Hey there, Bayside Carpet Cleaning fans!  So, you may have read in our previous articles that mopping is an essential part to keeping your tile floors clean, but do you know how to properly mop?  Believe it or not, there is much more that goes into it than just nonchalantly swabbing a mop across the floor.  Join us today as we go over a comprehensive guide to effective mopping!

No matter what you’re goal is for mopping or what mop you plan to use, the first thing that you need to do before even starting to think about mopping is to vacuum the floor clean.  Tidying up the area in which you plan to mop will both make your job easier, and will have the floor coming out a whole lot better.  

Now that the floor has been cleaned, grab your mop, bucket, and some water and get to work.  Unless the floor is extremely dirty, we suggest using just water, as it will get the floor relatively clean without posing harm to your floor.  However, if there is quite the mess on the floor, using a mild detergent would be in your best interest.  

One of the fundamental principles of mopping is to never walk over what you just mopped.  With that being said, be sure to start at the back of the room and mop your way towards the exit—that way you can leave to rest while the floor dries, all without stepping on it.

Next comes the technique in which you mop, which can vary depending on the type of mop you are using.  If you are using a simple rag mop, mopping in horizontal figure eights will work great, whereas those with a sponge mop will find it more effective if they mop in tight, vertical lines as if they are vacuuming.  However, regardless of how you do it, be sure to shake out your mop over a dustbin from time to time to get off any gunk that you may be sliding around the floors.

When you are finished with the room, head back in with a small cloth and try to pick up any dust particles that may have settled or have been left behind.  Although, if you used detergent in your mopping endeavors, we highly encourage you to go over it again with just water—your floors will thank you later.

Mopping is relatively easy, especially once you have the proper method down.  In no time, we are confident that your floors will be amazed at all of your mopping prowess!

For more tips and tricks, be sure to check back to our blog every Tuesday and Thursday for our latest article!

Most homeowners can agree that hardwood looks great in a lot of rooms, but keeping them clean all the time may prove to be a bit of a hassle.  Believe it or not, the secrets for a great hardwood floor are not extensive, and can be achieved with minimal effort.  Read on to find out what they are!

As with any other types of flooring, you need to pay attention to two categories to keep it in great shape: prevention and regular cleaning.  Prevention deals with damage to the floor, and also ways to prevent large buildups of dirt from accumulating.  On the other hand, the cleaning end of the spectrum is rather self-explanatory.  However, the golden rule here is that consistency is key.

For hardwood floors, prevention goes a little bit further than it would with carpet, as there are many things that can potentially damage your floor.  Take chairs and high heels, for example, as both of them can scratch and leave divots in your floor.  An easy way to bolster up your defenses is to use throw rugs wherever appropriate, especially by doorways.  These provide guests a nice place to wipe off their feet, making it less likely that they will track in a rock or some other object that can leave dents in your floor.

In addition, paying attention to the climate in your home is also important for maintaining a proper wood floor.  Ideally, there should be between 35%-55% humidity in your home, which can be a little difficult to achieve in the winter.  However, investing in a simple humidifier will make it much less likely that the wood planks will shrink due to a lack of moisture.

Now, onto the cleaning end of things.  Cleaning a hardwood floor should be approached differently than cleaning a carpet.  For example, you should always try to spot clean your hardwood floor, as to minimize the amount of water that is left on its surface.  In addition, as opposed to vacuuming, you should be sweeping your floor often.  Vacuums may scratch up your floor due to their wheels, whereas the soft bristles of a broom should not leave anything behind except for a clean wood floor.  Although, like with carpet, you should always try to clean up wet spills as soon as you can, before it leaves a stain on the finish, or worse, seeps into the wood itself.

Keeping a hardwood floor great doesn’t need a whole lot of effort—just the right tactics and you’re good to go.  Although, if you ever need advice or help, know that we here at Bayside Carpet Cleaning are here to help.

Give us a call today for a free estimate!

For our South Jersey region, this is about the time of year where we’ll start to see more and more snowstorms heading our way.  Due to this, we have learned some of the best ways to deal with snow, from engine-driven snow-throwers to the traditional method of salt and ice melts.  While the latter of the group are great for controlling snow, they can wreck havoc on your floors.  Check out our latest article to learn how to keep these snow-killers from killing your floors!

When it comes to floors, the golden rule is to keep out as much moisture as you can, because it can spell disaster for any type of flooring.  However, when you factor salt into the mix, things can get a whole lot more complicated.  Ice melts can be even worse, as they contain a wide variety of chemicals that can really do a number on your floors.  While the clear-cut solution to this problem would be to not use these materials when trying to remove snow, but we know that it is not that simple, nor can it be possible in certain scenario.  Therefore, the best thing you can do to keep salt from killing your floors is to  prevent it from coming inside in the first place.

Sure, that may seem like a daunting task, but it is really quite simple when you break it down to size.  One solution is to employ the use of various doormats, both inside and outside.  These allow your guests and family members to scrape off as much salt from their shoes as they can before stepping inside, and can make a real difference when it comes to the protection of your floors.  Alternatively, you can employ the no-shoes policy, where no one can wear shoes past your front door.  If you are real concerned about your floors and care about the comfort of your guests, this can be a great solution.  A final solution would be to replace the salts with kitty litter—it can melt ice and it won’t harm your floors.  However, using any of the two previous policies—or a combination of both—should prove to be beneficial to your floors.

In the winter season, it is imperative to note that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.  One little change now can spare your floors times of hardship in the future.  So, what do you say, Bayside Carpet Cleaning fans?  Protect your floors today!   

Turn to any page in Better Homes & Gardens or to any HGTV show, and there is a good chance that you’ll see an area rug lying on the floor.  While it is true that they have the ability to lighten up any room, they can be a little difficult to clean, until now.  Join us today as we show you some easy tips for cleaning your area rug!

The first thing that you are going to want to do is to run a vacuum over the entire rug.  By doing this, you’ll get out most of the dirt and dust particles that have been lying in the rug for a while.  However, the vacuum can often leave pet hair behind, so grab yourself a stiff brush and run it over the rug to get out all the pet hair that has been trapped.

If you need to clean the rug, grab some water and a sponge and start dabbing on the rug.  Be sure to hit some of the more heavily soiled areas, but do not rub the stain into the fibers—dab instead.  Try not to use soap, as different rugs may respond differently to the soap—water is best as it is neutral.  After you have cleaned the rug with water, leave it flat to dry.  Then, feel place to put it wherever you see fit!

However, no matter how soiled the rug looks, or how lost you may think you are with cleaning it, know that we at Bayside Carpet Cleaning are here to help.  Just give us a call, and we will be right there to make your area rug look like new again!

When it comes to tile, mopping is one of the best ways to give it that wonderful shine.  However, mopping can be a little bit trickier than you think, and there may be some mistakes that you are making when you do it.  Read on to find out some of the most common mopping mistakes out there!

The first mistake that we want to cover is an integral part of mopping: water.  You cannot mop without water, but too much water can spell disaster for your floor.  Using just the right amount of water (where the mops can easily glide across the surface) as opposed to soaking your entire floor in water will not only protect it from water damage, but will actually clean better.  

Another common mistake has to deal with the condition of the water itself.  Mopping with filthy water will not get your tile clean, no matter how many times you go over it.  With that being said, it may be in your best interest to invest in a mop bucket that has a filter on it, or better yet, just switch out the water when you can see it getting brown.  This tip is extremely important for heavily soiled floors, as you can probably get by with just one bucket of water if the floor is relatively clean.  

Finally, a common mistake comes with soap.  Many people choose to use the same soap for all types of floors.  Sure, this may seem like the economical choice, but in actuality one soap that is great for one type of floor is most likely not meant to go on another type of floor.  In our opinion, you should skip the soap all together and just mop with water—there is virtually no chance of ruining your floor due to the soap and will ultimately be easier to clean.  When you think that you need to use a great deal of soap, chances are a professional cleaner can do a much more effective job, in less time than it would take you.

Regular mopping is the way to keep a good floor looking great, but be sure that you have a professional cleaning at least once a year to keep it in tip-top shape.  When it’s time for your cleaning, give us a call today for a free estimate!

The first snow of 2017 has fallen in our Jersey Shore region, and with it comes the realization that we are heading into winter’s icy grasp once more.  This season can be a wonderful time for some, but it is almost always a dismal time for your floors.  Learn how to spare your floors from the harsh effects of winter with a few simple tips in today’s blog!

Out of all the simple things that you can do to help protect your floors in the winter is to make one simple investment: doormats.  More often than not, moisture is the number one carpet killer out there, and the recent snowfall will have family and guests tracking in snow into your home.  This snow melts, leaves the water behind, and sprouts a mold growth in your carpet, requiring extensive professional cleaning to fix.  Do yourself a favor and invest in a doormat (or several) so people can wipe their feet off before tracking in things into your home.  Or better yet, encourage everyone who enters your home to leave their shoes by the door.

While moisture may spell disaster for your carpet, and complete lack of it can cause trouble for your hardwood flooring.  Wood floors need a certain degree of moisture to keep their shape, and a total lack of it can cause them to warp, and sometimes to shrink.  With this being said, it is important to keep your home a constant humidity level throughout the season, and can be done easily with a humidifier.  We are used to humid days in the spring a summer (a perk of living at the Shore) so help your floors out and give them an environment that they are used to!

Our final piece of advice for you is a preventative measure: give your hardwood floors a protective coating before the winter gets worse.  By reapplying a protective coating to your floors, you are ensuring the safety and well being of the wood underneath it, which can spell the difference between a pristine and tattered wood floor when people are trudging in and out.  Even by encouraging people to leave their shoes at the door, you simply cannot prevent everything from getting on your hard wood, so do yourself a favor and take the proactive measure today!

However, no matter how you choose to prepare for winter, know that Bayside Carpet Cleaning is here to help no matter the situation or season.  One call to us is all you need to keep your floors looking great, all year long.

Give us a call today for a free estimate!

Leather furniture is a great addition to any home, but cleaning it may appear to be a problem for some.  Luckily, cleaning leather furniture is just as easy as cleaning other furniture, despite what you hear on the Internet.  Join us today as we give you some helpful tips for cleaning all types of leather furniture!

While the technique of cleaning leather furniture is pretty straightforward, you need to watch out for what you clean it with, as some homemade and commercial cleaners can ruin the leather.  For most jobs, we prefer to use a mixture of vinegar and water, and we steer clear of the commercial stuff.  A simple solution of equal parts vinegar and water will get out most stains, keep your leather fresh, and give it a clean scent afterward.

The first thing you want to do when cleaning leather furniture is to give it a good vacuum to get off loose dirt and dust.  Nothing fancy, just a vacuum with a brush attachment will do the trick.  Then, apply the homemade solution with a cloth, but be sure that the cloth is only damp with the solution and not soaking wet, as lingering water can damage the leather.  Try to only wipe down the problem areas of the furniture, and wipe down only what you need to.  After you’ve wiped down the problem areas, go back over with a dry cloth.  Once the furniture is dry, you are good to go.

Cleaning most things is simple once you break it down to size, and leather is no exception.  For more cleaning tips, be sure to check back to our blog every Tuesday and Thursday!

New year, new you—right, Bayside Carpet Cleaning fans?  While reinventing ourselves is not at the top of everyone’s resolution list, keeping your carpet in great shape should be.  It’s simple, easy, and effective, all with the help of a few simple additions to your regular routine.  Read on to find out more!

When it comes to protecting your carpet, and making sure that it stays in great condition, nothing is quite as effective as a regular vacuuming schedule.  By keeping up on vacuuming, you are keeping dust mites, dirt, and other impurities out of your carpet, which not only speaks to the health of you and your family, but to the health of the carpet itself.  Try to give your carpet a thorough vacuum at least once a week, but feel free to give it some more love if it is in a high-traffic area of the house.

In addition, you should look to protect your carpet in the coming year.  No, we don’t mean breaking out the plastic wrap and covering the whole floor, but instead putting out door mats and throw rugs.  These simple additions will help keep dirt out of your carpet, which equates to less time that you need to spend vacuuming every week.  It is a sizeable investment to capitalize on both time and energy, so why not give it a try?  You can also encourage guests to leave their shoes by the door, as your carpets will accumulate much less dirt this way.

Finally, you should also make it a point to have your carpets professionally cleaned.  Sure, regular upkeep is great, but it cannot get the deep clean that a professional clean can give, like removing dug-in stains and bacteria.  One clean per year should suffice, but more may be needed if it is a high-traffic area.  
To schedule your professional clean, give Bayside Carpet Cleaning a call today!