Homecoming: Why Stains Reappear and What Oxi Fresh Carpet Cleaning Can Do

Categories: Carpet Cleaning Tips

Old stains – sometimes it’s easy to think of them like a cheap horror movie monster, given the way they keep showing up long after they’re supposed to have been destroyed.  Or maybe they’re like annoying guests who, after you’ve finally got rid of them and have forgotten you ever had them, stop by again for another agonizing, prolonged visit.  Whatever they remind you most of – monsters, annoying relative, or bad pennies – it seems like some stains have developed a nasty habit of reappearing on your carpet – despite many carpet cleanings – in a process called wickback. But what actually causes this to happen – what’s the science behind the annoyance?

In order to explain just how these stains come back, though, we need to know how they got there in the first place – and that of course can be traced to the original spill. Now, whenever the, let’s say, coffee was spilled, what you did in response help determined if there would be wickback. If you did your best to blot up the stain, trying to get up as much moisture as possible, you did well. If you just left the stain there to dry or poured water on it to fade the color – a no-no for carpet stain removal – you may be the reason behind the reappearance of the stain. You left a lot of liquid in the carpet and all of that water allowed the sediments to sink downward. And as it sank down, it worked it’s way into the lowest parts of the carpet, including the pad.

Continue Reading post – Homecoming: Why Stains Reappear and What Oxi Fresh Carpet Cleaning Can Do

Posted by: Jordan | Discussion: 2 Comments »

Carpet Cleaning Tips – 2 of 2

Categories: Green Carpet Cleaning

As promised, here are some more tips to help you keep your carpets looking clean and fresh between carpet cleanings.

1. Your Feet are the Enemy: Believe it or not, one of the things that dirties your carpet the most isn’t something dramatic like spilling a drink or some food, it’s just walking on it with bare feet. Despite how clean you believe your feet are, they are, unfortunately, always dirty. Your feet give off oil and sweat and when you walk around barefoot, all of that transfers onto the carpet.  To make matters worse, though, the oil and sweat acts like a magnet to dirt.  Soon, the areas you frequently walk across will get dirtier faster, traffic areas will appear, and your feet will have conquered the carpet. So how do you prevent this from happening? The answer is simple: wear socks.

2. Water is Hardly the Answer: If you’ve seen someone pour water over a carpet stain in order to get it out . . . you can blame them when the stain comes back.  Pouring water on a stain may make it look like it’s fading, and in one way it is.  The water loosens some of the staining material, which allows it to sink into the carpet pile and pad, making it appear to go away. Over time, though, the stains will lift back up and reappear, and this time they will be very difficult to get rid of. So, if pouring water isn’t the way to get rid of stains, what is? Obviously, you can’t hire carpet cleaning companies every time there’s a spill. So what do you do? Continue Reading post – Carpet Cleaning Tips – 2 of 2

Posted by: Jordan | Discussion: 5 Comments »

Carpet Cleaning Tips – 1 of 2

Categories: Green Carpet Cleaning

Many receive advice, few profit by it. ~ Publilius Syrus

That’s a rather depressing quote to open up with, so here’s a more amusing one:

A patient going to a doctor for his first visit was asked, “And whom did you consult before coming to me?”
“Only the village druggist,” was the answer.
“And what sort of foolish advice did that numbskull give you?” asked the doctor, his tone and manner denoting his contempt for the advice of the layman.
“Oh,” replied his patient, with no malice aforethought, “he told me to come and see you.”

Everyone smiling now? Good, now I can share a few carpet cleaning and carpet maintenance tips that can increase the life of your carpet and keep it looking cleaner longer.   Some of these will seem incredibly simple, but they’re worth repeating. After all, it’s easy to forget the proper procedure for dealing with a stain when you’ve just dropped a glass of wine onto your carpet. So, without further ado . . .

1. Vacuuming Sucks: This tip is one of the most important ones, but it’s also the hardest one to do.  We recommend that you vacuum your carpets once every other day. Admittedly, that may be a lot to ask some of you. When you get home from work, the last thing most of you want to do is work more. But a regular vacuuming can lift up the vast majority of dirt in your carpet that accumulates there daily, helping slow the spread traffic areas and keeping your carpets much cleaner longer.  So if you vacuum, you’ll find your carpets won’t need carpet cleaning services as often, which will translate into money saved for you. Continue Reading post – Carpet Cleaning Tips – 1 of 2

Posted by: Jordan | Discussion: 8 Comments »

Great Outdoors = Dirty Indoors (And How Oxi Fresh Carpet Cleaning Can Help)

Categories: Oxi Fresh News

The Outdoors Meets the Indoors

Hikes are truly lovely. Walking quietly down dirt paths, winding through trees, resting in fields or by streams – a good hike is a uniquely pleasing experience. When it’s time to go back, though, and you drive or walk back home and go inside, be sure to take your shoes off. If you don’t – the mud, dirt, grass, etc. will find it’s way onto your carpets. If you do remember to take them off, that’s wonderful, but it’s not just your hiking shoes that can make a clean carpet dirty. There’s a dozen other ways the Great Outdoors can lead to dirty indoors this summer, and you got to watch out for them.

Of course, there’s the normal wear and tear during the Summer that you get every season, but since more time is spent outside, whenever someone comes back in they’re bringing in extra things that can dirty your carpet. Plus, if you keep your doors and windows open, you can expect dust, pollen, and other contaminants to blow in and get into the carpet itself.  Now, there are more ways your carpets get dirty during the Summer, but we don’t want to focus just on that. We aren’t, after all, trying to scare you into staying inside all the time with the doors and windows locked to keep the dirt out. No, we just recommend you be prepared to get a carpet cleaning sooner rather than later. Continue Reading post – Great Outdoors = Dirty Indoors (And How Oxi Fresh Carpet Cleaning Can Help)

Posted by: Jordan | Discussion: 1 Comment »

Defend Your Home – Get an Area Rug Cleaning!

Categories: Carpet Cleaning Tips

What’s the first line of defense of your home? Motion-detecting lights outside? A dog? A series of good locks on your doors and windows? An actual security system? Well, if you have all of those, you’ve greatly increased your chances of discouraging burglars and, if they do try anything, they’re much more likely to fail or be caught. If you don’t have any of those things, well, your valuables will be, by and large, up for grabs if someone tries to steal your possessions. After all, without some sort of defense, the only thing stopping a burglar would be a suddenly convicted conscious, which seems very doubtful.

Just as it is important to defend your home against potential burglary, there’s a specific part of your home that needs more protection than others – not from a thief, though, but from you.  I am, of course, referring to your carpets.  As that part of your home that is the most used; is exposed to the most to dirty feet, socks, shoes; is eaten and drank over; is walked and slept on by pets with oily fur and skin; and faces a barrage of spills and spots from an untold number of sources. With all the wear and tear carpets receive, it’s really no wonder that they need regular carpet cleanings and carpet protector.  There is something you can do, though, to help decrease the need for those cleanings, save money, and increase the overall lifespan of your carpet. And it’s all thanks to the humble area rug. Continue Reading post – Defend Your Home – Get an Area Rug Cleaning!

Posted by: Jordan | Discussion: 2 Comments »

Fill In the Blank with Oxi Fresh Carpet Cleaning

Categories: Green Carpet Cleaning

The Three Way's Oxi Fresh is Green

We want to be _______.
We want to save you _______.
We want to avoid _______.

Well, what do you think goes in the blank? What word would you guess? The answer is “Green.”  We want to be green, save you green, but also avoid green. But why would we want to avoid green? Don’t we claim to provide green carpet cleaning? So what do these fill-in-the-blanks actually mean? Well, let’s start by looking at the first one.

Being Green
This one’s the easiest to answer. Oxi Fresh has always cared about providing our customers with safe, non-toxic carpet cleaning. We know we have a responsibility to the environment and to our client’s health. That’s why we use green cleaning solutions that are designed with the health and safety of pets and children in mind. It’s also why we use a low moisture system, energy efficient machines. help purify your carpets from any harmful contaminants, recycle, and are striving to create a paper-free work environment at our office. All of this is why we want to be green. Continue Reading post – Fill In the Blank with Oxi Fresh Carpet Cleaning

Posted by: Jordan | Discussion: 14 Comments »