog really wants to be part of the action all the time, start by putting his bed in the living room so he’ll still be close to you. One he acclimates, he’ll probably seek the bed out wherever it is. But even at a bare minimum, the more time your dog hangs out in his bed, the less time he spends shedding/scratching/biting on the furniture. No Bare Wood If your dog is a chewing machine (or a puppy, as the terms are more or less interchangeable), it’s a good idea to avoid any furniture constructed from bare wood. Some dogs love laying into a naked wooden chair leg, and breaking a dog of its chewing habits can be difficult, especially if you’re out of the house a lot. Since chewing is not only harmful to your furniture but also to your pet, we recommend either crate training your dog, or spraying down your wood furniture with a repellent such as bitter apple spray. Make Certain Rooms Off-Limits This is an easy solution – just remember to close the doors of the rooms that you don’t want your dog to enter. This likely won’t apply to your living room or kitchen, but for these spaces you could use baby gates for prevention as well as training purposes. Trust Us For Your Carpet and Upholstery Needs In addition to expert upholstery cleaning services, A Personal Touch Carpet Cleaning excels at spot removal, pet damage solutions, and much more. In fact, we’re so confident in our abilities that we’ll provide you with a free quote for any service you need. Contact us today and let’s get started. Remember at A Personal Touch, “We don’t cut corners, we clean them.”
How Do You Clean a Fabric Sofa?
Fabric sofas are comfortable and stylish, but they can be difficult to clean. And since plastic covers likely aren’t an option for you, here are some fabric sofa cleaning tips straight from the professional carpet cleaners at A Personal Touch Carpet Cleaning. Tip #1: Check The Cleaning Tag For many people, a piece of furniture’s cleaning tag barely registers on our radar until something bad happens. In this case, check your fabric sofa’s tag and you’ll see a series of useful letters. Here’s what they mean: W – The sofa’s material can be cleaned using water S – Water is prohibited. Instead, a special solvent-based cleaner must be used. WS – Water or a solvent-based cleaner are both ok for cleaning the sofa X – Vacuum only It’s important to follow the cleaning tag’s instructions to the letter. As innocent as water seems, using it on a fabric that expressly recommends a solvent-based cleaner could actually lead to a stain on the sofa. Yes, strange as it may seem, even water can stain certain fabrics/materials. Cleaning a Fabric Sofa Marked “W” or “WS” Here’s a good framework to follow when cleaning a sofa with tags confirming it’s W or WS-approved. Note that you’ll need three light-colored microfiber cloths to complete all of the following steps. Vacuum your couch and rid it of any dirt/debris that your cleaning might accidentally rub into the fabric Mix two cups of distilled water with 1tbsp of dishwashing liquid and 1tbsp of vinegar Dampen a microfiber cloth in this cleaning solution. Make sure that this cloth is light-colored so there’s no risk of it bleeding into your sofa fabric Using your cloth, gently blot (no rubbing or scrubbing) the stained area(s). Rubbing/scrubbing can cause fiber damage. Wet a second microfiber cloth with distilled water only, and blot the stain once more in order to remove any excess soap Use your third, 100% dry microfiber cloth to blot the area one last time Point a fan at the cleaned area and wait until the fabric dries completely Another Option: Steam Cleaning If your fabric sofa is W or WS-approved, steam-cleaning could be an alternative to the “dab and blot” scenario. Consult the manufacturer’s instruction booklet (if you don’t have the hard copy, you can probably find an online version) to confirm that steam cleaning is ok. Some fabric sofas are amenable to water and solvents, but aren’t designed to withstand heat. For extra peace of mind, steam-clean a small, out-of-the-way segment of sofa and see whether the cleaner causes any damage. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions regarding what setting your steam cleaner should be set at. You should also: Steam-clean your couch on a nice day so that you can open the windows and expedite the drying process Vacuum the sofa first and remove all dirt/debris If your steam cleaner uses microfiber cloths to assist with debris pickup, make sure to change these out as you clean. This will optimize the amount of dirt the cleaner grabs. When you’re finished, position a fan on the affected area until 100% dry The Preferred Professional Carpet Cleaners In Englewood Whether you have furniture, carpet, or drapes that require professional care, A Personal Touch Carpet Cleaning answers the call. Along with our expertise in upholstery cleaning, we offer decades of experience with pet cleaning, tile and grout cleaning, and much more. Contact us today for a free quote. Remember at A Personal Touch, “We don’t cut corners, we clean them.”
Five Eco-Friendly Upholstery Cleaning Tips
Eco-friendly upholstery cleaning is something all homeowners are interested in, and it’s a service that A Personal Touch Carpet Cleaning provides to its customers. If you’re looking for reasons why a “green” approach to your furniture is the way to go, here are five tips to consider. Weekly Vacuuming Dust is ubiquitous in every home, and dirt and debris aren’t far behind, especially if you have kids. These materials enter your house every time someone comes in from outside and each time a door or window is open, even for a brief moment. Left unattended, dust and the like can become ingrained in your upholstery and prove difficult to remove. Get the upper hand in this perpetual fight by vacuuming your upholstery once a week at minimum, and 2 – 3 times for furniture that sees a high amount of usage, or is located close to a window/door. Defeat Spills Promptly Spills don’t require toxic chemicals for removal, as long as you deal with them right after they happen. First, dab the spill and remove any excess moisture from the couch cushion or chair arm where the spill happened. Then tackle the spill with water and hand soap – or, if the spill is from something with a high acid content (i.e. red wine, juice, coffee), use a combination of cornstarch and salt. For spills that leave a bad smell, sprinkle some baking soda over the area, let it sit for 10 minutes, and then vacuum it up. If after all of your hard work there is still a stain left behind, try a combination consisting of one-part distilled white vinegar and three-parts water. This solution works well on most stains, and it’s a much greener, eco-friendly option than store-bought chemicals. Steam-Clean Without Detergent Assuming you’re vigilant with your weekly vacuuming, when it comes time to steam-cleaning your upholstery, you won’t need anything more than water. A steam cleaner heats water to a very high temperature, making it easy to loosen ground-in dirt and dust. Moreover, the hot steam kills bacteria thanks to temperature alone, so a chemical-based detergent isn’t necessary. If you’re cleaning especially dusty/dirty upholstery, feel free to add some white vinegar to your steam cleaner’s water tank. The smell will disappear in less than 24 hours. Only Use Plant-Based Cleaning Products Even the most cleaning-focused homeowner should have some cleaning products on-hand in case of emergency – but instead of buying toxic products, opt for plant-based detergents instead. There are lots of effective green carpet-cleaning products on the market, so just read the label and confirm that yours are 100% organic. Work With The Pros As evidenced by the above, there’s plenty that homeowners can do on their own to ensure a clean house. However, it’s still a great idea to contract an upholstery cleaner serving Littleton once or twice a year for a professional cleaning. With our green products and decades of expertise, you’ll enjoy fresh, clean upholstery for a long time. Get Clean Today A Personal Touch Carpet Cleaning is a local upholstery cleaner that also specializes in carpet repair, spot removal, and pet damage. Call us today at 720.344.2870 or use our online contact form to request your free estimate. Remember at A Personal Touch, “We don’t cut corners, we clean them.”
Tips for Sanitizing Used Furniture
Lots of people enjoy shopping for used furniture at estate sales and flea markets. After all, there are some great deals to be had. However, before you enjoy your latest find, you’ll want to sanitize it so that it’s free of any odors, bacteria, or allergens which could harm you or your family. Clean First – Then Bring Inside One of the most overlooked upholstery cleaning tips pertaining to used furniture is, “clean first – then bring inside”. We understand the excitement that comes from finding the perfect used couch or easy chair that finally ties your den together. However, temper your excitement long enough to keep the new furniture outside of your house until it’s cleaned. If you move it in too soon, you risk exposing your home environment to whatever might be lurking in the cushions, armrests, etc. If it’s nice outside, the experienced team at A Personal Touch Carpet Cleaning in Littleton recommends cleaning used furniture outdoors. After all, sunlight is good for killing certain germs. If the weather isn’t great, do your clean-up in the garage or a shed. You definitely want to avoid having the used furniture get wet before you clean it, since moisture exacerbates many bacteria and potential allergen issues. Disinfect Before addressing stains and odors, the first step when sanitizing used furniture is to disinfect the item. Addressing other issues before disinfecting leaves you open to the possibility that something harmful may be lingering while you’re preoccupied with a spot or a smell. The level at which you should disinfect your used furniture depends on the age of the item and whether anyone in your home has a lowered immune system, i.e. a baby or an elderly person. In this latter instance, you should consider contacting our upholstery cleaners serving Denver to ensure that your used furniture is 100% germ-free. If everyone in your household is healthy, there are specific used furniture cleaning products that we can recommend. Or, if the item is small and easy to clean, you could create your own blend of warm water and vinegar, and use it as a disinfectant. Deodorize Once your used furniture is thoroughly disinfected, you can move on odor removal. Not surprisingly, a musty or moldy scent is the most common odor associated with used furniture. These smells originate from moisture in wood or fabric. Sometimes the moisture is trapped in cracks and pockets, and other times it’s leftover from a time when the furniture accidentally got wet. Either way, for these types of smells we recommend covering the affected area with baking soda, letting it sit for an hour or two, and then cleaning it up. Where odor removal gets pricklier, and where you’ll want to enlist the services of A Personal Touch Carpet Cleaning, are when the odor is due to pet urine, spilled paint, and other more noxious substances. Stain Removal Minor stains can be removed with a combination of soap and water, or vinegar and water. Difficult stains may require stain removal products used by A Personal Touch Carpet Cleaning. In all cases, be sure to test the mixture/product in an out-of-the-way spot to ensure it doesn’t damage the furniture. Should you find yourself struggling to remove especially entrenched stains, don’t hesitate to contact our cleaning experts. Trust a Professional Cleaner In addition to providing furniture sanitization, our local cleaning company offers solutions for carpet repair, bed bug eradication, and tile/grout cleaning. Visit our cleaning services page to learn more about our expertise. Call us today at 720.344.2870 or use our online contact form to request your free estimate. Remember at A Personal Touch, “We don’t cut corners, we clean them.”
Repairing Pet Scratches on Upholstery
If you have a pet, chances are your favorite furball has shown a proclivity for scratching the upholstery in your home. A Personal Touch Carpet Cleaning in Littleton offers some insight into how we repair these scratches to keep your furniture looking good. Assess the Extent of Damage Over time, small snags, nicks, and shredding can easily turn into full-blown tears and holes. And of course, the more your cat uses your furniture as its de facto scratching post, the faster the small problems will become big ones. Our local furniture repair team will assess the extent of damage to your furniture, noting the quantity of damaged areas and the severity of each. Option 1: Covering If the damage is not significant in terms of large holes and tears, but instead consists only of scratches, covering is the best option. Even if there are scratches on many parts of your couch or easy chair, covering is still more budget-friendly than reupholstering the damaged piece. The easiest solution, depending on the amount of area covered by scratching, is to conceal the damage with a pillow or throw. If the furniture is something slipcovered, i.e. a futon or sofa, we can apply an elasticized slipcover – or, we can cover the entire item with a fabric “cover” that gets tucked into the furniture’s crevices and is held in place with PVC piping or something similar. Another solution to consider, especially if the damage is restricted to a specific part of the furniture piece (armrest, leg, etc.), is reupholstering just that part of the item. If we were to go this route, we would use a contrasting color for the freshly upholstered section, since trying to match patterns/color is difficult with furniture. Option 2: Patching a Hole When patching a hole in upholstery, the approach taken by A Personal Touch Carpet Cleaning is similar to our approach to patching carpet. Specifically, we’ll take a piece of fabric from an area on the item that is out of the way (invisible to the eye), and use this piece to patch the hole. The process requires a steady hand: first we’ll need to hold the torn area aside and put the patch underneath it, and right afterwards we’ll use pins to hold the patch in place. The next step is especially tricky, because it involves spreading fabric glue gently along the tear’s edges and atop the patch, and then affixing the patch to the torn area without dribbling glue on the fabric or causing air bubbles to form. When the glue is dry, which typically takes a few hours, we remove the pins and voila – the hole is “gone”. Option 3: Remedying a Rip Though less egregious than holes, rips are still unsightly and annoying. Our furniture repair experts in Littleton will remedy your upholstery rips with needle, thread, and a protective sealant. This last item is applied first, to the edges of the rip, to eliminate the chance of further ripping. When this is done, we pinch the two ripped edges together and stitch them up, being careful to first replace any filling that may have fallen out due to the rip. For more tips on upholstery cleaning and everything carpet-related – stretching, repair, cleaning, and more – contact our professional carpet cleaning company serving Denver. Remember at A Personal Touch, “We don’t cut corners, we clean them.”
Five Simple Upholstery Cleaning Tips
Tip #1: Know Your Upholstery Cleaning Codes Before you set out to clean your upholstery, it’s important to know the applicable upholstery cleaning codes. These codes are attached to every piece of furniture, and they offer direction regarding how each piece should be cleaned. There are three codes to be aware of: “W” means that the upholstery can be cleaned with a water-based cleaning product. “S” states that the cleaning product should be water-free: for example, a dry cleaning solvent. “X” confirms that the piece must be cleaned by a professional, lest you risk damaging the upholstery. Tip #2: Vacuuming Though it might seem strange at first glance, vacuuming your upholstery is a terrific idea for ensuring your upholstery always looks good. Vacuuming isn’t labor-intensive and it shouldn’t take too much time, and the reward is the removal of dust, dirt, allergens, bacteria, and microbes that naturally accumulate in places where people (and sometimes animals) are present. To ensure access to the folds, tight spots, and crevices inherent to most furniture, put an upholstery attachment on your vacuum cleaner. And if you have a pet, consider purchasing pet hair-removal attachments that are specifically designed to deal with pet hair and dander. Tip #3: Blot Fresh Spills Immediately It’s a common belief that coffee, juice, and wine spills are unsalvageable. However, if you act quickly you can remove even these tough stains. The key is to blot the stain right after it happens. Wet some paper towels or a clean rag/cloth and begin blotting until the stain is saturated with water. Be careful not to scrub or rub the stain, since this will only enlarge it. Tip #4: Create Your Own Cleaning Mixture Sometimes the best solutions for easy, inexpensive upholstery cleaning are already in your home. Such is the case when you create your own cleaning mixture by using four-parts lukewarm water and one-part laundry detergent. After you’ve mixed these ingredients together in a bowl, test out the mixture on a hidden couch cushion or dining room chair stain. Just dip a sponge into the mixture and rub it into the stain. Wipe the spot and let it dry for a bit, and when you return to it check for any discoloration or damage. If everything looks good, your mixture is safe to use. In fact, you might find that this solution is just as effective as over-the-counter cleaning products. Tip #5: Salt, Baking Soda, and White Vinegar Baking soda is a very effective upholstery cleaner. Just mix it with cold water and you can conquer virtually any stain, especially one that’s new/relatively new. Meanwhile, a mixture of salt and cold water is great for combating red wine stains. As for white vinegar, consider it for stain elimination on your white upholstery. Call the Professionals Our professional carpet cleaners serving Denver are always ready to lend our customers a hand. Whether you’re seeking cleaning tips and advice, or require our expert services in carpet care, spot removal, tile/grout cleaning, and more, feel free to contact us today for insights and a free quote. Remember at A Personal Touch, “We don’t cut corners, we clean them.”
How Often Should You Clean Your Furniture?
Keeping your furniture clean is important for maintaining its looks and longevity, as well as ensuring your couches and chairs don’t become havens for dust mites and allergens. So how often should you seek out professional upholstery cleaning near Littleton? Let’s discuss. How often should you clean your furniture? Although carpet, purely through its ubiquitousness in the home or office, gets more attention from a cleaning point of view, your furniture requires periodic cleaning too. Spots and stains caused by pets and children are a fact of life, as are the attraction of allergens and dust, and general soil buildup. The quantity of these issues, and other problems like fading, will vary depending on a piece of furniture’s placement and frequency of use. But rather than creating a “cleaning calendar” for each individual furniture item, you should have all of your furniture cleaned simultaneously. Our carpet cleaning experts suggest having your furniture professionally cleaned at least once a year, which is the same frequency at which you would have a pro clean your carpets. An annual deep-clean will keep your furniture clean and healthy, devoid of visible setbacks like stains, spots, and marks, and clear of invisible problems like allergens and microorganisms that can exacerbate the allergies and breathing problems suffered by family, friends, and co-workers. It’s also helpful to vacuum your furniture on a weekly or biweekly basis, but an annual deep clean should be conducted by professionals. What’s entailed in a furniture cleaning? Before we begin cleaning, we inspect each piece of furniture in your home or office and create a customized cleaning plan. Don’t worry about any unusual or exotic upholstery: our experienced cleaning pros are familiar with almost every upholstery type you can think of, including velvet, Jacquard, and Haitian cotton. In most cases, furniture upholstery is more delicate than carpet. Thus, furniture upholstery is more susceptible to damage and/or faded colors if the right approach isn’t used. Depending on the material, our professional furniture cleaners near Denver will either steam-clean your upholstery or use a special dry-cleaning solvent. In both cases, our #1 priority is to ensure the solution we use maintains your furniture’s look and feel while helping it to last longer. We don’t use any harsh chemicals, soaps, or solvents that leave behind a “sticky” feeling, and everything we utilize is healthy, so you needn’t worry about your kids or pets being around the furniture after it’s cleaned. Our cleaning methods are safe for the entire family, they dry fast, and they naturally resist re-soiling. And of course, we don’t use anything that could damage or discolor your furniture’s upholstery. Similar to having your carpet cleaned, an annual furniture clean will improve your home’s air quality. Allergens, mildew, and mold can affect furniture in the same manner that they do carpet, and these things are especially prevalent in furniture that sees a lot of use. Through deep-cleaning your furniture, these irritants are completely removed from cushions, lining, and fabric, thus maintaining fresh, healthy air throughout your home or office. For any questions regarding furniture cleaning and upholstery treatment, contact A Personal Touch Carpet Cleaning in Littleton. We’re happy to visit your home or office, review your furniture cleaning needs, and provide you with a competitive quote. Remember at A Personal Touch, “We don’t cut corners, we clean them.”
Can You Re-stretch Carpet with Furniture in the Room?
We welcome questions from our customers, and the titular query – “Can you re-stretch carpet with furniture in the room?” – is a common one. Here’s a look at how A Personal Touch Carpet Cleaning approaches carpet re-stretching when furniture is present. Overview The short answer is yes, we can re-stretch carpet with furniture in the room. However, there are some variables that could change this answer to a “Yes, but…”. For example, the exact amount of furniture will certainly affect the job, as will the weight of the furniture and the size/shape of the room where the carpet is. Another thing to consider is the location and layout of the ripples you want to remove from the carpet. Our Approach Using a power stretcher, our standard approach is to stretch the carpet away from the door/entryway and towards a wall that runs parallel to the ripples. This results in carpet that stays tight in the face of repeated cleanings, foot traffic, and repeated cleanings. When the wall is reached, our technician takes the following steps: Pull the carpet up from the tack-strip at the base of the wall Stretch the carpet until all ripples are smoothed out Reattach the newly-stretched carpet to the tack-strip Trim the carpet as necessary Tuck the carpet in to establish a seamless look In the optimal scenario – say, a room with several lightweight pieces of furniture (i.e. a standard bedroom or a study) – we can do all of this without moving the furniture because a) there’s no danger of anything falling over and/or breaking, and b) we’ll have enough room to maneuver around the furniture, access the ripples and have a clear path to the wall we need to stretch toward. And even if a clear path isn’t available, we can easily slide any impeding furniture out of the way. When must furniture be moved? There’s an industry rule of thumb that says in order to properly re-stretch a carpet, 50 percent of the room must be clear of furniture. Thus, a small room containing lots of furniture will require some moving before we can re-stretch. Also, if a room contains electronics, a curio with fragile items inside, or anything fragile for that matter, these items must be removed from the room and put in a safe spot until we’re finished re-stretching. Our state-of-the-art power stretcher can re-stretch carpet even when items like beds and couches are present. However, things get dicey when we need to work around very heavy pieces like pool tables, treadmills, and big fish tanks. Items like these are so heavy that they can cause the carpet to rip while we’re engaged in re-stretching. One solution is to do a “partial re-stretch”, which means stretching areas of the carpet that are unaffected by large objects. However, a partial re-stretch requires more work (and at times, a seam because we’ll need to reattach the re-stretched carpet to the un-stretched areas) and is consequently more expensive. Therefore, we recommend relocating these cumbersome objects before we arrive at your home. We understand that some things are too heavy to move without professional help, so if necessary we’ll work around these pieces. A Personal Touch Carpet Cleaning provides expert carpet re-stretching and carpet repair in Littleton. Contact us today to discuss our rates and schedule an appointment. Remember at A Personal Touch, “We don’t cut corners, we clean them.”