Browse Forums Flooring & Floor Covering Re: Had your carpets cleaned lately? 21Jul 04, 2009 10:50 pm Not sure what to make of this, but we put beige Berber carpet through a large split-level house in the Adelaide hills in 1980. 25 years later, in 2005, we needed a change. We advertised the original carpet, thinking it would be OK for a shack/rumpus room etc. Mistimed the visits from the extensive replies to our ad and we had two groups come awfully close to literally fighting over the right to buy the house full of carpet at what we thought was a pretty optimistic price. Yep, it was heavy quality ( Hycraft Hyberber) and there were no visible wear marks (we had tiled walkways) and no soiling whatsoever. But it was 25 years old!!! The point is that we had open fires, a combustion heater and we raised a family with assorted dogs and cats in that home. We had lots of parties with the associated spills. We spot-cleaned promptly when needed but NEVER had the carpets shampooed. Intuitively, I accept that it's a good idea to have carpets cleaned regularly, but my experience suggests otherwise. The replacement carpet was a beige 100% wool sisal-look heavy duty. Again, only spot cleaning as necessary over 5 years and the agent selling our house totally discounted our idea of having it cleaned to "freshen it up". Seeing as the house sold in the first week, we think she was right. So, if our new carpet in the new house looks perfect after a year, we probably won't call the cleaners in. At least this thread will make me consider that option. Not sure whether to post this or not because it sounds a bit grubby.....but WTH, it's the truth Cheers zeke Re: Had your carpets cleaned lately? 22Jul 05, 2009 5:36 pm Zeke, I like your posts. Yes they challenge the conventions, but they are real life experiences! In your case, it seems the main factor is you have chosen carpets with excellent characteristics, mainly being; They are quality, wool carpets, which have excellent soil hiding properties and excellent resilience. And you have concentrated on maintaining them from day-to-day and cleaned up spills prompty. So well done, in that respect! I often make a point to my customers.... THEY are the PRIMARY carer of their carpets. How they live and look after them has a greater impact on their carpet's life than I can. The opposite of course, is where folk abuse their homes, leaving soills there to putrify and stains to become more permanent, and then call me after a year to try and undo all the damage! When I clean carpets, by definition, I am offering a restoration cleaning service, but MAINTENANCE is of primary importance. It also demonstrates that (although the carpets will have accumulated a considerable soil-load) they looked ok, and I assume were NOT leading to everyone keeling over from allergies! This is a good point to make to those who go on and on about carpets being so 'filthy'! If it looks ok, smells ok, and isn't leading to allergy related problems, its a floor-covering that is serving you very well! So in the grand scheme of things, we all have different lifestyles, choices of floor-coverings and circumstances. The beauty is, our homes are our OWN. We choose how we live in them, present them, make them comfy and all that. But generally speaking, having carpets (that are in regular use) cleaned by a professional technician at least every 2 years is good sound advice. Ash. Re: Had your carpets cleaned lately? 23Jul 05, 2009 9:16 pm Ash, Any recos for Sydney? I have tried 2 different guys but the job was not done to my satisfaction by both. I am on my way to vacate this rental and move to my place in 5 weeks, so need to get a good job done. Thanks in advance. Re: Had your carpets cleaned lately? 24Jul 05, 2009 9:41 pm mohit, Frank Devine should be able to help, or if out of his area, I'm sure he will recommend a good operator. Here's his site ... http://www.devinecleaning.com.au/ Gotta warn you tho.... Frank is a very naughty boy! When he's not cleaning carpets, he's usually playin up! Tell him Ash sent you to him, and he'll REALLY play up! Cheers! Ash. Re: Had your carpets cleaned lately? 25Aug 02, 2009 10:54 am Hi Ash Could you please provide a recommendation for a reputable and effective carpet cleaner in the Brisbane area? north of the river if that helps Thanks in advance Re: Had your carpets cleaned lately? 26Aug 02, 2009 2:38 pm No probs. These are all good... Chris Williams Kugar Pty Ltd 0418 780883 Paul Gleeson Bayside Carpet Cleaning 0417 779737 Chris Laird Stately Carpet Care 0403 309570 Or you could contact Craig of Safeclean. He is a member here, his username is Grout Perfect. Craig is a bigger operation with several vans on the road. Ash. Re: Had your carpets cleaned lately? 30Aug 02, 2009 4:53 pm royalblue No probs. These are all good... Thank you, Ash. Your advice is much appreciated. There are so many companies, all calling themselves the best, its hard to know what or who is genuinely good. Great to have advice from someone in the know. Re: Had your carpets cleaned lately? 31Aug 02, 2009 5:31 pm CarolineJ Doh- sorry, I didn't see you were in Perth . Rental is in Mount Pleasant- is that in your area? No probs. Give me as much notice as possible when you know your shifting schedule. Its best to plan to do all your shifting first, then general cleaning, and then I come in last thing before you hand over. Cheers! Ash. Re: Had your carpets cleaned lately? 32Aug 02, 2009 5:40 pm misskittyfantastico There are so many companies, all calling themselves the best, its hard to know what or who is genuinely good. Yeah, as a general rule of thumb, those spending all the big $ on fancy advertising are the ones to avoid. The real achievers often do little self-promotion, and rely on word-of-mouth and regular work from a loyal customer base. Ash. Re: Had your carpets cleaned lately? 33Aug 04, 2009 9:32 pm royalblue CarolineJ Doh- sorry, I didn't see you were in Perth . Rental is in Mount Pleasant- is that in your area? No probs. Give me as much notice as possible when you know your shifting schedule. Its best to plan to do all your shifting first, then general cleaning, and then I come in last thing before you hand over. Cheers! Ash. Will do . I have a few, um, challenges for you when the time comes!! My two year old hid a lemon under my desk, and it went mouldy, into the carpet . Re: Had your carpets cleaned lately? 35Aug 05, 2009 8:35 pm Hi Ash It was great to catch up with you and some of the other guys in Perth last week. That Thai place was great, thanks for the night out. If you want to give people some peace of mind when choosing a good carpet cleaner you can find a good one at www.woolsafe.com.au. This is an international Certification body for the carpet industry. The network of Woolsafe Certified Operators has carpet cleaners based right around Australia who have been trained to the highest standards and use only WoolSafe Approved products when cleaning wool or wool rich carpets so you know you will get a great job. They also clean synthetic carpets as well. In order to become a member they must also meet certain requirements of training and experience and must be a member of an industry association and carry adequate insurance plus a few other requirements all designed to ensure the customer gets quality work and value for money. If anyone is looking for a safe spotter to use on thier carpet they can simply look for the WoolSafe logo on the bottle and will know that it has been independently tested by the WoolSafe Organisation and has proven to be safe and effective for use on wool and other fibres. cheers Col Nation For information on caring for wool and other carpet and upholstery go to www.woolsafe.com.au Re: Had your carpets cleaned lately? 36Aug 05, 2009 9:44 pm I find that to clean a carpet well, you have to spend a lot of time, either doing it slowly, or doing it twice, or more, until the water that your spraying on the carpet, is coming up clean. Unfortunately, a professional carpet cleaner, cant spend the time needed to get it as clean as possible. I would recommend hiring the steamcleaner unit yourself and clean it until your satisfied that it's clean. The only time I would suggest paying someone else to do it, is if you can't or refuse do it yourself...... Just my two cents worth Re: Had your carpets cleaned lately? 37Aug 06, 2009 5:56 am Hi Zaphod, In all honesty... I am a bit baffled by your comments. Makes me wonder how you came to those conclusions? Yes, it takes time to clean effectively. There is a cleaning principle known as C.H.A.T. It suggests that to clean effectively requires a combination of Chemical activity, Heat, Agitation and Time. There are a number of ways that a professional carpet cleaning technician can use these elements together to get results that makes a DIY job look a very poor option! Professional techs may well get a job done much quicker than you'd do, because they do it so much more efficiently. Many of us use powerful truck-mounted equipment, combined with advanced chemistry, accesories and more. Good technicians have spent years gaining their skills and technical knowledge so they are qualified and experienced in the many facets of proper carpet care. There is much more science in cleaning then you may realise, and potential for you to have unfortunate outcomes by doing it yourself. Ash. Re: Had your carpets cleaned lately? 38Aug 06, 2009 7:34 am Totally agree with Ash's comments. The hire machines are the equivelant of a shovel and a box trailer compared to a professional machine which would be the equivelant of a back hoe and a tip truck or semitrailer. If you are trying to dig a hole for a swimming pool in your back yard then you will spend a lot of time driving to the dump with lots of loads of soil and you will spend a lot of valuable family time doing it. Yes the box trailer behind your average small car will get the job done (eventually), and you will end up with a big hole in the ground. Pay a professional with the right equipment, knowldge, and experience and you get it done in a much shorter time, less problems, and end up with a hole that exactly fits the shape of the pool. This saves the pool builder time and money which means less hassles later on. Yes, you can clean your own carpet with a hire machine, but it will take you 8 to 10 hours to achieve what a professional carpet cleaner with the right chemistry and equipment can do in 2 to3 hours. You just have to decide what your time is worth both in monetary terms and family time. cheers Col Nation For information on caring for wool and other carpet and upholstery go to www.woolsafe.com.au Re: Had your carpets cleaned lately? 39Aug 06, 2009 11:43 am Col Nation Hi Ash It was great to catch up with you and some of the other guys in Perth last week. That Thai place was great, thanks for the night out. If you want to give people some peace of mind when choosing a good carpet cleaner you can find a good one at http://www.woolsafe.com.au Yeah it was a good night, Col, and also enjoyed refining my stain removal skills at the training course you ran. And yes, I have recommended Woolsafe's site for finding techs on many occasions. For those that don't know, Col is a certified trainer for the carpet cleaning industry, with special skills in spot and stain removal, as well as running Woolsafe Australia. Ash. Re: Had your carpets cleaned lately? 40Aug 06, 2009 2:44 pm I guess there are different machines available for hire....? The ones I have hired seemed to squirt and suck effectively. Can you post a pic of the truck mounted machine? I doubt it is any different than some I have used....... BTW one of my friends was a professional carpet cleaner who worked for a company, he used to complain that clients would make him spend too much time removing dirt , not even stains. The responses from ash and col nation were to be expected, in fact , we all know that professionals are more concerned with supplying good quality workmanship, than making a profit That is a really good attitude Akin to you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. 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