Latest News, Events and Happenings from ServiceMaster
Archive for August, 2010
|Acid Based Stains
Monday, August 30th, 2010
Acid Based Stains:
The short lesson on how to clean carpet stains that are acidic: act fast! Battery acids, in particular, can cause serious damage to carpet. So can the acids found in some tile-cleaning compounds and drain cleaners.
As soon as you see the spill (before it is a stain), get water and flush the area. Extract the water (blot it up or use a shop-vac), then flush the area again. Repeat the process several times. How quickly you move to clean these types of carpet stains is crucial to success.
After cleaning the carpet with water, prepare a solution of one tablespoon baking soda mixed with a quart of warm water. Apply this to the area with a sponge or cloth. This will neutralize any remaining acid. Then you can rinse the area again, extract the water, and dry the carpet quickly.
Leave a fan blowing on it if you can. It always helps to dry carpet quickly. This prevents any remaining stain deeper down in the fibers from migrating up to the surface or visible parts.
For stains that you didn’t get to quite as fast and wonder if they could still be extracted, call ServiceMaster by Ayotte! Our trained, friendly technicians would love to come over and take a look at those hard-to-remove stains and give you our opinion! FREE estimates…yep…you heard me…FREE!
ServiceMaster by Ayotte – 877-945-0993
Posted in Residential | No Comments »
Pet Stains…Need I Say More…
Tuesday, August 24th, 2010
To get a urine stain out of carpet, act quickly. Blot with paper towels or a clean white cotton cloth. If you can, suck it out with a shop-vac.
Make a solution of 1/4 teaspoon liquid dish washing detergent in one cup of warm water. Don’t use laundry detergent, automatic dish washing detergent, or dish soap with lanolin or bleach in it. Spray or carefully spread the solution over the area.
Extract the solution using a shop-vac, plain white paper towels, or a white cotton cloth. Rinse the area with warm water, extract, than apply the detergent solution again. Repeat as long as there is improvement in the pet stains.
Lightly apply a solution of one cup white vinegar in two cups of water. Rinse and extract.
Dry the carpet completely by putting a layer of white paper towels over the spot and weighing them down with something that won’t stain if it gets wet. Change paper towels until the carpet is dry.
As always, ServiceMaster by Ayotte is great at deoderizing carpets. For a deep clean and then a scotch guarding treatment to help those stains from setting or to keep them from coming back call us at 877-945-0993!
Posted in Residential | 1 Comment »
You make the MESS. We CLEAN it up!
Wednesday, August 18th, 2010
Join us this weekend at the Second Annual Blue Collar BBQ & Arts Festival!http://www.paradisecenterforthearts.org/special-guest/
Posted in Community Events, Promotions | No Comments »
Removing Hot Wax From Your Carpet!
Monday, August 16th, 2010
If you burn candles in your home and are concerned with how to get the wax out of your carpet if it happens to spill, read on! To begin with, scrape as much wax out of the carpet as you can, with a spoon. Then put an ice cube on the wax to freeze it. Leave it there for a minute. The wax should harden enough to break it up and get more of it out.
Now, to get the rest of the candle wax out of the carpet, put a clean brown paper bag over the spot, and place a clothes iron on it, set on low. The wax will liquefy and transfer to the paper. Apply a new paper bag as often as necessary until you get out all of the wax. This may take a little time.
If this doesn’t get all of the wax out of the carpet, you can try rubbing alcohol. This may help with some of the staining from dyes in the wax as well. Using a white cloth or a plain white paper towel wetted with the alcohol, dab at the area. Repeat this with a fresh towel until you get no more transfer of wax or dyes to the towel.
Whichever method you use to get the candle wax out of the carpet, when you are done, rinse the area with clean water, blot up the excess, and dry the area quickly. As always, don’t hesitate to call ServiceMaster by Ayotte if you have any questions regarding your carpet! Our friendly, trained staff is here to help! 1-877-945-0993
Posted in Residential | No Comments »
Stain Removal
Monday, August 9th, 2010
The short lesson on how to get out carpet stains: act fast. Most carpets today come with stain-resistant treatments, so spills can be removed if you get them right away. The longer you delay, the more difficult removing carpet stains becomes.
Spot Cleaning Carpets
Blot liquids, don’t rub them in! Use a clean white cotton cloth or plain white paper towels. Once you have removed the liquid, rinse the spot with water and blot again until dry. Repeat if necessary to remove more of the stain, but don’t scrub the area, or you may damage the carpet and set the stain in more permanently.
For semi-solids, such as peanut butter, pudding and such, scrape and lift gently with a spoon. Rinse the remaining spill out and blot dry.
Dried solids should be broken up and vacuumed. Repeat until it is all gone, then rinse with water and blot dry. Whenever you are not sure how to get out carpet stains, try water first.
When using a cleaning solvent, apply it to a cloth first, then work it in from the outside of the stain to the center, so you don’t spread the spot. The procedure is to apply the cleaner, extract (blot), rinse, extract, and repeat until you can’t get out more of the stain. Always extract solvents completely, and dry the carpet quickly when you are done. If there is any stain remaining deeper down in the carpet, quick drying prevents it from working its way back up to the surface.
Remember, if you can’t seem to get that stain from coming back the best way to clean and maintain your carpets is to hire ServiceMaster by Ayotte! Our trained, friendly technicians will help get those carpets looking like new! We look forward to hearing from you! 1-877-945-0993
Posted in General | No Comments »
How To Keep Your Carpet Clean
Monday, August 2nd, 2010
How do you keep your carpet clean? And why? Well, apart from the health benefits and enjoyment of clean carpet, there is a financial pay-off too. Dirt in carpet acts like thousands of little knives. Every time you walk on it, you press on those tiny blades, and they cut into the fibers, shortening the life of your carpet. Clean carpet saves you money, because it lasts longer.
That’s the “why.” Now the “how.”
Vacuum often. That dirt-damaged carpet also stains more easily, so keep the dirt out and you’ll have fewer stains.
Take off your shoes. Isn’t it nice to sit down on your carpet without wondering what was dragged across it on the bottoms of shoes?
Put a mat outside the front door, and a rug inside the entrance. This will catch some of the dirt coming in, before it makes it to the carpet.
Truck Mount Carpet Cleaning
Regular cleaning by a professional will get your carpet cleaner than you can ever hope to get it by yourself. How often you need to get your carpet cleaned depends on whether you remove shoes in the house, how often you vacuum, and environmental factors. The latter has to do with smokers in the house, dusty streets, children and muddy yards. In any case, some regular cleaning by a professional will prolong the life of your carpet and make your home a healthier place.
Next we’ll talk about removing different types of stains on your carpet yourself!
Posted in General | No Comments »
