Road Chemicals Are Dangerous

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Keeping your carpet clean during a Minnesota winter can be a lot more important than you might think.
In particular, road de-icing chemicals are a health and safety hazard waiting to happen.
The dust from magnesium chloride, one of the road de-icing agents used by the MDOT, has been cited in articles as a cause of electrical arcing on electrical systems and wiring failures on trucks. In home and office environments this chemical and others can blow into the air where it can settle on electrical components or be sucked in by computer fans, potentially causing failure.
Another de-icing chemical, potassium acetate, can cause serious health and safety issues.

Read more about these and other topics here.

Keep your carpets clean and safe with regular steam cleaning.

Candles and Carpet

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In the fall and winter we tend to make our homes cozier by burning candles. Candles come in wonderful holiday and winter scents such as cinnamon, pine, and pumpkin and can make your house smell holiday fresh.

It’s a good idea to use a glass plate under a candle called a charger to prevent wax from overflowing and ruining furniture and carpet.

Most candle makers say not to leave candles burning unattended. Leaving a candle to burn unattended can cause a variety of undesirable outcomes such as fire or wax dripping on furniture, fabrics or carpet.

If you have an area where wax dripped onto your carpet give us a call and we can tell you the best way to handle this dilemma. Call Russ or Ryan at Commercial Steam Team 952-224-7222.

Fireplace Safety

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Many of our customers have fire places in their homes and when the air outside gets chilly there is nothing like getting cozy next to a warm fire. Before you start using your fireplace or wood stove for the season it is a good idea to call a chimney sweep to clean your chimney. Soot, sap and carbon ash build up in chimneys so they need annual cleaning. If they do not get cleaned there is danger of a chimney fire.

Soot and ash can also be spilled on carpet next to the mantle and resist being vacuumed. We can help get the stains out of your carpet with steam cleaning. Give us a call for a free estimate; we’d love to talk to you. Commercial Steam Team 952-224-7222

Kids, Carpet, and Spring

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It’s spring time, and with the welcome weather comes an unwelcome party crasher: mud! Oftentimes this unwelcome intruder brings along another unwanted guest when road salts and de-icers combine with dirt to make a particularly toxic mix.

Make sure you keep as much as possible of this unwelcome combination out of your home by encouraging children to use entrance mats, taking off footwear by the entrance, and quickly vacuuming what gets past these cautionary measures.

To further ensure that your home is healthy and safe, call Commercial Steam Team at 952-224-7222 to make sure your carpet is as clean as can be with our environmentally safe carpet cleaning!

Pet Owners – How To Cut Back on Litter

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kittysmCats can be a joy and a comfort, and unfortunately they can also be a problem on occasion. One such occasion is when they track litter around the home or office.

Litter that is no longer ‘fresh out of the box’ is as we know not very sanitary, and having that spread around is not good. Clumping cat litter in particular is very trackable. Litter can spread germs and smells, and if enough builds up can be an inspiration to start a new kitty bathroom. Besides, it hurts to walk on litter in bare feet.

A quick solution for reducing most of this litter problem is simply to have a carpet remnant or sample on the approach to and under the litter box. These remnants are much easier to clean. (Just take them outside and shake and beat them out.) A medium length cut pile carpet is generally best for this purpose.

For more ideas on controlling litter issues, visit our page on Cat Litter and Carpet.

Dusty Drapes and Your Carpet

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It can be frustrating to clean a carpet and have it be seemingly full of dust within a few days.

Many of the things in your home can collect dust and when you walk past that dust it gets stirred up in the air where it then falls back on furniture or on your carpet. Your carpet collects the dust that falls from the air and it gathers there until it’s vacuumed up. It’s a good idea to try to clean up these dusty areas before you vacuum.

One place where dust collects is on your drapes and curtains. Dusty drapes often get overlooked when we clean our house because they still often look clean. If you stand in the sunshine when you open your drapes you can see all the dust that is swirling in the air from the drapes.

Curtains and drapes collect a huge amount of dust and dirt over time and distribute it every time the drapes are moved. By regularly cleaning your drapes you can help cut down on dust on your furniture and dust build up on carpets.

It’s important when cleaning drapes to follow the manufactures directions on the tag on how to clean them. Curtains typically can be machine washed but always follow the directions on the tag as well.

Road Salt Stains In Carpet

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In Minnesota we get lots of snow and ice so we use chemicals to melt ice on our sidewalks and roads.  Those winter chemicals can build up on your carpet leaving distinctive white rings when it dries.

Have you ever looked at your boots half way through winter and noticed a white chalky substance? This is from the chemicals used on sidewalks, driveways and parking lots to melt snow and ice. These chemicals build up on your footwear and get tracked in on your carpet. Calcium chloride and sodium chloride, also known as road salt, melt the snow and ice on the road. They also promote corrosion and rust on your car, so you can imagine what road salt will do to the carpet in your home.

Road salt or sidewalk de-icer is gritty and when in chunks can collect on the bottom of your shoes and be tracked indoors onto your carpet. Add melted snow and ice and these chemicals dissolve, allowing them to invisibly coat your shoes and boots. In this liquid form they then soak into your carpet and then leave a crusty white ring when they dry. Add road sludge to the mix and now you have dirty brown or black stains.

The best way to prevent road salt stains on carpet is by removing your shoes before entering your home.

One of the easiest ways to encourage this is to buy a boot tray. Then either buy a small rug that will fit inside the boot tray, or use a dark towel that you no longer want or need. Place the rug or towel inside the boot tray. This will absorb the water from the shoes and boots, wick it away, and allow the water to evaporate. That way you won’t have as much dirty residue deposited around the tray when you put your footwear back on.

How often should you clean your carpet?

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Fiber producers and carpet manufacturers recommend that a residential carpet should be professionally cleaned at least every 6 to 12 months for best performance.  Soil that is not removed from the carpeting cuts and slices on the carpet fibers, breaking down the carpet yarn. The result is that even with restorative cleaning, it won’t correct the damage that has been carried out to the fiber.

If you are someone who has heard the phrase “Wait as long as you can prior to having your carpets cleaned..” or “Once you’ve cleaned your carpet, it’s never the same..”, these comments are a result of carpet cleaners that have left  the carpet  with an overload of detergent residue and heavy oils, that do not get completely extracted with some cleaning systems.  As a result, the new dirt is attracted back to the ‘old dirt’ and heavy oils that were brought to the surface during the cleaning process.  Once you walk around in the space for a few weeks, the carpet looks dirty again because the new dirt is attracted back to the old dirt.

In conclusion, carpet that is cleaned properly, every 6 to 12 months, will last longer and be healthier for the environment of your home.

Red Wine in Carpet

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A red wine spill on carpet is very common. There are many do-it-yourself ways to remove red stains from carpet, but there are also many DIY solutions that can damage the carpet fibers or set the stain and ruin the carpet. Most carpets these days are stain resistant but you still need to treat the spill to minimize the damage.

Learn how to treat stains in your carpet by reading our article on Carpet Stain Removal.

Spring Planting

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The ground is still wet from all the rain and there are many plants available from local garden centers, so it’s a good time to put in a few annuals if you haven’t done so already.

Large retail chains usually carry plants from one or two national suppliers. These large suppliers provide massive numbers of the same plants year after year. As a result their plants and the soil they arrive in are often infested with pests and disease which can contaminate the rest of your garden. It’s usually a good idea to buy your plants from local garden centers to avoid these problems.

Here are a few:

Bloomington Garden Center
9407 Old Cedar Ave S, Bloomington, MN 55425
www.bloomingtongardencenter.com/?

Holasek Greenhouses
8610 Galpin Boulevard, Chanhassen, Minnesota 55317
www.holasekgreenhouses.com/

Tangletown Gardens
www.tangletowngardens.com/
5353 Nicollet Ave, Minneapolis

Mother Earth Gardens
3738 42nd Ave S, Minneapolis
www.motherearthgarden.com/

Uncommon Gardens
5750 Lyndale Ave S, Minneapolis
www.uncommongardens.com/

Cal’s Market and Garden Center
6403 Egan Drive, Savage, MN 55378
www.calsmarketandgardencenter.com/

Leitner’s Garden Center
945 Randolph Ave, St Paul, MN 55102
http://leitnersstpaul.com/

Lilydale Garden Center
941 Sibley Memorial Hwy, West St Paul, MN 55118
www.lilydalegardencenter.com/

Linder’s Garden Center
various locations
www.linders.com/?

A Few Days Without Rain?

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Are we finally going to have a few days to dry out? If so, this may be your best time to get the mud out of your carpets!

Winter de-icing chemicals, mud, dust mites…lots of unpleasant things can build up in your carpet over the winter and into a wet spring.

Now is a great time to clean out the built up goop! Give us a call and we can bring your carpets back to fresh and clean and ready for summer fun!

Couch and Sofa Cleaning Minneapolis

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Just as your carpet collects dust and odors, so does your furniture. The most common piece of furniture in your home that needs cleaning is your upholstered couch. Just think of how many people sit on your couch and how much use it gets. Most sofas get a funky smell from things collecting on it like dust, oils, dead skin cells, hair, and food particles.

You can fix that with our sofa and chair steam clean. Steam cleaned upholstery can smell clean and fresh again.

Give us a call today and ask us about upholstery cleaning for your furniture. Commercial Steam Clean 952-224-7222

Energy Rebates – Commercial and Residential

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It’s important to take advantage of rebates when they are available for your business or home. For a current list of rebates that Excel Energy is offering go to http://www.xcelenergy.com/xe-en/Save_Money_&_Energy/Find_a_Rebate

For a list of rebates for efficient natural gas equipment from Centerpoint Minnegasco visit http://www.centerpointenergy.com/assets/promo/minnesotarebates/MN/

From the guys at Commercial Steam Team

Twin Cities Post Strong Gains in Housing Prices

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An article in the February 26 edition of the Star Tribune reports that in December there was a 12% increase in the housing prices in the Twin Cities. That may be good news for people who have postponed selling their home due to a soft market. Nationally home prices peaked in 2006 and in December 2012 prices in the Twin Cities were up to the average of 2003 prices.

But is the housing slump over yet? Probably not. According to the National Association of Realtors there are less homes on the market today than the last seven years leaving a big gap in the supply of available homes.

For more information on housing prices in the Twin Cities visit The Builders Association  Of The Twin Cities.  http://www.batconline.org/

Call us to help you clean your carpets before putting your house up for sale, or to help keep your new home carpets clean!

Beer Spilled on Your Carpet?

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Now that we’re coming down to the football playoffs it’s inevitable that someone will spill beer on the carpet.  Whenever there is a touchdown the audience can get so excited that can send beer flying across the room. To combat the smell of beer in your carpet, sop up the beer as soon as possible with plain white paper towels. Don’t use printed paper towels as the dye can come off leaving a colored stain.

If it is a larger beer spill you may want to soak up as much of the beer as possible then mix some warm water with clear liquid dish detergent and one tablespoon of white vinegar. Apply mixture to carpet with a sponge a little at a time and blot the spill with a clean absorbent towel each time you apply the solution.

Call Commercial Steam Team and schedule an appointment to have your carpets cleaned. Give us a call today at 952-224-7222

How to Get Pine Needles Out of Carpet

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The Holiday season may be behind us but if you had a real Christmas tree this year you may still find pine needles in your carpet. Pine needles tend to get stuck in carpet and don’t want to come out. Vacuuming pine needles does not always work but some of our customers say that a shop vac can be more powerful than your regular vac. Steam cleaning can be even better as it can soften and loosen the needles, allowing them to come loose more easily.

If you have an area that has multiple needles you can wrap a piece of duct tape around your hand and use it like a lint roller. Press down hard on the tape over the needles and it should pick them up. On last resort get down on your hands and knees and pick up any remaining needles with your fingers.

Top 5 Germ Places

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Microbiologists have identified the top 5 places in the home that have the highest number of germs.
• Dish sponges
• Kitchen Drains
• Bathroom Toilets
• Kitchen Trash Cans
• Air exhaust from a running vacuum cleaner

To prevent germs from being blown back into the air while vacuuming make sure your vacuum cleaner is working efficiently, change the bag often and schedule regular cleanings.

Give us a call if we can help with your carpet – Commercial Steam Clean 952-224-7222

Soil in Your Carpet?

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Did you know that soil and dirt can build up underneath your carpet and padding? Most people replacing carpet find layers of dirt under their old carpet and padding. If dirt and detritus is allowed to accumulate on carpet it is ground in by simple foot traffic, and the dirt and dry organic material leaches down past the carpet fibers and into the padding below.

To prevent dirt infiltrations in your carpet have people remove their shoes, vacuum your carpet frequently and get your carpet steam cleaned at least once a year.

Please give us a call if we can schedule a thorough cleaning for you Commercial Steam Team 952-224-7222

Pet Odor Indoors

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Now that the colder weather is upon us were spending more time indoors and keeping the windows closed which can make your home smell pretty stuffy. If you have an indoor pet they can shed dander, hair and oils which can accumulate in your carpet and cause odor.

Because you live in this environment every day, you probably don’t smell anything unusual, but you can count on having your visitors smell it.

To prevent the buildup of smells and odors in your carpet schedule regular steam cleanings to leave your carpet fresh and clean.

Call Commercial Steam Team 952-224-7222

How to Clean Area Rugs

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carpet runner cleaning burnsvilleThe first step in cleaning area rugs is to vacuum them to remove dirt and debris.

Small pebbles and dirt can collect under the rug so vacuum the back of the rug as well.

If your carpet has fringes or decorative edges take care not to damage the fringe as you vacuum the carpet.

If you have pets or long haired people in your household the next step is to brush the carpet with a stiff bristled brush to remove hair left by the vacuum.

 

With smaller rugs you can take them outdoors and shake or beat it thoroughly to remove dirt.

Please let us know if we can help you with your carpet. Give us a call at 952-224-7222

What Kind of Rug Should I Use To Protect My Home and Office?

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There are many beautiful rugs that you can put in your entryway to capture dirt and moisture.

One style is the carpet runner.

Here are some of the styles of carpet runner that they have in Home Depot. These entry and stair rugs are bound on the sides and can be cut and easily rolled up and taken home in your car.

Please let us know if we can help you with your carpet. Give us a call at 952-224-7222

 

Home Cleaning Tip – How To Clean Kitchen Cabinets

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As you cook foods grease is deposited into the air and collects on kitchen cabinets and can build up over time. The cabinets directly above the stove will be the worst as grease rises up and collects along the tops of the cabinets.

You can easily clean grease by using Murphy’s oil soap natural cleaner on wood cabinets.

Read step by step directions at ResourcefulRemodeler.com

If you have any food stains on carpet we can help. Give us a call at 952-224-7222

Free House Repair Calculators

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Just stumbled across some free calculators that help you estimate the amount of materials you’ll need for remodeling projects. Some the online calculators include carpet, ceramic tile, drywall, grass seed, insulation and paint material calculators.

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/catalog/servlet/ContentView?pn=Calculators&storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&cm_sp=project_guides-_-left_nav-_-calculators

Bathroom Products Cause Stains on Carpets

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Some of the products that you use in the bathroom can cause stains in carpet that permanently change your carpets color. Be careful when using toilet bowl cleaners that contain acid or drain cleaners as these products will discolor and stain carpet. You’d be amazed at how easy it is to splash and then track contaminated liquid into the rest of your home or office.

If you use acne facial cleansers and hair dyes try to keep these away from carpets. If you’ve washed your face with acne medication and the wash cloth touches the carpet you will find that to be especially damaging.

Spilled something on your carpet that you’d like us to take a look at? Give Russ a call at 952-224-7222

Free July Weekly Workshops at Home Depot

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Home Depot features weekly workshops on home improvement. Learn how to do home improvement projects from the pros through their workshops and live demonstrations. At the Burnsville Home Depot, for instance, this July’s workshops include closet and storage systems, interior paint and installing laminate flooring. Most Home Depot locations hold workshops on Saturdays and each store is different so go online and set the location of your closest Home Depot then look at the upcoming schedule of free classes.

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/catalog/servlet/ContentView?pn=HT_WS_WeeklyWorkshops

How Long Does Carpet Last?

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Carpet being sold on the market today comes in varying quality and different lifetime ratings of between 5 to 15 years.  A nylon fiber carpet will most likely have a 5-10 year warranty whereas polyester may be rated for only 5- 7 years and BCF Olefin fiber has a mere 5 year warranty.

Of course these carpet life numbers are conservative ranges. How you use and maintain your carpet can increase or decrease your carpet’s life.

Having people remove their shoes before entering your home, frequent vacuuming and an annual steam cleaning will make carpet last a lot longer than the numbers mentioned above.

Is it time for your cleaning? Give Russ a call at 952-224-7222

Sagging Outside Door?

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Hardware that needs maintenance can cause a door to sag. Depending on how frequently your front or back door gets used your door hardware gets open, shut, and slammed. Inspect your exterior door hinges to make sure they operate properly. Quite frequently people find that the door hardware is loose, a screw is missing or the hinge is not properly aligned. If you have a squeaky door your door may need lubrication.

Get a screw driver and tighten any loose bolts and screws and lubricate hinges with oil. Make sure to wipe the excess oil up quickly so that it won’t drip and make a mess that can be tracked throughout your house.

Cleaning Your Computer Screen

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Computers are delicate machines but they sure do get dirty.

To clean your computer screen, first turn off your computer and monitor.

Dampen a clean, soft, lint-free cloth with plain water and wring it out.

Wipe the screen with the cloth. Do not spray Windex or other sprays on the screen of your monitor.

After you clean the screen wipe down the outside of the monitor frame and then the rest of the monitor.

Cautions:

  • Be careful not to get water into the grooves of the monitor cabinet.
  • Never clean a monitor with alcohol, ammonia, finger nail polish remover, or other types of cleaners as they can damage the plastic.
  • NEVER use a spray dust remover to clean a monitor, especially CRT monitors which have stored electrical charges. These canned sprays are flammable and can ignite.

Cleaning Ceiling Fans

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One of the hardest to reach places is your ceiling fan. If you are tall enough to use a chair and a dust attachment on the vacuum cleaner it is the easiest way to remove dust and not spread it around.

If you cannot reach the blades you may have to invest in a long handled dust mop. When using a dust mop you’ll find it is less of a mess if you spread an old sheet or piece of large plastic under the area you are working to catch all the big gobs of dust that will fall from the fan blades.

Recommended cleaning is at least once a year in early spring before you start to use the fan.

Reaching Cobwebs

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Spiders spin webs that collect dust and make a room look messy. You can go get yourself a fancy cobweb-removing telescope extension duster or you can make one at home that gets you into the high places to collect cobwebs.  Keeping your home free of cobweb buildup will make it cleaner and healthier to live in.  Whether you have straight walls or decorative ceilings they need cleaning at least every six months.

If you have shorter ceilings you can make a cob web cleaner by taping a thick rag over top of a broom.

For taller ceilings you can buy a cobweb duster or you can make your own rod by connect 2-3 pieces of PVC tubing and 1-2 connector tubes for the middle. You’ll have to measure your tallest ceiling and break that down into manageable pieces for storage when not using it. Duct tape a large rag on the end of the rod and change the rag often.

The cobweb cleaners sold in stores and online are usually made from poly fiber material similar to a plastic broom. Most manufactured cobweb dusters have round 8 inch heads.

Keep the cobwebs at bay by dusting as soon as you see more spider webs appear.

Watch Your Footing

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It may seem silly to take precautions before going out the door on your way to the car but it can be more important to be careful at this time than at almost any other.

When you go outside your shoes or boots have been indoors and are warmer than the temperature outside. This means that the warmer material of your footwear can melt a very thin layer of ice or snow when you walk. This layer of water between the snow or ice and your shoes then acts like grease, allowing your feet to slide over the snow or ice and making each step into a slick balancing act.

Make sure when going outside you use handrails on walkways and take it slow going over ice patches. When choosing footwear for outside use boots or shoes with good tread. Flat soled footwear surfaces do not grip and are more slippery than treads.

Even when your shoes are already cold, remember that ice melt helps break up ice around entryways, sidewalks and driveways and can sometimes be slippery as well.

Before you go outside be aware that ice and snow may be hazardous and watch your footing.

Visit our website: www.commercialsteamteam.com