Why do spots sometimes come back after carpet cleaning?

by Jeremy Strickland

You and your husband had been talking about getting a dog for years, but he had been in grad school as well as waiting tables full time, and your own days were split between teaching and coaching volleyball. You struggled enough to find time for each other… How could you make time for a dog? It wouldn’t be fair to the pooch; you’re never home. But then grad school was done, and the weekend after volleyball season ended, the two of you stopped by a neighborhood pet store on a whim, just because you were driving past. There was a bright-eyed little German Shepherd puppy there with a black nose and a tongue that didn’t stop, the only one in the litter who was awake, and you guys played with him for twenty minutes. He was ridiculously cute. When you walked away, he cried, and that was that. Your husband couldn’t leave the place without him. Some years went by, and you adapted your life to include him. It didn’t take long to discover that adopting that puppy became one of the best decisions you had ever made. Sir Licksalot wasn’t just a dog anymore. He was family.

As it goes with our furry family, one day he got sick and peed on the Family Room carpet, something that hadn’t happened since the puppy days. So, you take your fur-baby to the vet and call in your local Carpet Cleaning Professional to clean up the mess (as a regular reader of this blog, you know better than to attempt a do-it-yourself cleanup). By the end of the day, Sir Licksalot is on the road to recovery, and your carpet has been returned to its former pee-pee-free glory thanks to the friendly, knowledgeable Carpet Cleaner…

…But in the morning, the spot in the Family Room which was cleaned yesterday has turned brown. What happened?!? Did the dog pee there again? Did the trusted Carpet Cleaner you had been so impressed with yesterday actually do a crummy job?

No no no. This brown spot is the result of wicking , a natural phenomenon caused by the carpet fibers drying from the bottom up. Think of a candle: the flame is drawn to the wax down along the wick. Carpet wicking works the same, only in reverse, as evaporation draws moisture up the carpet fibers, like a wick, to the air. A German Shepherd is a big dog, so he’s got a big bladder. When he peed, the urine soaked through to the padding, where it spread underneath the carpet. Carpet cleaning does not penetrate carpet backing, so without taking the carpet up to clean both sides, replacing the pad, and scrubbing the sub-floor, the urine underneath the carpet will remain. The drying carpet drew it up to the top of the fibers, turning the carpet brown (try this experiment with your kids to see wicking in action). This can happen to the best carpet cleaners, and it’s not their fault.

Dog urine is not the only cause of this phenomenon, by the way. Any organic material under the carpet could cause a brown spot to form as the carpet dries, even if what’s under the carpet has been there for years. Carpet with an organic backing like jute will also have this problem as it ages, and in the industry, we call that Cellulosic Browning (though modern carpet manufacturing has corrected this issue, so new carpeting is unlikely to suffer from cellulosic browning due to organic materials used in the backing).

Luckily, while large spills sometimes wick back up to the surface of your carpet after a cleaning, it doesn’t always happen, and there’s an easy fix if it does.

Randy’s Carpet Care has specialized in the science and art of Professional Carpet Cleaning since 1980. If you’re living in West Michigan with a sick pooch, a red wine spill, or a fallen meatball, call today to schedule your free estimate!

(616) 392-1400

 

What is an allergy?

by Jeremy Strickland

My little hometown of Newport, KY faces invasion every Spring. On the east side of town, countless pear trees produce white and pink flowers in folks’ yards, along the sidewalks, and down the median on Saratoga Street where the train tracks used to be. There must be a hundred or more of these pear trees, and all of those blossoms are a breathtaking sight.

Literally.

You can walk just about anywhere you may want to go in Newport, and I did. Everywhere, actually, including to the bookstore where I worked, right through the east side of town where white and pink petals float on the breeze like an enemy fleet at sea. Come April, I swear it felt like those trees were trying to kill me. My eyes would swell and get itchy, I’d sneeze like crazy, invest a small fortune in tissues and meds, and struggle to breathe. Sinus and ear infections invariably followed. Two years in a row I ended up in the emergency room for breathing treatments. It was awful.

Your immune system is usually a wonderful defense against all manner of ills, but in this case my immune system was being neurotic and overzealous. Allergic reactions occur when your body identifies a foreign invader, like pollen, as being dangerous, even though it’s not. Antibodies are dispatched, proteins used to communicate with your cells, telling them to create histamine whenever said invader is present. Once it hits your bloodstream, the battle begins. You know the drill, soldier.

What I’m describing is commonly known as Hay Fever, also called Allergic Rhinitis. I’m lucky that it’s my most serious allergy, because some allergies can be deadly. Peanuts and bee stings, for instance, can cause anaphylaxis in some people, which in severe cases can kill you. Your doctor can determine what allergies you may have by performing a blood and/or a skin test. For most of us, relief can be found by taking over-the-counter antihistamine and/or decongestant medication, but some of us may require prescription meds, allergy shots, or immunotherapy.

Mold is a common allergy that many folks find worrisome. I wrote about that here.

My stepson is allergic to the world, it seems (he’s even allergic to cold air, no joke), but for a moment, we were convinced his situation was even worse than it actually is. I wrote about it here.

If you suffer from seasonal allergies like me, there are many steps you can take to limit allergens in your home. I wrote about that here. SPOILER ALERT: Carpet cleaning is high on that list!

How to help dry your carpet after a professional cleaning

by Jeremy Strickland

There are few sureties in life, but there’s one I can count on at work: the client I’m speaking with is going to ask, “How long does it take for the carpet to dry after you’ve cleaned it?” It’s a good question because the answer is going to effect how they live in their home immediately after the cleaning. Now, I’ve written about this before, but I’d like to revisit this question and talk about what you can do to expediate the dry time.

You can expect your carpet to be damp for about 24 hours, given normal conditions after a hot water extraction. To help the process along (and maybe even speed it up), you can:

1. Set the temperature in your home for between 73° & 75° Fahrenheit. I know this is hot, but it’s optimum. If it’s too hot or too cold in your house, you’re going to trap moisture in the carpet.
2. Turn on any and all fans that you may have; ceiling fans, exhaust fans, box fans… Whatever you’ve got. It all helps.
3. Light a fire in your fireplace.
4. So long as it’s not terribly humid outside, open a window or a door. Let the air flow!

Keep in mind that the two most important factors for getting your carpet dry are air temperature and movement. You want to make sure that air is circulating throughout and not sitting still. If air has nowhere to go while your carpet is drying, the humidity in your house will go up. Think of the air in your home as a glass. If it fills with water, there’s no room for more, so the moisture in the carpet will have to wait.

Remember, air movement through your carpet fibers is inhibited when you leave footprints in the wet carpet (this is one reason that Professional Carpet Cleaning Technicians groom the carpet after cleaning). Try to walk on it as little as possible while damp. You have to live there, though, so don’t stress about it too much. Make sure everyone is wearing clean socks and being conscientious, and you’ll be fine. Just don’t forget to clean the dog’s paws off when she comes in from outside, and leave your shoes at the door!

Here’s a surety you can count on: Randy’s Carpet Care is West Michigan’s most trusted carpet cleaning company. If you live in West Michigan, call today to schedule your free in-home estimate. (616) 392-1400

10 Ways To Help Prevent Flooding In Your Home

by Jeremy Strickland

“The Great Wave off Kanagawa” by  ‎Katsushika Hokusai

I’m from Newport, KY, a beautiful little city across the big brown Ohio River from Cincinnati. Summers in that area are scorchers. In August, it can get to be over 100° Fahrenheit with 100% humidity to boot, so when I moved to West Michigan, I immediately fell in love with the mild summers. I mean, I’ve always loved summer, but I’ll take 85° and low humidity coupled with a nice breeze coming off of Michigan’s cool waters any day. Lake life! Oh, yes, it’s the best.

I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the winters here, though. “Polar Vortex” was not even in my vocabulary until January 2019, but now that phrase is burned (frozen?) into my vernacular. West Michigan had an entire week of nonstop snow and dangerously cold temperatures. With the windchill, it got to be something like -45° outside. Stupid cold! It’s as if I moved out of the boiling pot and into the freezer.

At work, the extreme cold led to a significant number of flood jobs due to frozen pipes which burst. Frozen pipes can lead to flooding basements back in my old Kentucky home too, but flooding is more likely to occur because of significant rainfall which causes the Ohio River to spill over. Regardless of the season or where you live, though, flooding can and will be a problem given the right scenario, and it’s a costly one too.

So, what can you do to help prevent flood water damage in your home?

1. Know your flood level. This is the official measurement for how high waters may rise in your area. Outlets, switches, and sockets should all be installed at least a foot above this level. The building department of your city and your home owner’s insurance company should have this info. You can also check FEMA’s flood maps on their website.
2. Mind your pipes. Insulate them and keep water trickling through them when the temperature outside drops below 20°. It’s a good idea to install check valves too.
3. Maintain a warm temperature indoors. Turning the heat down at night may save you a few bucks on your energy bill, but you’ll save even more money if you don’t have to deal with a flooded basement. If you must turn the thermostat down, or if you’re going out of town during the winter months, go no lower than 55°. It’s also a good idea to keep kitchen and bathroom cabinet doors open so you can keep the pipes under your sinks warm too.
4. Check your foundation. If it’s cracked, it’ll need to be sealed. You can also install foundation vents to allow water to move through it instead of building up outside of it.
5. Insulate and seal up any cracks. Attics, basements, and crawl spaces should all be well insulated to help keep warm air in and cold air out. Check your windows, doors, and sill plates for cracks. Locate ’em and get ’em sealed!
6. Landscape. Make sure your lawn slopes away from your home. Don’t put mulch up against your house. Wet mulch can lead to rot which can compromise the siding and cause leaks.
7. Check your sump pump. Does it have a battery back-up? It really should. Losing power is bad enough, you don’t want to lose power and have your basement flood too.
8. Check your gutters. Keep them clean and make sure the downspouts are pointing away from your house.
9. Retrofit. This is an expensive option, but raising your house on stilts or piers above the flood level can drastically reduce your home’s chances for flooding if you live in area prone to it.
10. Know what to do when flooding is imminent. If you can’t stop the great wave from coming, at least take precautions to minimize your losses. Turn off the power to areas likely to be affected. Get rugs, electronics, clothes, toys, and furniture up to a higher level of your home. Put appliances up on blocks. Have sandbags at the ready to block gaps. Put together an emergency go-bag for you and your family. Besides clothes, food, and medication, make sure you have enough cash packed in your bag to get you through a few days.

Whether you live in Kentucky, Michigan, California, or Hong Kong, water damage is a concern best addressed before there’s a wading pool in your house. Still, while taking these precautions will go a long way to safeguard your property, sometimes these things are unavoidable. If your home does flood, do not attempt to deal with it yourself. You’re much better off calling in a professional who will leave no stone unturned and do everything possible to mitigate the damage and prevent mold growth.

If you live in West Michigan, you’re lucky to have the award winning team at Randy’s Carpet Care to take the heat off of you. Call today for more information.

(616) 392-1400