Salt

Some people use salt on the carpets to try and soak up a spillage such as red cordial. Please don’t do this as salt is sometimes used in the carpet dying process and using it on a stain such as red cordial will drive the colour on to the fibre and probably make it permanent.

 

Over the counter carpet cleaners

Some of these contain bleach, and will remove the colours from the carpets. Also these cleaners will leave a residue on the carpets that will attract more dirt.

Bi-Carb Soda

Bicarb soda is an alkaline based product that can cause chemical burns to some carpets.

 

Dishwashing Liquid

It can leave a sticky residue and cause the carpets to attract more dirt.

 

Oxygen enriched products

These chemicals release oxygen to make hydrogen peroxide when mixed with water. They can also contain optical brighteners and over time they can turn yellow and cause lighter spots on the carpets.

 

Salt

Some people use salt on the carpets to try and soak up a spillage such as red cordial. Please don’t do this as salt is sometimes used in the carpet dying process and using it on a stain such as red cordial will drive the colour on to the fibre and probably make it permanent.

 

Over the counter carpet cleaners

Some of these contain bleach, and will remove the colours from the carpets. Also these cleaners will leave a residue on the carpets that will attract more dirt.

Bi-Carb Soda

Bicarb soda is an alkaline based product that can cause chemical burns to some carpets.

 

Dishwashing Liquid

It can leave a sticky residue and cause the carpets to attract more dirt.

 

Oxygen enriched products

These chemicals release oxygen to make hydrogen peroxide when mixed with water. They can also contain optical brighteners and over time they can turn yellow and cause lighter spots on the carpets.

 

Did you know that the carpet cleaning industry in Australia is unregulated!

Formal carpet cleaning training only started in 1994 and it is not a requirement to have, this means anyone can go and purchase a machine and call themselves a carpet cleaner. They are unqualified and untrained looking for quick cash, they are like to ask customers what have you been quoted and then they undercut the professional and reputable carpet cleaners.

At By Lab Carpet & Pest we have formal training and are qualified and certified in Carpet Cleaning and Advance Stain Removal. Carpets are costly to install and purchase they need to be correctly maintained to ensure you get a useful life out of them. You won’t want an unqualified mechanic looking at your car would you? So why would you use an unqualified carpet cleaner to clean your carpets! Only a carpet cleaner who is qualified and certified can identify the correct cleaning methods for your carpet fibres and fabrics. Carpet should be cleaned at least every 12 months, when carpets are cleaned and maintained correctly and on a regular basis it increases the carpet life significantly.

The most important maintenance for you carpet is thorough and regular vacuuming at least once a week and more in heavy traffic areas, by proper vacuuming it will remove soil and dirt particles before they get embedded into the carpets pile.

What to do if you spill something!

DO NOT SCRUB OR RUB this can cause permanent pile damage.

1. Scoop up any solids before cleaning.

2. Blot up as much liquid as you can using a clean white towel or paper towel.

3. Clean with only water do not saturate the carpet. (There are other detergents you could use but we advise our customers to only use water).

4. Blot dry with white paper towel.

5. Call By Lab Carpet & Pest.

By following the above steps, we have a better chance of removing the stain.

You know you’re doing a good job when your competitors have to bad mouth you to customers and say “don’t use them their no good” is that the only way they can get customers to pay such high prices is to scare them. What does this say about the way they run their business? I have not and will not ever bad mouth any one of my competitors. Why? Because I don’t have one thought about them, they don’t even enter my mind. So at night when I am sound asleep it’s good to know that I am on their minds and I keep them awake.

Well we all know that dirt get into your carpets but do you know what the dirt does?

Dirt in carpets is an abrasive - like sandpaper. Every time you step on the carpet, you grind dirt into your carpet fibres. This cuts your carpet, just as if you used a knife, causing it to wear out faster. A dirty carpet will not last nearly as long as a clean carpet. And while vacuuming helps - by itself it's simply not enough. The longer you wait to have your carpet cleaned, the more damage you do to your carpet and the faster it wears out.

What else is in your carpets?

As you probably know, outdoor air contains pollens, fungus, bacteria, air pollution, cigarette smoke, car exhaust - and hundreds of other chemicals. When you and your family members come into your home, you carry those pollens, bacteria and chemicals in your hair and on your skin, clothing and shoes. Not surprisingly, all those chemicals, pollens and bacteria wind up you guessed it - in your carpet.

If you have allergies, asthma, emphysema, or other breathing problems - one major source of your problem could be the pollens, fungus, and chemicals in your carpet.

In addition, as you may know, tobacco smoke contains over 4000 different chemical compounds, 43 of which cause cancer. And even if you don't smoke, those chemicals get in your shoes; you track them in to your home and leave them in your carpet.

So in addition to getting rid of dirt, another important reason to clean your carpet is to get rid of pollens, fungus, bacteria, chemicals and the tars and residue from tobacco smoke.

Carpet Cleaning helps get rid of this. Give us a call and start feeling better.

I have had a lot of customers ask me the difference between carpet cleaning from a carpet shampooer and our method of Hot Water Extraction.

There are a lot of cowboys coming into the market, who get a carpet shampooer from Kirby, Bissell, rug doctor etc. and think they can become a carpet cleaner. They would not have a clue. We have had formal training, have licenses, years and years of experience and most importantly we are fully insured. There are different procedures for different fibres of carpet – to prevent shrinkage, resoiling and browning. Stain treatments – some chemicals can set the stains and you will never get it out. And not to mention the PSI and PH Levels.

Don’t be fooled when the words carpet shampoo and deep clean are used together. These cowboys will undercut prices because they don’t use the best chemicals and they are not insured. Don’t take the risk, if it sounds cheap there is a reason why.

Carpet Shampoo Method

The theory in the shampoo method is to generate a lot of foam in the carpet, allow this foam to dry, have the resulting residue attract the soil and vacuum up the residue and soil the next day.

Carpet shampoo products must have the following characteristics which dictate their ingredients:

• Very high foam levels to reduce wetting.

• Very stable foam.

• High lubricity to reduce damage to the carpet fibres from the brushes.

• Dry to a non-sticky residue.

Therefore, a carpet shampoo must contain a very foamy chemical. The most common ingredient is sodium lauryl sulphate or one of its relatives. Sometime when you're taking a shower or bath, look at the ingredient statement on your hair shampoo bottle. It will say "Contains sodium lauryl sulphate" or some similar wording. Sodium Lauryl Sulphate and its relatives exhibit very high and very stable foam and are only fair detergents. The problem is that they dry to a soft, sticky residue which will cause resoling.

Because of the resoling problem, carpet shampoos will frequently also has an anti-resoling additive such as a resin to reduce this resoling tendency.

Because shampoos are actually very poor detergents and basically simply bury the dirt, they frequently also contain high levels of optical brighteners which take invisible ultraviolet light and convert it to visible light, thus making the carpet appear cleaner and brighter than it really is, for a while. It will eventually give the carpet a yellow cast and the yellow cannot be removed.

Shampoo methods are inferior due to poor cleaning plus resoling problems. The Rotary Shampoo method can damage the carpet, especially cut pile (which is what most residential carpet is).

Hot Water Extraction

Hot water extraction or warm water extraction or steam cleaning  is THE BEST WAY TO CLEAN CARPET according to nearly all carpet manufacturers

This method, the best way to clean carpet, is the cleaning method nearly all carpet manufacturers and carpet fibre producers recommend.

This is the only cleaning method classified as "deep cleaning". All the others are considered "light surface cleaning" or "interim cleaning" because they are incapable of removing soil deep in the pile. Also, all other methods leave large amounts of cleaning agent in the carpet after cleaning.

The maintenance brochure published by the world's largest carpet manufacturer, Shaw Industries, recommends this method, because its own research indicates that it provides the best capability for cleaning carpet and rugs.

This carpet cleaning method is frequently called steam cleaning due to the fine spray of water used to force dirt out of the carpet which is sucked up by the vacuum slot immediately in front of the spray. Seldom is real live steam used, however. This process consists of spraying a solution of water and detergent into the carpet pile and recovering the water and soil with a powerful vacuum into a holding tank. This can be done from a truck-mounted unit outside the home with only the hose and floor tool brought inside, or by a portable, system brought into the home or office.