Aquamist Carpet Care

Victoria's Favourite Carpet Cleaning Company

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5 Signs Your Carpet Might Need To Be Replaced

Here at Aquamist, we?re all about ensuring your carpets remain in tip-top condition. We take great pride in our work and in the satisfaction our customers all take in said result. Though we?ve been Victoria?s favourite carpet cleaning specialists for nearly thirty years, sometimes even we can?t save carpets. If a carpet is in dire need of replacement, it can?t be salvaged even by the world?s best cleaner. Of course, we?ll be eager to tell you if your carpet is nearing the end of its life, but there are many different indicators and signs you can use. That way, you?ll have a great idea for yourself when it?s time to go shopping for some new carpet.

Excessive wear and tear

Over time, high traffic walkways and carpet junctions like doorways and corners can wear out faster. If you have any furniture that hasn?t moved in a decade or two, have a look underneath to see the difference. If you?re moving furniture or find yourself adding extra staples often, it might be time to consider professional repairs or replacement. A sign that your replacement is overdue is if large tears cause cuts, slips, or even falls. Around stairwells, the injury risk is quite high.

Age, particularly in older homes

Most manufacturers agree that a a quality modern carpet can last between 10-15 years. Of course, your mileage may vary depending on how your carpets are cared for. If your property or residence still has shag carpets that predate the collapse of the Soviet Union, those carpets need to go. Older carpets often experience wrinkling, padding erosion, fading, matting, and color fading. Though it can often be challenging to spot carpet aging over time if you?ve lived somewhere for a while, take a quick look around. Your house and its history will have answers for you if you know where to look.

Worsening allergy symptoms and health of inhabitants

Chances are you know someone who has high sensitivity to environmental allergens. Maybe they even live in your home. Either way, you can leverage their unfortunate sensitivity in warmer months to determine air cleanliness. You could also opt to purchase a purifier that has a contaminant indicator light or signal on it. Before you find your answer though, check other factors in the room or area like smoking, pets, or leaky windows. After those have been ruled out, it might be time to get a cleaner in to assess whether replacement is due.

Degradation of carpet underlay and padding

Carpet cleaning is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to your floors. After all, without underlay or padding, carpet is little more than plushy fabric. Good shape padding is crucial for buffering sound and even insulating rooms to keep them warmer in the cooler months. Unfortunately, spills and damage over time can impact carpet padding even worse than the surface carpet. Signs to look for include unevenness in carpets, bad wrinkling, and curious squeaks.

Mold problems or bad smells in the surrounding area

Even perfectly-maintained carpets can suffer from serious issues with mold or odors. In Victoria?s humid climate, a carpet with too much moisture is likely to exacerbate smells and bad odors. If your room needs frequent ?airing out? and maintains a musty smell that makes people sneeze, that?s a solid indicator. If you?re thinking of selling or renting your home, this is particularly important. The same is true of carpets at businesses with high traffic.

If any or many of these issues are causing problems for you in your home or even if you?re merely concerned that they might be, don?t hesitate to let us know! Our carpet cleaning experts are friendly, non-judgmental, and eager to support you in making informed choices. Know that we?re not carpet salespeople, and thus there?s no real incentive for us to meet sales quotas or deceive you. Clean and great condition carpets make us as happy as they make you, so don?t hesitate to pick up the phone for your next cleaning job when you?re ready!

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Best Ways to Clean Furniture

It is used and abused on a daily basis but is often overlooked at house cleaning time. Furniture is a major financial investment and should be a priority when it comes to routine household maintenance. Retain the new appearance and extend the life of your furniture with minimal effort and a schedule of regular preventative care. Remember to always review the manufacturer’s care instructions before attempting any cleaning method. Here are a few tried, tested, and proven methods of keeping that couch looking brand new. [Read more…] about Best Ways to Clean Furniture

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Choosing The Right Vacuum For Your Home: Part 2

Now that you?re familiar with the two types of vacuum cleaners available (If you missed it, see Part 1 here), it?s time to discuss a few other important factors to consider before?choosing the right vacuum for your home.

Type of Flooring:

Assessing which type of flooring is more prevalent in your home will go a long way towards determining which type of vacuum is right for you. For homes that are primarily carpeted, the deep-cleaning bristles and strong suction of an upright vacuum are ideal. On the other hand, if your home is full of beautiful hardwoods or tiles, a canister vacuum could be your best choice. That?s because canister vacuums rely solely on powerful suction to pick up dust and dirt, opposed to a rotating brush which can spread debris around a hard surface and scuff floors. That said, uprights can be used on hard floors, just be sure to select a model that allows you to turn the brushes off.

Room Size:

If you have a lot of square footage to keep clean, an upright may be what you?re looking for: uprights typically have a larger cleaning head, allowing you to cover more ground in less time. For smaller rooms and tighter spaces, the increased maneuverability of a canister can be a great help.

Also, if you have large rooms, or an inadequate number of electrical outlets, cord length becomes a particularly important feature. While lengths vary, uprights can generally accommodate longer cords.

Attachments:

Vacuum cleaners aren?t just great on floors. In fact, with the right tools and attachments, your vacuum can also be used to clean everything from drapes and furniture to ceiling fans and mattresses. So, before buying, assess the quality and versatility of each model?s included attachments in light of your home?s cleaning needs.

Allegens:

As you?ve probably figured out, vacuums work by drawing air in (along with dirt and dust), filtering it, and then returning the exhaust air to the environment. In order to keep allergens from being recycled back into your home, it?s important to find a vacuum with an excellent filter and air-tight rubber gasket seals. Look for a model with a HEPA (High Proficiency Particulate Air) filter, which traps over 99.5% of allergens in your machine.

Allergy sufferers may also want to consider whether a vacuum has a bagged or bagless dust receptacle. That?s because a bagless system, while more convenient, has the potential to give you a face full of debris each time you empty it. A sealed bagged system, while more costly given the need to purchase replacement bags, will more effectively limit your exposure to dust, dander, and pollen.

Hopefully, our two-part guide has given you a great introduction to vacuum cleaners and their features. Just remember: Whichever model you ultimately select, being well-informed will ensure you choose a machine that will keep your home looking its best. Happy shopping!

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Choosing The Right Vacuum For Your Home: Part 1

Vacuum cleaners are one of the most important, and frequently used, tools in your cleaning arsenal. Given the amount of information available, however, choosing which type is best for you and your home can be overwhelming. In order to simplify the process, we?ve created a two-part guide outlining some of the things to consider before buying.

In this installment, we?ll discuss the two primary types of vacuums and highlight some of the basic advantages and disadvantages of each.

Upright Vacuums

If someone asked you to picture a vacuum clearer, odds are your mind would conjure up an image of a traditional upright vacuum: a larger machine with a straight body that is pushed and pulled in front of its user. Uprights clean by using a bar of tough bristles that rotates at high speed, beating dirt and dust out of your carper before suctioning it up.

Advantages:

-With rotating brushes and strong suction, uprights are powerful, providing your carpet with a truly deep clean.
-The rotating bristles not only clean your carpet, they groom it as well, giving it a lush, lustrous look.
-Uprights often have a higher-capacity dust receptacle, enabling you to vacuum longer before having to empty it.
-Given their typically larger cleaning heads, uprights can cover more area in less time, meaning quicker clean-up.

Disadvantages:

  • Uprights can be heavy; all that cleaning power comes with a trade off.
  • Their strong bristles and suction power can be too much for certain delicate rugs.
  • Given their shape, uprights can have difficulty accessing corners and other small spaces. To fully clean these areas, you?ll need to use an attachment.
  • Taller users may find themselves having to lean forward while vacuuming, potentially irritating a sensitive back.
  • Due to their bigger, more bulky design, uprights are not suitable for stairs.

Canister Vacuums

Canister vacuums are composed of a floor unit, which follows behind the user on wheels, that is connected to a hose and cleaning head. Canisters do not have rotating brush bars, relying on strong suction to do their cleaning.

Advantages:

  • High-quality canister vacuums are generally less expensive than their counterparts.
  • With no brush bar scattering dirt and debris, canister vacs are ideal for hard surfaces like tile and wood.
  • A canister?s design allows you to safely and easily clean stairs.
  • Canister vacs are lighter and more maneuverable. Plus, they give you access to tough to reach spots, like corners and under furniture, without needing to use a separate attachment.

Disadvantages:

  • With no rotating brush bar, canister vacuums are less effective at giving your carpet that deep clean. This also means that your carpet isn?t being groomed.
  • With generally smaller dust receptacles, you?ll be interrupting your vacuuming more frequently to empty them.
  • Although the individual components are typically more compact, the separation of the cleaning head and the motor can make canister vacs awkward to store.

Now that you?re familiar with the two types of vacuums available, you may already be leaning towards one model over another. In our next installment, we?ll discuss how to factor your home?s design and your personal preferences into your decision. Stay tuned!

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Choosing The Best Nursery Rug for Your Baby

Area rugs can make or break a room and this is no less the case when choosing suitable nursery rugs for your baby?s special bedroom. Bringing together colourful and decorative accessories for a baby?s nursery is one of the most enjoyable tasks any parent or professional interior designer can partake in. It?s like going back in time and reliving early childhood fantasies and memories all over again whilst at the same time having a freedom with furniture and d?cor that you don?t have with a regular living room or master bedroom.

However, despite the extra freedom that?s associated with designing children?s rooms, there are a few points you need to bear in mind when choosing the most suitable nursery rug for your baby.

Existing Floor Material

Does the nursery have hardwood flooring or has it been carpeted? The answer to this question will determine the size of the baby rug you buy. Wooden floorboards are attractive features in most interiors but in a baby?s sleeping room they can seem hard, cold and too straight edged. Large decorative rugs cover over this hardness whilst also injecting extra colour and softness to the flooring space.

For nursery rooms with wall-to-wall carpets, there is a reduced need for the visual and tactile softening of the floor. Smaller rugs will be more appropriate for carpets unless you dislike the existing colour and material. Smaller and less expensive rugs can also be placed in areas of the room which might be prone to spillages, thereby allowing simple replacement and washing when needed, as well as protecting the surface underneath. A lot of rugs these days are also machine washable which makes cleaning up after any accidents all the more easier.

Matching the D?cor Scheme

Has the nursery already been decorated or are you still in the pre-design stages? If the nursery has a coherent decor theme then buying a baby rug will need to be conducted along this general scheme. For example, a pink princess themed baby?s room will be enhanced with a white or pink crown-shaped rug made from a soft and fluffy material. A blue spaceship design would look decidedly out of place.

For parents who have not yet started designing the nursery, the choosing of a baby?s rug can be the inspiration behind a whole interior d?cor scheme. Browsing through the various carpet designs offers many ideas for potential themes, colours, patterns and even furniture pieces. Inspired by a particular item seen in a local store, magazine or online, many parents have designed a whole kid?s room from the ideas born out of one object alone.

Rug Colours and Shapes

The colour and patterns of the rug you choose should complement and enhance the ambiance of the nursery interior. Children?s rooms are often brighter, more vibrant and more sympathetic to clashing colours than adult bedrooms but this does not give a completely free card to go over the top in the design. A nursery which is too decoratively brash, loud and visually overwhelming will not encourage the important relaxation and calm which is so vital to a baby?s sleeping room.

Rugs, whether for adults or children, come in a multitude of shapes. When it comes to choosing one for a baby?s nursery, there are limitless designs and outlines available. Some come in regular rectangular, square and circular forms whilst others are found in the outlines of cat heads, squiggles, spirals, princesses, planes, stars and butterflies, to name but just a few.

Buying a baby accessory of any kind is going to be a fun and rewarding experience. As long as you keep the above considerations in mind when choosing a rug for your nursery room, you?ll have no problems. One final tip to think about is whether you want the rug to last long into your baby?s childhood. When a baby becomes a toddler, the d?cor scheme might change and thus a more neutral design, pattern and colour will be more appropriate. Above all, have fun and trust your instinct.

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5 Tips For Preparing Your Home For Sale

Let’s address the 11,000 pound elephant?in the room: maybe you’re wondering: “why would Aquamist, a Carpet Care company be writing about selling homes?” And that would be a reasonable question! Truth is, we clean the rugs and carpets for people moving into newly purchased homes all the time. Clients are often so blown away at the difference the clean carpets make, they often remark that they would likely have paid more if the carpets were cleaned before seeing the home.

Really, it’s no secret: real estate is something of a favourite past time here in Victoria BC, and so, for all you sellers out there, here are some tips from our own experience that could help you sell your home faster, and for more.

Despite the fact that a home is usually one of the most expensive things anyone will ever buy, first impressions still play a crucial part in influencing buyers. To ensure you get a quick sale at or near your asking price, you’ll need to take a few extra steps to make the property more appealing to potential buyers. Consider the following tips to give your home a better chance to sell in the highly competitive market:

1. Carry Out Any Repairs

Addressing any defects on your home will help to satisfy the watchful eyes of home inspectors who buyers often hire when looking at property. In fact, property defects discovered by home inspectors account the vast majority of failed sales. You might even want to consider hiring a home inspector yourself to get some professional advice on any repairs or modifications that need to be carried out.

2. Brighten It Up

Maximizing the amount of natural light in your home has a major impact on its liveability, but it doesn’t always have to be a complicated or expensive process. You can brighten up your home in just a day by making sure all of the windows are clean and any overhanging branches are trimmed back. A fresh coat of paint and some clean curtains can also make a huge difference.

3. Make It Less Personalized

While it’s important not to make your home completely sterile, it’s just as essential not to make it too ‘lived in’. Potential buyers will want to be able to imagine their own things in the home, so getting rid of any unconventional customizations can make it easier to sell. Most buyers lack the vision to be able to see past your own design tastes, so consider giving the home a more neutral appearance.

4. Invest in Professional Cleaning

A dirty or untidy home will almost certainly not command a good price or even be possible to sale. Consider having your carpets professionally cleaned as well to freshen up the place. Likewise, cut the grass and patch up any unkempt areas of the garden. You may also want to keep any pets out of the way when you have viewings lined up, since not everyone is a big fan of having animals in the house.

5. Don’t Neglect Storage Space

While cleaning your home in preparation for potential buyers, consider decluttering any storage areas. Storage space is a key concern for many homebuyers, and a lot of people will snoop around during viewing to take a closer look at the details. Be sure to keep any storage rooms and closets as tidy and as empty as possible. The less clutter you have in your home, the bigger it will look.

Final Words

When selling a home, the first impression is often the only one that counts, and many potential buyers will judge the property the moment they enter the door. Make sure the entryway is as presentable as possible, and ensure all rooms (particularly kitchens and bathrooms) are spotlessly clean. The better the first impression people have of your home, the more likely you’ll get your asking price.