Why Do Carpet Cleaners Charge More Money for Berber Carpet?

Let's Talk Berber!

Have you ever noticed in carpet cleaning ads at the bottom of the coupon or special offer in fine print it states, “Extra Cost for Berber?”  Why is that?  Is it because it is made from something completely rare?  Is it hard to clean?  Does it need a special cleaning agent?  Do you question why the higher price or book the job?  Or perhaps, you don’t know that you’re being charged more for Berber.

Berber carpet refers to a style of carpet distinguished by a loop pile construction.  Berber carpets are common in today’s modern world because they are cheaper, durable and generally composed of a plain color with no pattern and sometimes contain a color flake in the mix.

Today, Berber carpets are made from a wide variety of materials such as; the common ones: nylon, olefin and wool.  A variety of manufacturers produce a Berber product.

Olefin is the most common used material for Berber carpet and is the most affordable as well.  So what is olefin?  Olefin is a synthetic fiber made from a polyolefin such as polypropylene aka plastic!  It is commonly used in a wide range of products produced in our society today.  The advantages of olefin are strength, colorfastness, resistance to things such as: staining, mildew, abrasion and sunlight.  The color of the olefin carpet is produced during the production process and is highly resistant to dyeing.  Therefore, resistant to removing the color from bleach products.

The reason carpet cleaners like to charge more for Berber carpet is because it can be difficult to clean if the dirt gets lodged into the loop pile fibers.  “Time is money!” Kind of theory.  When cleaning an olefin Berber, professionals need to be careful with cleaning agents and use the correct pH.  A high alkaline pH can burn olefin which appears as yellow or brown splotches.  So therefore, the cleaner must have a selection of cleaning agents available to handle the job.  “Selection is money!” Kind of theory.  As with all carpets, Berber should be cleaned every 6 to 12 months to prevent permanent wear patterns and the application of Teflon protector can further protect your investment and increase the carpets life.

The next time you’re calling carpet cleaning companies for quotes or checking out the latest coupon mailer, have your “Why?” questions ready if they try to charge more for Berber. 
At Magic Carpet, you won’t be charged extra for Berber.  Do it the Right Way, The Magic Way!

How to get Pet Urine out of Area Rug

In today's world, pets are a common family member in our homes.  If you have dogs, cats or possibly both; you might have encountered a urine mess along the way.

So its been a long day at work and you come home to find the unpleasant smell of urine in your area rug.  This rug is an investment, you have purchased it for many hundreds of dollars and rightly so, you are ANGRY!  What is going to happen to this rug?  Is it trash?  Can it be saved?

Looking at your pets...they are pointing the paw at each other...no one taking the blame! 

 

 At Carpet Cleaning Atlanta by Magic Carpet, we are certified Area Rug Cleaning Specialists.  Pet Contamination Removal is our specialty.  Removing pet urine is an added step to the cleaning process and it does incur additional money; but the overall result of a clean, contamination FREE area rug can be achieved.

Here is the 411 on Pet Urine.

It is sticky because of the urine salts.

Its smelly.

It can be cleaned by a professional company but an enzyme must be used on it to open the sticky urine salts and extract them out of the rug.

Thoughts you may be having?
I can go to the pet store and buy an enzyme product and clean it myself?

This sounds all well and good...but area rugs are specialized products.  They have complex dye structures and many made out of wool.  Wool, for example is a natural fiber, which once wet will smell like a wet dog.  Now you have a wet dog smell with your urine smell.  Also, rugs have glue on the backing.  Some glues breakdown and degrade when exposed to water.  Many chances for things to go wrong.

It is best to let the professionals that are certified handle this type of job if you want to protect your investment.  When calling a professional AREA RUG cleaning company, ask if they are certified in area rug cleaning.  Yes, they need to be!

Steps of the  area rug cleaning process:

1.) The rug is inspected for damage, stains, wear and dye stability.  The customer is contacted with detailed information on the rug, how it will be cleaned and the cost.
2.)  The rug is dusted.
3.)  The rug is vacuumed on both sides to remove excess soil and particles.
4.)  The rug is pre-conditioned.
5.)  The rug is submerged into “The Magic Rug Pit” for washing.
6.)  The rug is rinsed, extracted and groomed.
7.)  The rug is forced dry.
8.)  If fringe is present, the fringe is cleaned, detailed and groomed.
9.)  The rug is rolled up, packaged and ready for delivery.  Once the rug is delivered to your home, our technician will roll it out and let you inspect it.

For more information concerning area rug cleaning, visit our website!

How To Get Bleach Out Of Carpet

How To Get Bleach Out of Carpet?

Daily, we get calls from our customers frantic because they spilled bleach on the carpet. 

After they spill the bleach or use a product that had bleach in it to clean up a different spot; they attempt to cover up their tracks, in hopes to find something to fix the problem.

Little do they know, there is nothing over the counter that can fix this problem.  And applying over the counter products or home remedies will create a problem for the professionals.

What to do:

Leave the spot alone and call a professional service that specializes in carpet spot dye repair.  Google "carpet dyeing".

How the Professionals Fix it!

1.)  We apply a product on the bleach which neutralizes it or de activates the bleach.

2.)  We add the colors that are missing back to the carpet.  Color theory plays a role in this process.  For example, Several colors make up a beige carpet.  Usually when a household bleach product is spilled on a beige carpet a "yellow" halo remains.  We add the missing colors back to the yellow halo to achieve the desired color that matches with the remaining carpet.

Some Solutions Customers have put on their bleach spills:

• Water
• Rit Dye
• Soap Solution 

Trivia:  Carpet can be made from several different fiber types.  What fiber is resistant to bleach?

Answer:  Carpet that is made from plastic.  Carpet fibers can be constructed of plastic material.  PRO; they can't be bleached....CON; they can scratch easily  

Visit our website to learn more about the dye services we offer. 

How to choose the right carpet cleaning company?

You have finally come to the conclusion that it is time to have your carpet's professionally cleaned.  But, what company do I use and why?

There are so many companies in the carpet cleaning industry, but you must be careful because there are a "few bad apples" in our industry.  

Here is the 411 guide on choosing a company!

#1:  Pick a company that uses "HOT Water Extraction" as their method of carpet cleaning.  

Why?  This is the preferred method of the leading carpet manufacturers. 

#2:  Pick a company that uses "Truck mounted" equipment vs. a portable cleaning machine.  

Why?  Truck mounted equipment is more efficient for cleaning and pulling soil from the carpet.  All the waste is dispensed directly back into the truck and not dumped down your drain.  The cleaning solution can be metered from the mount as well as an acid rinse to help remove excess soils and cleaning solutions from the carpet which help eliminate re soiling issues after the carpet is cleaned.  The water from a truck mounted machine is heated with propane to give the "Hot water" cleaning method, which is what sanitizes your carpet.  Most, not all, portable units do not have hot water capabilities.  Newer machines on the market come with a hot water feature but these units are far more expensive and companies may not carry them in their equipment inventory.  (Magic Carpet has these machines in our equipment inventory but we only use a portable unit when the truck mount cannot reach the location being cleaned.) 

#3:  Pick a company that uses employees vs. subcontractors.

Why?  Employees of companies have to go through extensive general and criminal background checks.  The employee is trained by a manager or owner of the company.  If the company has a "professional image to uphold," the technician will be in a company logo ed uniform and a truck.  The employee is also covered under the company's insurance policy.  A sub contractor may have been hired that morning to service your home.  They may not be in a company truck, wearing a uniform, and most likely background checks have not been performed. Who will be walking through your front door?

#4:  Hire a company that holds certifications with the IICRC (The Institute of Inspection Cleaning and Restoration Certification)for the service you are requesting.

Why?  In our industry, the IICRC, is a nonprofit organization that writes the standards for services we offer.  The IICRC  will hold up in a court of law.  Companies and technicians can take approved IICRC classes to get certified in services they offer.  For example, in the carpet cleaning certification class, the technician will learn how PH can affect cleaning a carpet, how it can damage, etc. to not void carpet warranties.  As a consumer, you may visit the IICRC at www.iicrc.org.   

#5: Last but not least:  try not to be price driven and have the size of the company persuade you from hiring a GREAT company.  

Why?  With price in our industry, "you pay for what you get!"  In general, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!  Many companies offer a low price coupon as a losing leader to get into your home.  Once they are there, the price escalates triple the original estimate.  You have taken the time to have this done, and go ahead against your best judgement and let them have the job.  At the end, your upset that your wallet is a lot lighter and you will never use them again.  So your search continues!  Bigger is not always better!  I personally have found, when I call customer service for various companies, I am a number.  I can never get back to the same person I talked to, I may get disconnected and have to start the hour process over....it wastes my time and its frustrating.  Wouldn't you rather call a number, and get a person on the phone without having to go through a call center?  Some companies in our industry pride themselves on being the "biggest carpet cleaning company in town" or "we have the biggest fleet in all of Georgia."  These usually include franchise divisions and which include "corporate decisions."  If you run into a problem with your service, wouldn't you rather call a number and speak to the owner and get an answer right then?  Instead of waiting 24 to 48 hours for an "open case" return phone call?  

So in your next venture to choose the right carpet cleaning company, consider these key points!  

Contact us today!  Whether you use our service or not, our advice is FREE and we do not mind educating you on your decision!

 

Carpet Protector-Why should I buy this service?

This diagram shows what a liquid spill would do to carpet that has been treated with a professional grade protector vs. carpet that does not have any protector treatment applied.

So a picture is worth a thousand words, right?  The million dollar question, why should I buy into this service? 

The carpet cleaning company that you hired comes out on time and the van and employee look professional.  As the homeowner, your pleased so far! The technician walks through your home and gives you an estimate that includes something called carpet protector, which they mention is an additional service and highly recommends it.  As the homeowner, you feel that your are being up sold on a service that is not needed; but what he begins to tell you....is worth a million!

The facts about carpet protector:

1.) It increases the life of your investment (carpet) and helps your carpet look newer....LONGER!

2.) Carpets made today include from the factory a protector applied.  This protector wears off with normal traffic, vacuuming and time.  Therefore, to maintain the factory protection you must reapply.

3.) It increases the length of time between professional cleanings.

4.)  It allows you time to get a rag and blot the liquid spot before it penetrates into the fibers of your carpet causing a professional spot removal treatment.

So why wouldn't you want this additional service of carpet protector?  Especially, when there are kids and pets in the home??? Well there is an additional cost.  So you think to yourself, I can apply this on my own.

The facts about homeowners applying their own carpet protector:
 1.)  It gets expensive.  The products available to you as a consumer do not treat a large area in terms of square feet.  You also have to use a lot of the product to get the full effects of a consumer line.
2.)  A consumer grade product needs to be manually rubbed into the fibers for full protection.
3.) This product needs to be applied on clean carpet; so you need to hire a professional service or clean the carpet yourself with a home machine.  
4.)  You must allow it to dry completely before walking on the carpet area.

Now, this all sounds like a hassle to me.  You will have roughly 4 to 5 hours of your time invested in cleaning your carpets and protecting them.  Your time is valuable!  In an average size home, we can professional clean 4 areas of carpet and apply carpet protector within 1 to 1.5 hours and this service cost $240.00.

Contact us today to learn more about carpet protector and how it can work for you!
 

Pet Urine Contamination

Pet Urine Contamination

Our lovable animals can leave a mess behind.  You might be thinking that you have to live with that spot, the odor, the embarrassment.

You don't!  At Carpet Cleaning Atlanta by Magic Carpet, we specialize in pet urine removal.  We can guarantee spot and odor removal by treating the source of the odor. 

So you can have that holiday party and not worry about that odor.

Visit our website to learn more about odor elimination or contact us today!

Allergens in Carpet

Are you suffering from allergies this season?  Do you have carpet in your home?  Has it been over a year since it was last professionally cleaned?

If you answered yes, to these questions, you are probably suffering from allergies because your carpets are dirty.  Carpet acts as a filter in your home, it traps soils, human & pet dander and gases.  When you vacuum, you are only removing between 79-81% of this dry matter.  The rest is trapped behind in your carpet.  Which you breathe.

The leading carpet manufacturers recommend that carpet needs to be professionally cleaned using hot water extraction every 6 months.

Visit our website to learn more about our services we offer.  A healthier home environment is only a phone call away!