Alpine Cleaners Blog

It's just not easy for the homeowner to clean her floor using a mop and detergent. Today's ceramic tile flooring is more textured than ever and the porous lime based grout easily absorbs moisture and oils and sugars. These residues in turn attract dirt and other solids that degrade the overall appearance of the darkening and bacteria laden grout. The ability of a mop or steamers to retrieve these materials seems feeble even though the best chemicals are used.

Hot water extraction, or "steam cleaning" as it is commonly referred to, is the most popular method of carpet cleaning today.  It is recognized as the preferred method of cleaning by just about every major carpet manufacturer.   It has also been recognized as the most effective cleaning system by the IICRC for removing the most amount of soil from carpeting and keeping carpets from resoiling.  It is actually a rinsing step in a multi-step carpet cleaning process that has been around since the 1960's.  Invented exclusively for that purpose, it has been misused for decades as a one step cleaning process by many cut rate cleaners as well as franshise cleaners with big advertising budgets and little ethics.   When used this way, a consumer is often misled into believing that just because a company employs expensive equiptment that is powerful, that it is being utilized correctly. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. 

There are a few basic steps that must be performed to properly clean a carpet.  A "clean" carpet is one that has had the soils removed from it.  Also a clean carpet is one that doesn’t resoil quickly and doesn’t take days to dry. If you take the time necessary to perform these steps, you will be on your way to clean carpet.

Many homeowners and landlords today are concerned about the potential presence of mold in their home. This is undoubtedly the result of a barrage of education and information that has been made available recently through private and public media.  This information is more prevalent now as a result of our knowledge of the relationship with indoor air quality and our health.  You may have heard that the EPA states that indoor air can be much more polluted than outdoor air. If you don't already have a basic idea of mold feel free to check out our page on residential mold inspection or the EPA's mold information.

Mistake #1: Choosing a carpet cleaner based on equipment alone

There are a few different carpet cleaning methods that professionals use today, but only one is recommended by experts. Let's go over the first three before we go over the recommended way and the way Alpine Cleaners cleans carpets. 

Asphalt, bacteria, car exhaust, dirt, dust, earth, food particles, fungus, germs, gravel, grease, grime, grit, hair industrial waste, lint, (DEEP BREATH) mud, pet stains, pollens, pollutants, PLUS all the living creatures like dust mites and critters that live and breed in your carpet. With all these reasons and more it is the nature of your carpet to get dirt. But how?

Misconception #1: You should wait as long as possible before cleaning your carpet.

Urine stains are tricky for a typical homeowner to remediate. The composition of urine mirrors animals water needs, therefore pet urine is usually highly concentrated which makes it even harder to remove. Another issue with pet urine spots is that Buster is not just peeing in one spot. If he is letting it go inside the house, chances are he let's it go all over the place (behind the couch, in your bedroom, etc.). 

Mold is a problem that many homeowners face each year. It creates all sorts of problems due to the way in which it effects indoor air quality. Residential mold inspection is something that Alpine Cleaners has been involved with for a long time, ever since the problem happened in our own home. Here are the top ten things people should know about mold.