Getting rid of Oil Stains

Published October 11, 2016 By Aladdin

You can remove any type of oil stain from carpets with this technique. Before starting these steps, gently blot a cloth or paper towel on the stain, taking care not to embed the oil deeper into the carpet- blot fromt he outside of the perimeter of the stain in.

Corn Starch or Baking Soda

Cover the stain with cornstarch or baking soda powder. They will soak up all moisture including oil.

Rub baking soda or cornstarch into carpeting – with just the right amount of pressure to make the powder penetrate into the carpet. If you’re dealing with a large stain use a large brush, and a toothbrush for smaller ones.

Allow the powder to set in

Leave it for at least 15 minutes – longer is fine, and then use a vacuum cleaner to suck it out of your carpet.

Drip liquid detergent onto the stained area

Rub it into the carpet with a small brush and put a tiny amount of warm water over the stain area and immediately blot it up with a cloth or sponge – there will be soap suds. Do this until the carpet is dry.

Let the Carpet dry outside

Check to see if the stain is still there, and if it is, repeat the whole process again. If it doesn’t work, move on to the next step.

Rubbing Alcohol

Place rubbing alcohol on a cloth and dab it onto the stain – the alcohol will ideally dissolve the oil. Once it’s dried, rinse the whole stain with oil, and then blot the oil up. If this doesn’t work, move on to the next step.

Dry Cleaning Solvent

Place dry cleaning solvent on a cloth or paper towel and test it on a small hidden area of your carpet. If the test doesn’t leave a mark, blot the stain with it, moving from the outside of the perimeter in to avoid spreading the stain around. Let the stain dry, and see if the oil stain is still there after some time. If it is, repeat the process again a few times until the stain has disappeared. If this still hasn’t worked, contact a carpet cleaning professional.

Different Weaving Techniques

Published October 5, 2016 By Aladdin

We can trace the path of history in the shifting weaves of a rug. Many rug’s designs tell the stories of the people that wove them – a great skill which is passed down through generations. Rug hand weavers must maintain vast knowledge and skills with various weaving techniques. There’s a vast array of different patterns and weaving techniques, from kilims to piled rugs. In this blog post, I’ll detail some of the different common weaving designs, and what defines them.

Hand Knotted Pile Rugs

These Rugs are a result of flatweave technique being deployed through adding knots onto the warps, each individual knot being cut before the next one is made (forming a pile effect.) After each row of knotting is completed, wefts are placed in and packed together to a level of desired rigidity. Two kinds of knots are used, the Turkish Double knot requires yarn to be looped around two warps and pulled tight in between them, while the Persian Single Knot requires yarn to be wrapped around a single warp, and placed behind the next-door warp before severing the cut.

Slitweaves

This, the most commonly used weaving technique, is often used to create geometric and diagonal patterned kilims. The slit describes the space made between two color blocks – made by reversing the weft around the final warp in a color portion, doing the same to the final wefts in the next-door color area. Weavers then make the weft very rigid toc over the warp, and usually work with diagonal patterns to keep the rug’s structure strong. One color block is completed before the next – resulting in very bold patterns with a very smooth surface.

Dovetailing and Interlocking

This technique refers to joining wefts from two separate color blocks, and moving them back in opposite directions around their shared warp – this technique allows wefts from next-door color areas to interlock between their shared warps – this allows for a more muted and restrained level of color contrast.

Sumak

This describes a technique where colored yarns are wrapped around warps in specific mathematical patterns that allow for very free floating complex arrangements that can be repeated throughout the rug’s surface. This technique takes much time and a vast amount of skill.

Brocading

This weaving method originates from the peoples of Anatolia, and involve adding extra patterns onto standard wefts that hold the main warp thread together. It creates the appearance of embroidery, with an embossed raised pattern.

Zili

This technique, also from Anatolia, creates a rough hewn appearance around the entire surface of the rug, in a manner that sort of resembles cords. Additional wefts are woven around the warps in mathematical ratios and snugged rigidly.

Shrinking Carpets

Published September 23, 2016 By Aladdin

What types of carpets are at risk for Shrinking?

The most common types of carpets that shrink are Wiltons and Axminsters. Belgian Wiltons are usually made of a polypropylene fibre and a jute backing – since this material doesn’t hold onto moisture, it sinks to the bottom of the pile and makes the carpet shrink – to check to see if your carpet is a Belgian Wilton, peel it back and see if the pattern is the same on the back as the face – if you have this, you may have a polypropylene pile fiber, making it likely that the carpet can shrink.

Axminster carpets have wool faces and backing yarns made of jute, weaved through the wool face fiver. If the jute gets wet due to improper cleaning, the backing can shrink.

How does the Shrinking happen?

Usually, carpets shrink due to poor cleaning technique. Either the equipment isn’t strong enough to soak up all the liquid, or an improper technique was used for either hand or machine cleaning. If the machine being used to clean the carpet is super cheap, it can’t take out most of the water from the carpet, making it likely to shrink. Poor technique can also involve the overspraying of pre-clean sprays, or using too much water to rinse the carpet. When the jute backing which the face fibers are woven onto gets super wet, it swells up and expands, pushing and breaking the structure of the carpet, causing it to contract and shrink.

Avoiding Carpet Shrinking

If you have a Belgian wilton rug you can still clean your carpet – and we hope you’d want to from time to time! You simply must have it cleaned safely, and according to the proper technique. You need to hire a cleaning company with the necessary experience and expertise to handle cleaning rugs and carpets – as well as the proper, highest level of technology and machinery that they can implement to ensure your carpet is safely cleaned. A truly professional carpet cleaning company will check the carpet first to see if it can be cleaned according to their default technique – and if they suspect that it’s at risk for shrinking, they can use a specialized low moisture cleaning technique that will ensure it’s preservation.

Common Carpet Cleaning Mistakes

Published September 17, 2016 By Aladdin

Here’s how to avoid making the most common carpet cleaning mistakes – spot cleaning carpets is something that every carpet owner has to do once in awhile. Whether your pet had an accident, or you spilled a glass of red wine, your carpet can sustain quite a proverbial barrage of stains. There’s a great combination of methods that you can use to remove the most common kinds of stains and spills (all of which you can find on our blog) but there’s also tactics that should NEVER EVER be used while you’re cleaning your carpets.

Check out the below tips to learn what any carpet or rug owner should NEVER EVER attempt while trying to get rid of a stain.

Colored Towels

Never use a colored towel to dab or soak up a stain! If you’re using a towel or rag that has color, you are risking the chance of the color bleeding or soaking down onto the carpet fibers – this is a phenomenon called color transfer. Never use a red or dark blue rag on a light colored carpet – this will no doubt stain it seriously – if you want to avoid causing color transfer, use a white cotton towel or white paper towels to do all the dabbing or soaking up that you need to do.

Over the Counter Carpet Cleaners

For the most part, avoid using any products advertised as Carpet Cleaner, whether it’s foam, cleansing liquid, or spray. These products often leave a hard to remove residue inside your carpet which, over time, attracts a bunch of dust and soil, leaving you with a gross brown spot inside an area that once looked clean. These soaps are tailor made to attract soil and dirt, and then get washed away with water – when over the counter cleaners are used, you won’t be able to properly wash away the soap, so it stays on your carpet fibers and continues to attract soil, causing a stain that you can’t remove.

Rubbing

Only blot stains on rugs – never use a rubbing motion to attempt their removal. This is one of the most common carpet or rug cleaning mistakes, since most people simply don’t believe that it really causes damage. Scrubbing stains on carpets simply just spread the stain around, creating a much larger and more diffused mess. Remember to blot the stain – don’t rub it. If you need more pressure when you’re blotting, stand on the blotting material pressing it down – this will help move the spill or stain to the towel you’re cleaning it up with.

Toughest Stains to Remove

Published September 1, 2016 By Aladdin

Many carpet owners understand that the severity of stains vary based on what kind of liquid caused the stain to start with. While dirt and mud can pose one problem, red wine or oil can be a whole different nightmare. Some kinds of stains can be removed with relative ease, while some other kinds of stains require quite a bit more effort, as well as some specialized cleaning tactics. Then there’s the worst kinds of stains – that really do require intervention from a carpet and rug cleaning professional. In this blog entry, I’ll review the 5 worst possible carpet stains – and how to deal with them.

Red Wine Stains

Even if red wine has been proven to contribute to heart health, it certainly won’t help your heart when your carpet becomes immersed in the red liquid. We recommend blotting up fresh wine spills to remove as much liquid as possible, and then using a clean cloth to dab away the stain with a cleaning solution made of a tablespoon of hand safe dishwashing liquid, a tablespoon of white vinegar, and two cups of warm water. Make sure to sponge off the carpet with water after using the solution to avoid making it smell like vinegar. If this stain is proving extremely tough, use a mixture of one part handwashing liquid, two parts hydrogen peroxide, and extreme elbow grease – just make sure to test it on a small area of the carpet first to make sure it doesn’t damage or bleach it – and always make sure to wipe it off with a slightly wet cloth after using it.

Pet Related Stains

If your pet follows the call of nature on your carpet or rug, soak up as much of the liquid with newspaper or towels as soon as possible, wash it with cold water, and let it dry. We recommend using a store-bought cleaner or odor neutralizer – however, some stains might require a bit more effort. Don’t use any stain removal tools that add any heat to the carpet, as heat will set the stain in place. If this strategy doesn’t work initially, then re wet the carpet, and spray it with an enzyme cleaner (you can find these at many pet stores) directly on the stain. Let the cleaner soak in overnight, then soak it all up with paper towels. If none of these work, consider using a wet vac.

Blood

We recommend dabbing blood stains with a solution made of two cups of cold water and a tablespoon of hand dishwashing soap. If this doesn’t work, dampen it with a teeny amount of hydrogen peroxide – of course, making sure that it doesn’t stain or bleach your carpet or rug. Leave the hydrogen peroxide on the stain for up to an hour, and dab at it with a cloth – try repeating this as many times as you can. If hydrogen peroxide doesn’t lift up the stain, contact a professional cleaner – the sooner you deal with a blood stain, the better, as it’s much easier to remove before it dries and sets in.

Long Lasting Stains

If you have a stain that’s remained on a carpet or rug since before you can remember, make sure to enlist the efforts of hydrogen peroxide based cleaning products – and if this doesn’t work, a professional wet vac cleaning service. We can’t promise that even these strategies will work on stains that have long established their home on carpets or rugs, but we can say that in these situations, hiring a professional cleaner is the best bet. The only other alternative is to place furniture on top of the stain to hide it.

Bleach

This is the worst possible stain. Put protective rubber gloves on, soak up the bleach stain with a cloth, and then use the cold water and dishwashing liquid solution to dab the stain up from the outside. Bleach will lighten the color of your carpet, so it needs to be diluted, removed, and soaked up as soon as possible if you want to avoid any long lasting damage. So if you see bleach spill on your carpet or rug, spring into action as soon as possible – otherwise, prepare to get used to an oddly colored blotch that you can always cover up with furniture.

Rug Cleaning Advice From Aladdin Oriental Rug Cleaning

Published August 17, 2016 By Aladdin

Here’s a bit of custom-tailored rug cleaning advice from our expert carpet cleaners. While we advise our customers to contact us directly regarding solutions for complicated or widespread staining, we also firmly believe in the value of providing everyone with expert information to attempt stain removal on their own. Here’s our advice – direct from the mouths of our experts.

How can you tell if you have a quality Oriental-style rug?

If the same design on the back is on the front, then you have a woven rug. These are of a much higher quality than tufted rugs. Wool is the ideal material for rugs – it’s almost indestructible, and it’s environmentally sustainable. Hand woven rugs contain the most value – not only do they take the longest amount of time to make, they require the largest amount of personal artistry to create. However, Karastan in particular makes pretty fantastic machine woven rugs. If you see burlap or canvas on the back of the rug, it’s tufted; Tufted rugs, often made in China and India using glue or often latex may look like pile rugs, but only last about 5 to 10 years before getting all shredded up. Woven rugs can last hundreds of years with zero degradation.

What is artificial silk?

Artificial silk – often called art silk or manmade silk – doesn’t mean real silk (made froms silkworms.) It’s in reality made from machine made viscose rayon – and often turns yellow over time as it’s colors fade, not to mention it’s extensive shedding. If you’re purchasing a room size “silk” rug for under 1,000 dollars it very likely may not be made of real silk.

Is it possible to vacuum too much?

Today’s powerful vacuums might be too harsh on delicate woven rugs, particularly if they are laid above a hard floor. We recommend sweeping wool rugs with carpet sweepers. If you’re going to be vacuuming, make sure to use a canister vacuum with the beater bar set high to avoid any abrasion. Make sure to vacuum the rug from side to side, rather than from end to end, so you don’t accidentally grab up any of the fringes. On an annual basis, take the rug outside and vacuum it’s back, in order to remove any hard to reach embedded dirt that can cause fiber wear. After that, vacuum the top of the rug again. If you hit a corner of the rug, and see a cloud of dust come out, it needs washing.

How often do rugs need to be washed, and why?

Rugs need to be washed every two to three years. Even if rugs don’t appear dirty, their color slowly gets more dull over time, as well as the fringe degrading. If you wait a while before cleaning it, all forms of particles like silica or dust can sink down towards the base of the rug – and when the rug gets walked on top of, the fiber at the base get degraded. This is true whether or not the base is made of wool or cotton, and whether or not there’s a quality rubber rug pad placed underneath it. That’s the reason that the intricate designs on rugs become bare over time – it’s not foot traffic, as some might think. Well, it is foot traffic in some sense, being foot traffic combined with a lack of getting swept, washed, or beaten.

What are the most common mistakes regarding rugs or carpets?

Placing plants on top of rugs must be the top committed rug travesty. When you leave a potted plant on top of a rug for an extended amount of time, you may pick the rug up and a circle drops out from under it. Since the sub-carpet pad doesn’t allow for the circulation of air, it will slowly accumulate moisture. And moisture means mildew. Even when a wool rug feels dry on the surface, it may have moisture under it, that seeps to the bottom of the rug, breeding mildew – which then leads to dry rot, and your need to repair it.

How to remove blood from carpet

Published August 3, 2016 By Aladdin

Accidents around the home happen. It’s just a fact of life. If you scratch yourself while cleaning, or your dog accidentally scratches it’s paw, you might leave a bright red trail of blood across the rug. In case this happens, it’s imperative that you act immediately! If you follow the steps that I detail in this blog entry – as soon as possible – your carpet (regardless of it’s material of pile type) will find itself fresh and clean, good as new. Additionally, there’s another very effective method that works fantastically on dried blood stains.

Removing Fresh Blood from Carpets

First Step

The first thing to do, as soon as you notice a stain, is to blot the area with an absorbent paper towel to absorb and remove any excess blood that hasn’t soaked into it. Make sure to BLOT – not to scrub or rub – as doing those things will only spread the stain and make it worse.

Second Step

Place a few drops of mild liquid dish detergent into a bowl or bucket with a few cups of cold water. Make sure to use as cold water as possible, as hot water will only set the stain into the fibers of the carpet, making the discoloration almost impossible to get rid of. Make sure to be somewhat careful and discerning regarding the amount of drops of dish detergent that you mix in! Any soap that remains after cleaning will just attract more dirt, and the blood stain will become a dark spot.

Third Step

Make a white rag or cloth wet with the home-made cleaning solution, and gently use a sponge to apply it to the top of the stain – again NOT rubbing or scrubbing it. Keep wetting the cloth and blotting the stain until all the blood comes up from the carpet. You might need to repeat this step a few times depending on the size or depth of the stain.

Fourth Step

Using a dry section of absorbent cloth or paper towels, blot up all the water from the carpet to allow it to dry as much and as fast as possible. If the stain covers a large area, aiming a fan into the room to circulate the air faster, or using a hair dryer on it’s cool setting could help hasten the drying process. By quickly drying the area, you will reduce any of the chances that blood that got deeply set within the carpet’s pile will come back up and become visible after the surface stain was removed.

Removing Dry Blood Stains from Carpets

Immediately take a stiff, bristly brush to the stained area and brush it firmly to help crumble the stain up, and then vacuum all the remaining particles up. Then, move to the Second Step of the tips for removing fresh stains from carpets detailed above.

Why Professional Grade Vacuums are Superior

Published July 23, 2016 By Aladdin

Vacuum cleaners have been an essential part of cleaning since they were first invented in 1869. Today, many high tech professional grade vacuum cleaners are on the market. However, it’s wise to note that not all vacuum cleaners are made equal – and it’s important to understand the features that make professional grade vacuums superior.

Suction Power

Vacuum cleaners work through suction generated by a built in motor – so the more powerful the motor, the more powerful the suction power, and the more powerful the dirt and dust sucking ability will be.

Maneuvering Ability

Having a vacuum cleaner that can be easily picked up, moved, and that can get into corners makes the cleaning process much easier and more efficient. Cleaning should be an easier task with a vacuum cleaner that can get into hard to reach narrow areas. 360 degree spinning swivel wheels are ideal.

Lightweight handy options

Professional cleaners are engineered to be both powerful and easy to move around and store. Lightweight and compact cleaners make cleaning a lot less intense of a task, making it easier for everyone.

Aesthetic Appeal

We want vacuum cleaners that won’t be an eyesore in our kitchens or closets – fortunately many professional grade cleaners exist that fuse function with form, in a wide range of aesthetics.

Ease of Use and Low Noise

Nobody wants to spend countless hours trying to figure out how to operate the vacuum cleaner – so professional cleaners often have a minimal and simple interface to make operation much more simple. Additionally, professional vacuums are often engineered to operate with as low of a noise level as possible, making it easier on everyone in the house.

Sustainability

Environmental sustainability is good for both the environment and your electric bill. FOrtunately, many new vacuum cleaners are made with this in mind; green options abound.

Filtration

Having a vacuum with a strong filtration system with long endurance will improve both the floor cleanliness and the air quality inside your home.

Accessories

Many professional vacuum cleaners have a wide range of cleaning accessories that serve various specific needs. From car attachments to attachments for pet owners, or even upholstery attachments these accessories can make cleaning in very specific contexts much easier.

Carpet Cleaning Vs. Rug Cleaning

Published July 17, 2016 By Aladdin

Similar terms, different processes

You’d be surprised how many people don’t know the difference between carpets and rugs. Usually the terms are somewhat interchangeable on a vernacular level, but in fact they refer to different processes. In this blog post I’ll detail the differences between carpet cleaning and rug cleaning.

Carpet cleaning refers to cleaning pre-installed wall to wall carpets. There’s many potential methods one can use to do so, but hot water extraction is one of the best methods of removing impacted and embedded allergens, mold, dirt, and dust.

Rug cleaning

This refers to the cleaning of removable rugs that can be rolled up. This process entails sanitization with spray – in cases of odor damage due to pet urine- in order to kill any remaining bacteria. Afterwards, the rug will be completely immersed in a solution that neutralizes the heavy alkaline salts within the urine, allowing for a more complete removal of the urine residue. After the rug has absorbed the neutralizer for enough time, it will be rinsed off, and wrung out to remove all moisture. This part of the process gets rid of any odor.

The rug will now be given a hand scrub on both sides with a shampoo specifically matched for the rug’s material and construction. After the rug receives a thorough hand washing, it will be rinsed off and wrung out again, groomed with a brush, and hung to dry in a climate controlled heat room. After the rug dries, it will be closely inspected for any remaining soil, stains, or spots. If there any, the rug will be subjected to the entire process again. It’s worthwhile to note that it is completely essential that all water and moisture from the rug is thoroughly extracted – as it needs to be completely dry.

Club Soda as Universal Stain Remedy

Published July 13, 2016 By Aladdin

Is club soda really a miracle worker on stains? The answer is… sort of. Club soda is effective as a short term solution on stains (compared to water) however it’s not quite the stain removal miracle that it’s cracked up to be.

In studies done by the Drycleaning and Laundry Institute, club soda was applied directly to 10 common stains. The study found that after blotting spills with club soda, most visible traces of the substance were removed, however, the majority of these stains remained after both water and club soda was used. Under ultraviolet light, even more of these remaining stains are revealed.

The best approach is to rinse the stain with club soda as soon as possible after it happens, and then contact a professional cleaner who can remove the rest of the traces of the stains. All you need to do is to indicate to the cleaner exactly where the stain is, what substance stains it, and what attempts you made by yourself to fix the stain. If this isn’t done as soon as possible after the stain, any of the invisible remaining residue can oxidize over time, and leave a permanent discoloration later on – which may not be able to be removed.

It’s essential to think and act fast

When it’s time to get rid of the stain, use club soda right away to rinse it before it dries. Once it dries, the level of stain removing effectiveness of club soda drops significantly. For example, with coffee stains, sugar residue might not appear at first, but caramelizes as it dries leaving a yellow or brownish stain. Stain removal professionals can get rid of this residue if they know it’s there in the first place. It’s always recommended to our customers that you let the technician know about any sort of spills or stain removal attempts right away, so that they will be more prepared to restore your carpet or rug to a brand new appearance.

When not to use club soda

Some stains are worsened by club soda. Never use club soda on ballpoint pen ink, as it’s made of water and solvent chemicals, that can set the stain permanently into the fabric. Ink stains should be left up to carpet and rug cleaning professionals. For other kinds of stains, club soda will hold the stain off until you can get the rug or carpet inspected by a professional cleaner – who can almost always remove the stain, especially when acting quickly.