So, you've spilled your coffee then dived for the spotter you bought from a supermarket 2 years ago.  After a quick glance at the instructions you upend the bottle on the spill.  Sadly, you didn't get the result you expected, it may have even got worse!  Sound familier?  

Be careful when poring any 'Spotters' on your furnishings, why? Nowadays, they offten contain different forms of bleach, they may label them as 'oxi' cleaners.  An 'oxi' cleaner is short for an oxidiser, a form of bleach.  Now some fabrics can handle an amount of bleach; after all, you use these in your washing machine.  The washing machine wets all the fabric evenly though, giving a uniform result.  When you upend a bottle of 'spotter' on your carpet or upholstery, it can result in just that area being bleached out. 

That's not the only problem, they may also contain detergents.  Whats wrong with that?  Well remember when your Granny warned, " Don't get your carpets cleaned, they'll only get dirty quicker." She may have had a point!  If they are not thoroughly rinsed out after, detergents will continue to work and attract more soil. (That's why we don't like to use detergents in our cleaning processes.) If you pour detergent on a stain and don't rinse it, it may go black over time.

So what's the answer?  Easy, use only 'Spotters' that contain no bleach and no detergent.  (If you live in our area and want one for free, just call)  One other thing, read the instructions properly and never upend the bottle.

Designer carpet like Sea Grass, Sisal and Coir are getting very popular at the moment.  Its no wonder, they are lovely to look at and very hard wearing, but they are deffinately not for everyone.

Why wouldn't you want one of these in your house?  Because they hate water, so cleaning is very difficult* and sometimes impossible.  The truth is, they watermark very very easily, and often the watermark will be permanent.

But what if you like the style?  Well, there are similar construction styles available that are made in wool or polypropylene.  These can be cleaned and stain removal is also possible.  

*Sometimes we can clean them as we wet the carpet evenly, which in turn watermarks the carpet evenly.

Steam cleaners are very popular just now, but are they all they're cracked up to be?
These machines are great tools to have.  They can clean without chemistry, which makes them environmentally friendly. They kill bacteria and cut through grease. However, there is a draw back... using them could destroy the very thing you are trying to clean!  

What's the problem?
These cleaners produce steam at over 100 degrees Celsius, this makes them great for cleaning ovens, hobs and other surfaces that can withstand high heats.  
Unfortunately though, high temperatures will 'cook' most natural products and damage the glues that hold synthetic fabrics together.
Take wool for instance, would you ever wash a wool jumper in a boil wash?  Not if you wanted to wear it again! It wouldn't just shrink, the heat would begin to break down the wool fibres.  Now consider what you paid for your carpet. Do you really want to risk damaging your investment? Even if it is synthetic, steam can still damage it.  Don't risk it, save the steam for your oven.


Why do they sell them then?
I know what it says on the box... carpet cleaning, upholstery cleaning, but please look closer.  The countries that make these devices don't have a lot of experience with fabric upholstery or wall to wall carpets. 


One of our customers used a steam machine regularly to clean her carpet.  She said, "The instructions told me I could use it on my carpet, so I did."  Unfortunately, not only did she damage the wool, her carpet delaminated.  That means the glue that held it together completely dissolved.  It was beyond repair.  


In their place they are useful.
Occasionally we use steam in moderation to remove wax, chewing gum and red dye.  However,  as a professional fabric cleaner I'd never recommend their use as a carpet or fabric cleaner.

Yes... we do drive the smallest carpet cleaning van in town!  Believe it or not, we chose it deliberately.  Before, we used to run a huge van, the size you could fit your car inside.  We realised we were driving it around only quarter full, all that wasted fuel for nothing.  So, we ordered a very small one and have filled it to the roof, no air spaces!  This way we save fuel, and it has the lowest Co2 emissions of any van.  This means it's not only green in colour!

It's not for the trees or the bunny rabbits, the truth is... it's for me!  You see, this is our second carpet cleaning business.  

The first was called 'Absolutely Clean or it's Absolutely Free!', which we sold when it became very successful.  When we ran that business we used any cleaning chemistry that worked.  The stronger the better, or so we thought.  It turns out, exposure to some carpet cleaning products left me with damaged lungs.  Now I cant even walk up the stairs without getting out of breath.

Well, we sold that business then went to volunteer in Asia until our money ran out.  On our return 8 years later, we started our second carpet cleaning business, 'Greener Cleaning'.

What a difference!  After a long days work using environmentally friendly solutions I feel no side effects.  Most of our chemistry doesn't even have an odour, so I don't smell like a car freshener... and I can breath!

So thats why I love 'Green Cleaning'.