This month's Tip of the Month: Floor-covering selection
I just had the opportunity to hook up with my old classmate, the architect. I've been recommending the new vinyl tile to landlords and restaurants for a few years. But this guy has raised vinyl tile to a new art form. In his very expensive home on Weaver Ridge Golf Course, he has simulated textured stone bordered by wood (all vinyl) and it looks classy! In his father's home (which he designed), it's all parquet with a strip or plank wood border - again, all vinyl. When I first walked across it, I thought it was a very expensive wood floor installation. I found out it was a very practical vinyl floor - very easy to maintain without wax. I don't mention this so you all rip out your carpets and install vinyl - except in the kitchen, maybe the dining room, the bathroom, and especially the basement. In the basement, it's not if the floor gets wet, it's when. This came up over the holidays when we had the bad weather and some people came back after being gone for two weeks and found the basement carpet still wet. Can you say mold remediation?
For basements, I have 2 more recommendations:
Go on Google and search concrete dying and etching. You should be able to see some before and after pictures that will flip you out. I couldn't believe all the gorgeous stuff you can do with existing (or new) concrete (my architect friend used heated, died concrete in his lower level family room and saves a lot on energy). Then let me know if you think I should get into this. I think it would be great fun and right up my alley - I used to do custom paint jobs on motorcycles, race cars, show cars, and vans, etc.
Also, carpet tiles would give you the wall-to-wall effect but be easier to deal with (and more easily replaced or fixed) than a glue-down commercial and way more practical than a carpet stretched over a pad - after a flood. Carpet tiles come in different size squares from 12", 18", 24," and can be pulled up one-at-a-time and replaced or taken down to the car wash, hosed out, and then put back - very handy after a flood! I definitely recommend all carpet-over-pad installations in basements be pulled up and the pad removed and the carpet glued down. I've seen the results of having a pad in the basement after a flood (it takes too long to dry - better off pulling the carpet back and remove the pad before mold takes off). And you will have a wet floor down there, eventually. Some are allergic to mold and mold is the leading factor causing athsma.
For more info, call me at 647-6316 and pick my brain. I want carpet-owning to be a painless experience.
Last month's tip of the Month - Carpet Spotting
First, let me remind you to check out "Why Carpets Die Young" for my report which gives you a good background on carpet maintenance and "Free Guide" for our "Consumer Awareness Guide To Carpet Cleaning" which you can print out and share with your friends. Now, the most important thing to know about carpet spotting:
YOU CAN'T REMOVE A WET SPOT!!!
That means a spot that is spilled into the carpet and is still wet AND it means a spot that you got too wet in trying to remove it, even if it was just a smudge that came off of dirty shoes.
- Let spill stains get completely dry before trying to remove the stain. Blot with white towels and leave a pile of white terry towels weighted by plates overnight to wick up all excess moisture. Then use a no-suds spotter (like our Abolish) to spritz the shadow that remains after it is dry to re-wet the stain and blot it out (lay a terry towel over it, step on it, and "do the twist."
- If your spot is just a smudge or is already dry, don't slosh it! Don't get out the garden hose! You will work against yourself. As long as the carpet is wet, dirt from down in the pad is moving up to the tips as the carpet dries (dirty moisture wicks to the tips and evaporates into the air, leaving the dirt at the tip of the fiber where you can see it). You only want to moisten the stain enough to blot it out without getting the backing and pad wet. Simplify! Just spritz and blot - no more returning spots!
- If you're having trouble, don't panic. Just give me a call at 647-6316 and if I'm not in, put a pile of weighted towels over the spot until I get back to you. Remember, all of my coffee, Coke, tea stains are somewhere between 6 months and 6 years old when I first see them and I never have any trouble removing them.
