November, 2017 | BCS Cleaning Specialists

Ahhh! Disaster! Some unidentifiable, nasty-looking substance got drizzled onto your pristine shag pile rug. Is there any way on God’s green earth to get the muck out without resorting to calling in the big guns (that’d be us!)?

There just might be. Here are our suggestions for rescuing your rug (and feeling awfully handy and capable in the process):

• Moisten the stained area with a drop or two of liquid dish soap or laundry detergent mixed with a small amount of cool water (do not use warm water).
• Rub the soapy water into the stain with a bristle brush or washcloth. Use small movements to avoid spreading the stain into other parts of the rug.
• Allow the soap to penetrate the stain for five to ten minutes.
• Rinse the area with cool water to remove both soap and (hopefully) emulsified stain.
• Blot with a clean dry cloth or towel to remove excess moisture. Repeat the process if the stain hasn’t completely gone.

If even your best efforts to remove the stain fail, just give the Park City and Heber professionals at BCS a call at 801 561 1730 – we’ll be over in a jiffy to rescue your shag from otherwise certain doom!

Okay, so you can probably tell from the length of this answer, it’s delicate, complicated work that demands patience and care, sooooo if you’ve managed to get something icky on your Persian rug, it would probably be best to just give the Park City and Heber professionals at BCS a call right off the bat and have us take care of it for you – 801 561 1730

If you decide to forge ahead courageously before caving and handing it over to our expert hands, here are some tips and suggestions for removing stains……

What is it made from?

Most oriental rugs are made from wool, but some particularly finicky specimens are made from silk. Which probably sounded great at the time (who wouldn’t want to walk on silky silk??) But (and it’s a Big But), silk is incredibly tricky to clean and really should be cleaned with expertise and solvents. I wouldn’t suggest touching a stained silk rug with a bargepole – this would be the time to immediately call us, no exceptions.

Read the Instructions

It’s always a good idea to read the instructions. And yes, I know – the fact that I’ve included a section instructing you to read the instructions is slightly ironic, but if we’re being honest here, we know both of us probably think we know it all already and are more likely to use the instruction booklet as a coaster.

Anyway, I digress – the point is, unless they’re in Turkish, start by reading the instructions and then always use the gentlest cleaning method you can. This is not a time for elbow grease; it’s a time for soft talking and gentle coaxing of your sensitive little doormat. After all, rugs have feelings too.

Damage Control

Okay, so, silk aside, you’re standing at the ready with your rubber gloves and trusty bucket. At least, mentally you stand ready, with metaphorical gloves and bucket.

1. All spills should be dealt with immediately.
2. Carefully remove any debris or material. Be sure to lift it up, not brush it off.
3. Absorb whatever liquid is spilled on the rug with a clean white absorbent cloth.
4. Use a gentle blotting motion to remove as much as you can.
5. Avoid scrubbing at all costs – it’ll just grind the stain further into the rug.

Absorbing a Stain using Talcum Powder

1. Sprinkle plain talcum powder on the stained area.
2. Let the talcum powder rest on the rug until dry.
3. Vacuum up.
4. If the stain remains, move to the next cleaning solution.

Dissolve the Stain with Plain Water

1. Fill a spray bottle with plain warm water (or use a deep cleaner like I mentioned above).
2. Lightly mist the area.
3. Start at the outer edges of the stain (working inward) and gently blot with a clean white cloth.
4. Never rub the fabric as it can damage the rug fibers.
5. Repeat if necessary.
6. If stain remains, move to the next cleaning solution.

Degrease the Stain with a Mild Detergent

1. Mix 1 teaspoon of mild, clear dishwashing liquid (like Dawn) to 4 cups of warm water.
2. Fill a spray bottle or use a deep cleaner like I mentioned above with the cleaning solution.
3. Mist solution over area.
4. Start at the outer edges of the stain and work your way toward the center using a dampened cloth to gently blot the stain.
5. Repeat until stain is gone. Make sure to either rinse your cloth often or use as many clean cloths as necessary.
6. Rinse the area by misting with water and blotting to remove as much soap residue as possible.
7. Allow the rug to dry thoroughly.
8. If stain remains, move to the next cleaning solution.

Deodorize and Degrease the Stain using Vinegar, Detergent and Water

Make a spot cleaning solution with vinegar to remove the stain. Plain white vinegar is a mild acid and natural deodorizer. Vinegar works well to remove coffee stains and vomit stains. Make sure to rinse the stain completely with cold water to remove all traces of remaining vinegar from the carpet fibers.

Test this solution in an inconspicuous place first. Most Oriental rug dyes today are acid-fast and benefit from vinegar and water cleaning solutions. Acidic vinegar helps to bond the dye in the wool in the rug, which helps prevent the colors from running.

• 1/4 cup white vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon liquid dishwashing detergent
• 2 cups tepid water

Use the same cleaning process steps I have listed above for degreasing the stain with Dawn dishwashing detergent.

Removing Large Stains and Spills

If the spill was rather large, you can take the rug out side and use a garden hose to rinse the stain outside before using the cleaning solutions to work on the stains. Use a fan to help completely dry the area when the stain has been removed. Place it beside the rug allowing air flow over the damp area.

If any or all of the above fail, or you just lost your nerve after the paragraph on reading the instructions, give the Park City and Heber experts at BCS a call at 801 561 1730. We’ll have your nerves soothed and rug restored before you can say ‘I told you not to drink Coke in the sitting room!’

Intimidating, I know. There are rather a lot of carpet cleaning companies and individuals in Utah alone. Many of them offer introductory discounts that seem too good to be true. How on earth do you know in advance what you’re getting and that they will consistently do a good job?

Aside from asking right off the bat for reviews from customers (which should be clearly and easily viewable on their website or user-generated review sites like Google or Yelp), ask the company if they perform this comprehensive, 10-step carpet cleaning service, on EVERY job:

1. Pre-Inspection
2. Pre-Vacuum
3. Furniture Moving
4. Pre-Spray and Pre-Spot Treatment
5. Pre-Groom
6. Hot Water Extraction and Rinse
7. pH Neutralization
8. Post-Spot Treatment
9. Speed Dry
10. Post Grooming and Inspection

At BCS, this is our standard modus-operandi – we are finicky perfectionists when it comes to carpet, and we won’t leave until you are bouncing off the walls with joy at your sparkly carpets. Although that may mean the walls need cleaning next….

Give the Park City and Heber professionals at BCS a call today at 801 561 1730 for your FREE carpet evaluation and estimate with one of our carpet experts. Our customers keep coming back because they know how much we care about solving their carpet crises for them.

Aarrgh! There’s some sort of weird hairy blackish growth on the grout in my shower! Disaster! Panic! Certain impending doom!

Well, maybe it’s not quite THAT dramatic. The whole point of grout is to keep Wet Out, but by definition that means your grout is spending its lifetime in a damp place, and weird icky things like to grow in damp places. And yes, that applies even in the usually dry and delightful climes of Park City and Heber.

If you have strange nasties growing on your grout, it’s most likely mold and can be easily banished with a squirt of a bleach solution and a spot of scrubbing.

However, if you have cracks and chips and bits missing from your grout AND nasty ickies on top of that, the problem is a little more serious and needs addressing. And by ‘need’, I don’t mean in three years when your entire family is all gasping for breath from toxic mold exposure – I do actually mean ‘needs addressing’. It is actually a health issue.

The problem comes when the cracks and chips in your shower’s grouty armor leave it vulnerable to the Devil Incarnate – mold. Mold can crawl in through gaps in the grout and grow to rather nasty proportions unseen beneath the surface. And the longer it’s left, the worse it gets.

This is no time for squirty bleach – it’s time to call in the professionals. Namely, us. BCS. Your knights in shining, gleaming, very very clean armor. We will be able to tell you almost immediately if the problem can be fixed with chemicals or if your shower needs to say goodbye to its fair-weather grouty friend and move on to bigger and better things. Namely, re-grouting.

Give BCS a call today at 801 561 1730 and our Park City and Heber experts will be able to tell you pretty much instantly what needs to be done. And then we’ll do it for you, with no rubber gloves, clothes peg (for your nose) and squirty bleach required on your part.

It can be done, but prepare yourself for some serious elbow grease….

Hydrogen Peroxide and Baking Soda

1   First, get rid of surface dirt and muck with your regular cleaner. It’s much easier to clean away ground-in dirt if the surface stuff is out of the way.

2 In a small bowl, mix hydrogen peroxide and baking soda together to form a thick paste. The exact quantities will depend on the consistency you prefer to work with.

3 Use an old toothbrush to spread a thick layer of the peroxide/soda gook onto the grout, working in small areas of 1 to 2 sq ft at a time. Leave to set for 5-10 minutes.

4   Using your toothbrush (not YOUR toothbrush obviously – the one you’ve just used for the initial slathering!), rub the paste energetically, as though you were trying to rub it INTO the grout.

5 Coat the next small area with the paste and repeat the above steps, until your entire grout surface has had a scrubbing-down.

6 Wipe off the remaining paste with a damp cloth and finish with your regular cleaner to restore your tiles and grout to a brilliant sparkle!

If this doesn’t seem to be quite enough to evict the grime from your grout, give the Park City and Heber professionals at BCS a call at 801 561 1730 and we will buzz over to take care of it for you in a jiffy!