Five Step Carpet Care of Asheville NC provides rug and carpet cleaning services at the most affordable price in Asheville NC.

How to Get Chewing Gum Out of Carpet

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When you find a sticky, gunky mess of gum stuck in your carpet, you’ll want to get it out as soon as possible. But how? You may have heard that freezing the gum with ice does the trick. While freezing is a helpful start, it may not be enough to complete the task. It all depends on how stuck into the carpet fibers the gum is. But don’t fret! There are ways to get chewing gum out of carpet. Just follow the steps below.

  1. Freeze the gum. Put a few ice cubes in a plastic baggy and place it on top of the gum. Leave it there for a few minutes, long enough for the gum to freeze and harden. Once it is hardened, try to pull the gum off of the carpet. If you succeed, great! You can stop here. But if there are still bits of gum ground into the carpet fibers that won’t come off, continue on to the next step.
  2. Apply WD-40. Please perform a spot test first to ensure that no discoloration will result! WD-40 is great for dissolving chewing gum, enabling you to easily lift it from the carpet. Spray the solution from close to the gum stain, and with a butter knife, scrape at the gum, picking up the bits as they separate from the mass. You may need to reapply the WD-40 if there is a lot of gum, or if it is ground deeply into the carpet.
  3. Quick clean-up. Finally, once the gum is completely removed, spray the area with your favorite non-toxic carpet spot cleaner, or a small amount of dish detergent and water. Wipe it with a clean cloth, and allow to air dry.

And that’s it! By following these three steps, you should be able to get chewing gum out of carpet without a big hassle. If you live in the Asheville, NC area and you need some help with carpet cleaning, give Five Step a call at 828.327.7233 or use our contact form.

How to Get Wax Out of Carpet

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wax on carpet

Did your elegant candlelit dinner result in a waxy mess? Did your séance go awry when someone toppled the candle onto the carpet? Or perhaps you just have a teenager. Regardless of how you ended up with a wax stain, you are probably wondering how to get wax out of carpet.

Removing dried, hardened wax from carpet might seem tricky, but it’s definitely doable. Just follow the three simple steps below and see for yourself.

 

  1. Scrape up the dry wax. Using a butter knife or other dull metal straight-edge, scrape the hardened wax and vacuum up the chunks. You can also score the surface of the wax and lift it up in pieces with the knife.
  2. Iron the wax stain. Place a wet towel over the hardened wax and hold your heated iron on top of the towel for up to 30 seconds at a time. The wax will melt and be lifted onto the towel. The towel must be wet to avoid overheating and possibly burning the towel or the carpet underneath. If your towel dries out, wet it again. For an extra heavy wax spill, have extra towels on hand in case the first one gets too saturated with wax. Repeat until the wax is gone.
  3. Remove any remaining residue. At this point, you can use a regular carpet cleaning spray to remove any remaining wax film. Use the carpet cleaner according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

 

If you have any trouble with the above steps, it may be time to call in the pros! Give Five Step Carpet Care a call at 828.237.3237 or drop us a line.

 

Carpet Cleaning for Small Businesses: Why is it Important?

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carpet care for small businesses

Being a small business owner isn’t easy! There are so many things on your to-do list: hiring, billing, customer service, marketing, delivery, equipment maintenance, accounting…the list is never-ending. It’s understandable that sometimes more minor tasks are forgotten or put off until later. One of those possibly minor-seeming tasks might be carpet cleaning for small businesses.

But it’s not a good idea to make professional carpet cleaning one of those “back burner” tasks. If you have carpet in your business location, keeping it fresh and clean is important. The way your space looks and smells helps your customer to form their first impression of the business. But, perhaps even more importantly, professional carpet cleaning protects your health as well, not to mention the health of your employees and customers.

Over time, carpets will accumulate pollutants that could pose a health hazard. These contaminants come into your business through foot traffic, drafts from open doors or windows, HVAC systems, spills, and even coughs or sneezes. Regular vacuuming can eliminate some of the toxins, like mold spores, pollen, and dust. But other health hazards–like bacteria, viruses, harmful chemicals and pesticides–can only be extracted using professional cleaning methods.

To make sure your business space is both clean and healthy, it’s a good idea to commit to routine professional cleaning.

How often should you have your carpets cleaned? Well, it depends.

  • If you do not receive clients at your location, and you have relatively little foot traffic, you can probably get by with yearly professional cleanings.
  • If your business location does receive clients, or has moderate to heavy foot traffic, two to three cleanings a year are recommended.
  • Restaurants, hotels, and nursing homes should have carpets cleaned more frequently in order to maintain a healthy environment. Monthly cleaning is recommended.
  • Elementary and high schools should have carpets cleaned on an every three to six months schedule.
  • Carpets in kindergartens or day care centers require extra attention. Small children are built low to the ground and attract a lot more dirt and dust than adults, as well as bacteria and viruses. Their developing immune systems are also much more susceptible to illness from bacteria or viruses. Therefore, it is recommended that daycare centers have carpets cleaned monthly.

Carpet cleaning for small businesses requires maintenance! In between professional cleanings, follow these tips to keep your small business’s carpets looking their best:

  • Stick to a regular vacuuming schedule.
  • When having work done inside your location (like remodeling or plumbing), put down adhesive carpet protection strips where the heaviest foot traffic will be.
  • Place welcome mats both inside and outside all entrances so customers and employees can wipe their feet before entering the space.
  • When small spills or stains occur, you can blot (not rub) with a dry paper towel to remove as much of the moisture as you can, then apply a spot cleaner according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
  • Before using any spot cleaner on your carpet, do a spot test in an out-of-sight location to ensure the cleaner won’t result in fading or damage to the carpet fiber.

If your business is located in the Asheville, NC area, give Five Step a call at 828.237.7233 or contact us to discuss your carpet care needs.

How to Get Tomato Sauce Stains Out of Carpet and Upholstery

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how to get tomato sauce out of carpet

Tomato based stains may look tough, but they’re actually not hard to remove! Whether it’s pizza, marinara, ketchup, or soup, here’s how to get tomato sauce stains out of carpet and upholstery.

Your half-eaten slice of pizza slips off your plate and lands, upside down, on the couch. You pick it up quickly, only to reveal that the pizza sauce has already done its dirty work: there’s a stain on your upholstery!

When it comes to carpet and upholstery stains, the tomato-based type are among the most feared by homeowners. It can take many forms, from pizza sauce to marinara sauce to Bloody Marys. But the good news is that, although tomato-based stains certainly do look bad, they’re actually not difficult to clean in most cases.

As always, try to clean the stain as soon as it occurs. If you don’t, you’re giving those tomato juices extra time to set into the fabric or carpet fiber and dry, making your job more difficult. But even if you don’t notice the stain at first, it’s still possible to clean it after it’s set in. It might just take some extra effort.

Here are the supplies you’ll need:

  • A butter knife
  • A bucket
  • Warm water
  • Dish soap
  • Two clean cloths or towels, one for wet-blotting and one for drying.
  • A spray bottle
  • White vinegar

Follow these steps to remove the tomato sauce stain from your upholstery or carpet:

  1. Use the butter knife to gently remove any excess sauce from above the carpet or upholstery surface. This is better than using a cloth or paper towel, which can spread and smear the sauce into the fabric.
  2. Add a squirt of dish soap to four cups of warm water in your bucket and mix it.
  3. Wet one of the towels in the dish soap-water solution and rub at the tomato sauce stain, allowing the stain to absorb into the towel.
  4. When the stain is gone, blot dry with the second towel. If you’ve gone through steps 1-4 two or three times and the stain is still there, move onto step 5.
  5. Spray undiluted vinegar onto the stain using the spray bottle, and let sit for about twenty minutes.
  6. Use a clean towel to blot the vinegar-treated stain.
  7. Repeat until stain is gone.

If the stain is very large or well set, you may want to call in the professionals rather than devote all that time to cleaning it yourself. In that case, we’d love to help! Give Five Step Carpet Care a call at 828.237.3237 or get in touch via our contact form.

Small Businesses Need Carpet Care, Too!

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It can be stressful for small business owners to make sure that everything gets done. As an entrepreneur, you’ve got a never-ending list of things to do: hiring, billing, customer service, marketing, product and service delivery, equipment maintenance, and taxes, just to name a few! Every task must be done on time and efficiently. With all of those demands on an small business owner’s time, it’s understandable that more minor tasks always seem to get put off until later.

Professional cleaning for your carpets can often be one of those “back burner” tasks. But if your small business has carpet, it’s important to keep it looking fresh and clean—especially if you employ people or receive customers at your business location. Aesthetics are important—the way your business space looks will often help your potential customer form their first impression of your business. But the importance of carpet cleaning goes beyond the purely superficial. Your health, as well as that of your employees and customers, is also a factor.

Over time, carpets accumulate pollutants that can become a health hazard. These pollutants are transferred onto carpets from foot traffic, drafts from an open door, spills, or even sneezes. Some of these contaminants, such as mold spores, pollen, and dust, can be eliminated with regular vacuuming. But other toxins–like bacteria, viruses, chemicals, and pesticides–can only be extracted by using professional cleaning methods. In order to keep your business’s carpets clean AND healthy, it’s a good idea to commit to routine cleaning.

How often depends on what kind of business you are running.

  • If you do not receive clients at your location, and you have relatively little foot traffic, you can probably get by with yearly professional cleanings.
  • If your business location does receive clients, or has moderate to heavy foot traffic, two to three cleanings a year are recommended.
  • Restaurants, hotels, and nursing homes should have carpets cleaned more frequently in order to maintain a healthy environment. Monthly cleaning is recommended.
  • Elementary and high schools should have carpets cleaned on an every three to six months schedule.
  • Carpets in kindergartens or day care centers require extra attention. Young children are built low to the ground and attract a lot more dirt and dust than adults, as well as bacteria and viruses. Their developing immune systems are also much more susceptible to illness from bacteria or viruses. Therefore it is recommended that daycare centers have carpets professionally cleaned monthly.
  • In between cleanings, you can keep your carpets looking beautiful by implementing a regular vacuuming schedule. When having work done inside your location (like remodeling or plumbing), put down adhesive carpet protection strips where the heaviest foot traffic will be. It’s also a great idea to place welcome mats both inside and outside all entrances so customers and employees to wipe their feet before entering the space. When small spills or stains occur, you can blot (not rub) with a dry paper towel to remove as much of the moisture as you can. It’s a good idea not to use spot cleaners on your carpet unless you’ve previously tested them in an out-of-sight location to ensure they don’t result in fading or damage to the carpet fiber. Finally, be aware that attempting to clean your business’s carpets on your own could result in a voided manufacturer’s warranty.

We hope this blog post helped you make an informed decision about carpet care for your business! If your business is located in the Asheville, NC area, give Five Step a call at 828.237.7233 or contact us to discuss your carpet care needs.

 

Here Are the Five Steps that Made Us Famous!

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Five Step Carpet Care? What are these five steps all about?

We aren’t in the business of building staircases and we haven’t invented any new dance moves lately. But we have developed a unique, five step process for cleaning carpets that works better than our competitors! Here they are:

  • STEP 1: A professional soil extractor is used to remove deep down dirt, dust and allergens.
  • STEP 2: Non-toxic cleaning solution is applied to carpet fibers with special attention given to problem areas.
  • STEP 3: A professional rotary activator is used to loosen and lift deeply embedded soil and stains from the carpet. At this step, we also use hot water extraction if necessary.
  • STEP 4: A machine with a special 100% cotton bonnet is used to remove any remaining soil and pollutants. It also accelerates drying.
  • STEP 5: Carpet pile is groomed to give it the new carpet look and feel. Furniture is placed back to its original position with special protective pads.

Our goal is to always be honest and transparent with our customers. Some companies will only answer questions in a vague manner. They promise to get out stains and odors, but a few days after they leave, the dirt seems to re-emerge from beneath the carpet. Or, their cleaning solutions end up damaging the carpet that they were paid to clean!

We don’t mind telling you exactly what our five step process entails, because we have nothing to hide. Our cleaning solutions are honest, just like we are with our customers.

Our green carpet cleaning solution is non-toxic, biodegradable, colorless, odorless, and hypoallergenic. It contains no soap, bleach or enzymes. That means it’s safe for your carpets and healthy for your kids and pets. Also, we use a lot less water than our industry competitors, making Five Step the sustainable carpet cleaning option. Since our cleaning solution is soap-free, your carpets will stay clean longer, as there is no residue left over for dirt and grime to adhere to.

Honesty is the best policy. If we only use the safest and most environmentally friendly cleaning products, then we can afford to be honest about what we use. We believe that the health of our clients, their pets, and the environment is more important than our bottom line.

If you’re looking for green carpet cleaning in Asheville, NC and the surrounding areas, give us a call at 828.237.3237 our contact form to drop us a line today!

 

How to Get Dents Out Of Carpets

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Rearranging your living room only to find unsightly dents in your carpet? Not a problem. Divots left behind in your carpet by pieces of furniture can easily be removed and fluffed out with these simple steps.

  1. Lay a damp towel over the dent.
  2. Run an iron over the towel on medium heat, checking periodically to see if the carpet fibers beneath have started to rise. The heat of the iron should gradually cause the fibers to spring back to their original shape.
  3. Leave the towel on top of the dent until completely dry.
  4. Finally, vacuum the affected area. The suction from the vacuum cleaner will pull the fibers up to their normal height.

This simple process should remove even the deepest divots from your carpet or rug. If you find that you need additional help to make your carpets look brand new, give Five Step a call at 828.237.3237 or drop us a line today. We offer a full range of effective, sustainable, and friendly floor cleaning services, and we love nothing more than making our customers happy!

7 Reasons NOT to Hire a Professional Carpet Cleaner

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We’re always advising readers on the benefits of professional carpet cleaning here on the blog. Of course we are! We believe in what we do, and we want your business! But, that having been said, it must be noted that professional carpet cleaning is NOT for everyone. Here is a list of reasons why you might not want to hire a carpet cleaning service.

 

  1. You don’t have carpets. If your home does not have any carpets, it would be kind of silly to hire a professional carpet cleaner.
  2. You might lose your dog. If your original carpet color matches your dog’s coat color, then having your carpets professionally cleaned might not be for you. That gray cast that your carpet takes on when it is dirty might be the only thing keeping you from a frightening dog camouflage situation like this:
  3. That pizza sauce stain is your friend. Maybe you don’t get out much. We’re not here to judge. If you have named the stains on your carpet, given them their own coffee mug, and taken to having long conversations with them in the evenings, then a carpet cleaner is probably not the professional you need to see.
  4. All your friends will want to sleep on your floor. This is one of the biggest risks of having your carpet cleaned. Once your friends see how luxuriously clean and soft your carpet is, they might start making excuses to come over for a visit—and end up napping on the carpet.
  5. You are an alien blob who floats through the air.If you never use your carpet, then it probably won’t get dirty, and therefore it doesn’t make sense to clean it. So if your alien biology precludes you from having feet or otherwise coming into contact with your floor, then you’re off the hook for carpet cleaning.
  6. You’re a wizard. If you’re Molly Weasley, then you definitely don’t need carpet cleaning services. You have a wand, possibly a house elf, and a dozen spells up your sleeve for all manner of home cleaning emergencies. In fact, maybe you should consider starting your own magic carpet cleaning service for Muggles.
  7. You have a symbiotic relationship with dust mites. 

    Perhaps you have some kind of reverse bubble-boy syndrome. Instead of experiencing allergic reactions at the tiniest exposure to environmental contaminants, you actually require mass exposure to these allergens in order to remain healthy. In that case, you should keep your carpet dirty. For your health.

 

If none of the above reasons apply to you, we’d be happy to clean your carpets! (If you live in the Asheville, NC area, that is.) Give us a call at 828.237.3237 or send us a message today!

 

Risks of DIY Carpet Cleaning

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diy carpet cleaning risks

In order to save money, many homeowners choose to handle household maintenance tasks on their own, rather than hiring professionals to do the work. These days you can find a tutorial on the internet for how to DIY just about anything—from pest control to small engine repair and yes, even carpet cleaning. It may be tempting to save a few dollars by renting a machine and cleaning your own flooring. But is doing it yourself worth the potential risk to your carpet or area rug investment?

Do-it-yourself carpet cleaning is often discouraged by carpet and rug manufacturers because improper techniques and inappropriate cleaning solutions may cause problems that could void the carpet’s warranty. Common issues that may arise from improper DIY carpet cleaning include mold and mildew growth, backing separation, and fading or discoloration.

The most prevalent of DIY carpet cleaning mistakes is overwetting. If you use too much water in your cleaning efforts, the carpet will take much longer to dry, which can potentially lead to fungal growth or even water seepage into your subfloors. The problem is it’s not always self-evident to the homeowner how much water and/or detergent to use, or how long to leave a steam cleaner in position. A blunder during this phase of the carpet cleaning process can be very costly indeed, which is why the majority of homeowners choose to hire a reputable carpet cleaning service.

Another culprit behind DIY disasters is improperly formulated carpet cleaning solutions. Cleaners and detergents that are not formulated correctly for your carpet may strip it of its stain-resistant treatment. Worse, some solutions contain bleach or optical brighteners that literally dye your carpet to cover up the stains instead of removing them. Some improper formulations can also destroy the fiber of your carpet or rug, leaving it looking matted or frayed.

Consumer Reports has found that when it comes to carpet cleaning, pros do it best. Although a professional cleaning may be a little more costly than renting a machine from your local supermarket, the benefits that you get from having someone experienced do the work far outweigh the extra cost.

The message here is “DIY Your Carpet Cleaning at Your Own Risk!”

If you do choose to clean your own carpets, you should take the time to do your research before beginning. Find out exactly what type of cleaning is recommended by the carpet manufacturer, and the follow the directions of the detergent and/or steam cleaner precisely. Always spot-test an out-of-the-way corner of your carpet before cleaning it, to prevent discoloration issues. And if you will be renting steam cleaning equipment, ask the rental provider to demonstrate its use before taking it home. During the demonstration, listen closely for out-of-the-ordinary clunking noises and check the test carpet for fraying and loose fibers.

If, on the other hand, you decide to go with the safe bet, give your local professional carpet care expert a call. If you live in the Asheville, NC area and are looking for quality carpet cleaning services, look no further than Five Step Carpet Care. Give us a call at 828.237.3237 or use our contact form to get in touch with us today. You might be surprised by how much you can save by hiring professionals to get the job done!

A Dog Owner’s Guide to Clean, Healthy Carpets

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It’s often said that carpet and dogs don’t mix, but that’s not necessarily true. While some pet owners eschew carpets and rugs because of the inevitability of pet stains, there are actually several benefits to having carpets in a dog-friendly home.

With carpets, you don’t have to worry about scuffs and scratches on the floor from doggy claws, like you would with wood floors. And carpet provides a slip-free surface that keeps puppies and elderly dogs from losing their balance and slipping down the hall. Another great benefit is the sound-muffling quality of carpet, which is great if your dog likes to make midnight security rounds. Otherwise you’ll probably get used to being awoken by the clickety-clack of claws at an indecent hour of night.

It’s true that attention to detail with regards to vacuuming is more of an issue with carpets than hard floors. While you’ll likely be vacuuming the same amount regardless of what type of floor covering you choose, carpets need a bit of extra care to ensure that all of the dog hair and dander is lifted out of the carpet pile.

As far as pet stains go, our advice is to keep young, not-yet-potty-trained pets kenneled or kept in hard-floored areas of the house when not supervised. Same goes for elderly dogs who may be more accident-prone. But with dogs, accidents are inevitable. Whether it’s urine stains, muddy paw prints, or broken potted plant, eventually a dog-related stain will happen. And when they do, rest assured Five Step Carpet Care can get them out at a reasonable cost and without harsh chemicals that pose health risks to your furry companions.

Our unique five step cleaning process eliminates stains and odors all the way down to the mat of the rug or carpet. And we do it without the use of bleach, detergents, perfumes, dyes, or enzymes. So if you live in the Asheville, NC area and have dogs in your home, you’ll probably want to keep our number on the fridge!

(By the way, it’s 828.237.3237.)