Monday, August 28, 2023

Oriental Rug Maintenance Tips

 If you chose to decorate your home with oriental rugs, it’s important to know how to go about keeping them clean. Rugs take a beating with foot traffic, pets, and general wear and tear. It’s important to give them attentive care. Proper rug maintenance is a must for not only preserving their beauty but also ensuring your home is clean and healthy.


Professional oriental rug cleaning plays an essential role in rug maintenance. However, even if you have professionals cleaning your rugs with the right frequency, you’ll still need to do a bit of maintenance in between professional cleanings to keep your rugs looking great.

Protect Your Rug in Between Oriental Rug Cleanings With These Tips

Our team at Johnson County Chem‑Dry offers experienced oriental rug cleaning services that carefully lift up compacted dirt and grime from delicate textiles. Many homeowners worry about cleaning upsetting the rug’s dyes and hand-woven fibers. We are here to offer advice on how to gently, but effectively, keep your rug in good condition in between care from our professionals.

Take a look at the tips below for ensuring you have a solid oriental rug cleaning routine.

  1. Make vacuuming systematic.
    You likely vacuum your home regularly, but you may not have a systematic schedule for doing so. Regular vacuum cleaning is absolutely essential for preventing dust and dirt from embedding itself deep within oriental rugs. 

    We recommend vacuuming your rug at least once a week. However, if you have pets or children, or your rug is in a particularly high-traffic area of your home such as the entryway or hallway, you may want to vacuum even more often.
  2. Stop dirt from being tracked into your home.
    You can limit the amount of soil your rug is exposed to by having a no-shoes policy inside your home. This policy has the added benefit of keeping your home cleaner overall. 

    However, it may be difficult to implement if you have friends and family coming and going regularly. Start by adding a shoe rack at the entrance of your home to encourage guests to take their shoes off. Also, be sure to have doormats at all exterior doors so guests can at least wipe their feet before entering. Both of these simple additions can help keep oriental rugs clean.
  3. Wear socks.
    You can also help keep your rug clean by encouraging your family to wear socks at home rather than walking around barefoot. Feet are naturally sweaty and produce skin oils that leach into rugs and carpets. These oils can have a negative impact on oriental rug fibers and dyes and can also act as a magnet for dirt, causing your rugs to become soiled more quickly. 
  4. Rearrange furniture often.
    Rearranging the furniture in your home doesn’t only give your living environment a fresh, new feel. It can also provide rugs with relief from the constant pressure of heavy furnishings. Consider moving your furniture around on a quarterly basis to ensure exposure to dirt and wear and tear is evenly distributed across your rug.
  5. Soak up spills right away.
    Accidental spills are one of the most common sources of spots and stains. If you drop something on your rug that could stain it, grab a white cloth or paper towel and absorb as much of the extra liquid as possible. 

    If the substance is solid or semi-solid, carefully remove the solids before dabbing at the area. Never aggressively rub or scrub the spot, as this can push the stain further into the fibers and make it more permanent.

Whether you’re dealing with a stain on your rug or simply want to increase its longevity, you can count on our oriental rug cleaning professionals for expert support. 

Thursday, August 17, 2023

SUMMER IS OUT, SCHOOL IS IN—AND SO IS THE DIRT

Congratulations, you’ve made it—summer is over and school is back in session! It’s the end of wondering how to keep your kids busy, and out of trouble day after day. But with back to school in full force, comes another predicament: how do you keep the dirt off of your carpet and out of your home? With some organization, and a little creativity, your home can be squeaky clean—and stay that way. Keep reading to find out how.


Create a Shoe Organizer

A dirty carpet can make you feel like you have a dirty home. In some ways, it’s true—because walking on a dirty carpet affects your physical health. Does your teenager lie down on your living room carpet while watching his favorite show? Does your first grader rough house with his siblings in the hallway? You have a busy household to run, and filled with ‘precious cargo’, so you don’t have any time to worry about a dirty carpet. To minimize the dirt that’s dragged in from every old place your child has been all day, create a shoe organizer and place it by the front door.

Head to your local department store, and purchase a shoe organizer (similar to what you use to hang up your shoes in your closet.) It won’t cost you more than $20 and you’ll instantly have an easy way for your children to organize their shoes and eliminate the ‘dirt factor’ when they come home from school.

Purchase Door Mats and Rugs to Keep Dirt at Bay

As another smart ‘rule of thumb’ for keeping your carpet as clean as possible, welcome mats and area rugs can help preserve the life span of your flooring. Your kids are learning lots of new rules this time of year—when homework is due, what’s expected of them as a student, what school supplies they need to succeed—so give them an easy one to follow. Wipe those feet, please! With welcome mats, your children can play their part, so that your carpet lasts as long as possible.

Empower Your Teenagers with Some Light Chores (and Reward Them for It)

If there’s a golden rule of clean carpets, it’s vacuuming. Vacuum regularly and you’ll be able to suck up tiny specks of dirt you kids bring in. In other words, when you make vacuuming a priority (especially with school back in session) you can extend the life and quality of your carpet. Get your teenager involved (as well as any other young member of your family that could benefit from some responsibility) with a weekly vacuuming chore. Create a chart of who is responsible for vacuuming on each day, or every few days. Reward your children with an allowance, so they’ll be motivated to continue their enthusiasm to help out with the household work.

Need extra help? Chem‑Dry is the world’s leading carpet cleaning professionals, and when more dirt than usual is coming through your home, count on them to get the job done! They offer a clean and healthy carbonation formula to extract pollutants, mold, and dirt out of your carpets—which leaves you more ‘family time’.

Sunday, July 30, 2023

How Rug Cleaning Can Improve Indoor Air Quality

 If your home smells musty or if you are experiencing respiratory symptoms that seem to have no other cause, dirty rugs may be to blame. There’s an often-overlooked relationship between the rugs or carpets in your home and indoor air quality. Without understanding this relationship, homeowners often forgo rug cleaning and endure poor indoor air quality as a result.



Understanding Why Frequent Rug Cleaning Is So Important

Rugs perform a number of roles within your home, from spicing up your decor to providing a soft foundation for bare feet. However, they also trap dust and other airborne pollutants, keeping many of these particles from circulating in the air you breathe. 

Over time, your rugs can accumulate so much dust that they can no longer do their job well. This will lead to more and more irritating particles filling the air, resulting in musty smells that won’t go away with conventional cleaning. It can also open up the potential for allergic reactions and worrisome respiratory symptoms.

Why Professional Rug Cleaning is Important

Of course, cleaning the rugs in your home is easier said than done when you’re going it alone. While you may vacuum frequently, this step will only catch the surface layer of dirt and grime. Unfortunately, there will still be deep-set dust compacted against the backing of the rug that remains beyond the reach of even the strongest vacuums.

Once you realize that your rugs need to be deep cleaned, you may be tempted to try out some DIY methods. From using handy items like vinegar and baking soda to drenching your rugs in a carpet shampoo or other cleaning solution, these methods are often less than effective. Worse, they can ruin the intricate dye patterns and delicate fibers of certain types of rugs. 

Whether your rug is an heirloom that’s been passed down for generations, a souvenir from a memorable trip, or simply an investment you want to protect, it’s always best to turn to a professional rug cleaning team to ensure it is cared for in a gentle but effective manner.

How Johnson County Chem-Dry Can Make a Difference

At Johnson County Chem-Dry, we understand the unique concerns that come with rug cleaning. But we can successfully and carefully clean your oriental and area rugs thanks to our experience and access to professional tools. We work with specialized equipment that is selected according to the textiles and dyes used within the rug in question. That way, whether you have a rug made of synthetic fabrics, wool, silk, or cotton, you can be confident we will choose an approach that protects its integrity.

Because we need to take an up-close look at your rug before making this decision, we will conduct an analysis prior to the cleaning process. Our trained specialists will search for vulnerable areas, stains, pet accidents, and other concerns in order to determine the best cleaning method for your unique rug. 

Finally, we will provide a deep cleaning for your rug that gets rid of dirt, dust, and non-living allergens all while preserving the beautiful color pattern and weave that makes your rug special. You’ll be left with a fresh-feeling rug whose vibrancy has been restored, as well better indoor air quality in your home.

Friday, June 30, 2023

Get Kids Involved in Caring For Your Home

 woman and daughter cleaning together

When most of us think of cleaning, the word “fun” doesn’t exactly come to mind.  However, cleaning can actually be a fun, exciting, and enjoyable chore for the whole family.  Including the children in the household cleaning when they are home for summer break will give you an extra set of hands and offer some great family bonding time. 

There are a number of simple and creative things you can do to get the kids involved in cleaning.  Children love pretending, so you can always use “pretend play” to make the job more exciting.  You can pretend that you are maids, butlers, or even Cinderella and get set for a fun and exciting cleaning experience.  You can even dress up to get yourselves more into character.  This is a great tool for engaging your littlest cleaners.  Not only will the children be eager to get in on the vacuuming and mopping, but they will have a great time doing it!

Another tip for making cleaning more fun is the use of competition.  Children love games and competition and this works well with children of all ages.  Make it a game by seeing who can get their room the cleanest.  A timer can also be used to see who can “race the clock” to get their chore done. Another idea is to turn cleaning into a scavenger hunt and ask your child to search for items as they clean.  For younger helpers, you can encourage them to pick up and sort items by color.  This is also a great educational activity.  You can even distribute ribbons to the child who is the most helpful and completes their chores on time. 

Take your child shopping and let them pick out some cleaning tools that are colorful and just their size.  Using kid-sized tools will definitely make for a more enthusiastic helper.  It will also make the process much easier for them, as they will be able to hold and manipulate the equipment much easier.  This is a great way to introduce children to a variety of different supplies and their uses. 

Nothing makes cleaning more fun than singing and dancing.  Get ready to turn up the music and have a blast while cleaning.  Your children will love getting to play their favorite songs while helping care for the home.  You should also set clear rewards for your child.  Consider using an incentive chart or plan a special activity for your child once they accomplish their task.  It will motivate your child to work hard and get the job done right. 

 In addition to these fun cleaning activities, it is important to establish a cleaning routine with your child. This will give your child an opportunity to become more responsible and understand the importance of caring for their home.  Your child will also love having some special time set aside just for your family.  Consider these tips to make cleaning your home more enjoyable.

Want a break from cleaning all together? Take your kids on a playdate and let Johnson County Chem-Dry deep clean your carpets for clean, fresh carpets that are healthier for your family. Johnson County Chem-Dry uses a Chem-Dry Green Certified solution that is safe and non-toxic for kids and pets and hot carbonating extraction to provide a deeper clean which allows surfaces to dry faster. So your carpets will dry in hours and your home will be healthier.