ABC MONTHLY NEWSLETTER

In This Issue

Extend Your Carpet Life-Essential Tips,

How to Vacuum Efficiently & Effectively

Maintaining Your Vacuum

Vacuums-Pick Tips Including Top Vacuums from Consumer Reports

EXTEND YOUR CARPET LIFE
ESSENTIAL TIPS

Of course it makes sense to want to extend your carpet life if you are a responsible home owner. (Please note, in this article, we are talking about your wall-to-wall carpet, not your area rugs.) 

Carpet usually represents one of the most expensive investments in your home. Maintaining it properly will make it last longer and keep it looking good.

Your 2 Best Friends Will Help to Extend Your Carpet Life
Did you know the 2 best friends you have to help extend your carpet life are your vacuum and your Professional Carpet Cleaning Company? They are the life support system for your carpet. 

As part of the plan to extend your carpet life, make sure to maintain and use your vacuum regularly and correctly and schedule a thorough professional cleaning of all areas of your carpet at least every 15 to 18 months. High traffic areas may need more cleanings.

It is a fact that professional carpet cleaning technicians can only work with what you present to them. If your carpet is filled with ground-in dust, dirt, sand, or grit and spills, spots, stains, animal hair, and urine, you are limiting the results a thorough professional carpet cleaning can provide. 

Following the information and tips given below will help you to keep your carpet looking and feeling clean and will certainly help to extend its life.

Tip  #1 Vacuums Must Be Maintained
In order to allow your vacuum to do its job of removing soil, it must be maintained, or your efforts will be wasted. 

Bags or Containers, Belts, and Brush Rolls

Your vacuum is not a very complex machine. The dirt collection bags or containers, the belts, and the brush rolls must be periodically checked and replaced and/or cleaned for optimum performance. 

The dirt collection bags or containers should never be allowed to go over ½ full. For vacuums with cloth bags, make sure to turn the bag inside out at least every third emptying and sweep it off. This allows the bag to breathe better resulting in greater soil pick up.

How Often to Vacuum?

Unfortunately, the best maintained vacuum cannot do its job properly without regularly scheduled use. How regular? An easy way to determine this is to vacuum 1 time a week per the number of people (and pets) living in the home. 

Thus, 2 adults, 2 children, a dog, and a cat would require 6 cleanings a week. If this is impossible due to time restraints, at least the high-trafficked areas should be done once a day. This will make a big difference to the health and appearance of your carpet. 
By following the above procedure, you will not only be removing the loose soil and grit from the heaviest-soiled areas, but cleaning these areas will effectively stop this soil from spreading throughout the house.

Tip #2
Please continue reading here.

HOW TO VACUUM EFFICIENTLY & EFFECTIVELY

When you vacuum correctly and vacuum often, you will be able to properly maintain your area rugs and carpet, upholstered furniture, and draperies.  Soiling is the worst enemy of these items.

It is your vacuum's job to remove that soiling, in the form of ground-in dust, dirt, sand or grit. But did you know an excessively soiled carpet can hold up to one pound of soil in each square yard? This can occur especially at entrance ways and in heavily trafficked areas that are seldom vacuumed.  

The job of vacuuming correctly and vacuuming often can be made so much easier if we can learn to vacuum these items efficiently and effectively.

TIPS to Help You Vacuum Efficiently & Effectively
Few people really know how to vacuum efficiently with minimum effort. Most of the damaging soils and oily or gritty particles collect wherever there is most usage or foot traffic. These are the areas which require most of the vacuuming.

As far as vacuuming efficiently goes, one of the best overall tips is the following: It is far better to vacuum ONLY the heavy traffic areas much more frequently or repeatedly than it is to cover everything or everywhere with a once-over-light vacuuming!

Below are some more tips to help you vacuum efficiently and effectively:

Tip#1  You Cannot Vacuum Correctly Unless You Maintain Your Vacuuming Equipment

Well-maintained vacuuming equipment helps both in overall soil removal and better long-term appearance.

Do not allow the dirt collection bags to become more than 1/2 full. This greatly reduces suction power and vacuuming efficiency in most machines. 

If your vacuum has a cloth bag, make sure to turn the bag inside out at least every third emptying and sweep it off. This allows for better breathing of the bag and greater soil pick up. 

Periodically check and replace belts and brush rolls for optimum performance.

Tip #2 -To Vacuum Correctly, 
Remove Soil by Vacuuming Against the Nap    

The best way to remove ground-in soil from a carpet or area rug is to vacuum against the nap. 

Another method is to use a Carpet Grooming Rake (we sell them) to lift the carpet pile. This will remove soil and helps to improve the carpet or rug's appearance.

TIP #3 -Which Type of Vacuum to Use on Rugs and Carpets? Canister or backpack vacuums are versatile and convenient, but they may not have a beater bar, thus requiring more effort (passes or strokes) than upright vacuums to achieve similar soil removal. Canister vacuums used on carpet should preferably have a separate motor- driven beater bar.

We recommend the use of an upright vacuum with a beater bar for rugs and carpet and canister type vacuums for upholstery, draperies, blinds, light dusting, etc.  

Rugs brought to our plant are pile lifted to remove as much of the particulate soil as possible before cleaning. For rugs with excessive particulate matter, we use special equipment for extra dusting.

Some vacuums require they be adjusted to match the pile heights of the carpet. Higher pile and loosely textured rugs and carpet may show shading marks where the vacuum last passed over. 

For the most even surface appearance after vacuuming, keep the final vacuuming strokes all in the same direction. You may also purchase a Grooming Rake from us for that purpose.  

For more tips, please continue reading here. 

MAINTAINING YOUR VACUUM

Maintaining your vacuum is your best weapon against untimely replacement of your carpet, rugs, and upholstery fibers. Proper care of your carpet, rugs, and upholstery requires regular vacuuming.

Tips for Maintaining Your Vacuum
How and when you use your vacuum and keeping it in good working condition are as important as the maintenance required to keep your vehicle performing at an optimum level. Listed and described below are the parts that need to be serviced regularly to keep your vacuum operating at maximum performance:

Maintaining Your Vacuum Bags/Filters
A vacuum bag is considered full if more than 25% of the bottom is filled with large particulate matter. If a bag is allowed to become overfull and not changed, the vacuum motor is deprived of airflow, resulting in restricted suction and soil removal.

There is yet another problem that occurs when the bag is full. While operating a vacuum, especially one without a hepa filter, small particulate matter is redistributed into the air and settles onto furniture and carpet.

Changing the bag frequently alleviates these problems and will allow your vacuum to perform effectively. This in turn keeps your carpet, rugs, and upholstery investments in better shape, while improving the air quality in your environment.

Maintaining Your Vacuum Belts

Please click here for the rest of the tips.

Top Vacuums - Pick Tips
Including Recommendations from Consumer Reports

To choose the top vacuums from a field of so many different types, shapes, colors, and, of course,  different price points, can be a daunting task. Below is some help to narrow down your choice of the top vacuums that may be best for your particular needs.

Types of Vacuums

The most common types of vacuums are: 

• Uprights (bagged and bagless)
• Canisters
• Stick Vacuums (corded and cordless)

Different Tasks for Different Vacs

Different types of vacuums may be needed for different tasks around the home such as:

• Wall-to-wall carpet
• Area rugs
• Removing pet hair
• Upholstery
• Drapery
• Wall-to-wall carpet 

ABC Recommends...

At ABC, we recommend an upright vacuum with a beater bar for wall-to-wall carpeting and area rugs and a canister type vacuum for upholstery, draperies, blinds, and light dusting, etc. (Note: If using a canister vacuum on wall-to-wall carpet, we recommend one with a separate motor-driven beater bar.)

Upright vacuums can often also be adjusted to match the pile height of a carpet or rug, making it easier to vacuum. Shading marks may be more apparent on higher pile and loosely textured rugs and carpet. Therefore, make sure the final strokes are all in the same direction for the most even surface appearance after vacuuming.

When vacuuming oriental and other area rugs with fringes, always vacuum from side to side (opposite the fringes). This will save the fringes from being pulled up into the vacuum which can damage the fringes as well as the backing.

Stick Vacuums?

As a general rule, stick vacuums are not as effective for deep cleaning of carpets and rugs. That is because suction alone is not enough. A vacuum should have some weight and a very powerful brush roll.

Stick vacuums and less expensive canisters and uprights can be excessively noisy as well. Cordless vacuums usually do not run for more than 7 minutes before recharging is needed (although some of the newest ones can go as long as 20 minutes). 

Consumer Reports.org Recommends  These Top Vacuums...

Please click  here to continue reading.

"The Cleanest Clean You've Ever Seen."

by

ABC Oriental Rug & Carpet Cleaning Co.
130 Cecil Malone Drive Ithaca, NY 14850

607-272-1566

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