Why Do We Need Rug Pads?

It should not be the case, but many people do not even think of buying a rug pad when they are purchasing a rug. Many people might even be clueless as to the functions of a rug pad in the first place. Even if individuals were to invest in a rug pad, they might not think that they need a rug pad for carpeted surfaces as they are usually used for tiled and wooden flooring.

Simply put, rug pads are suitable for every type of flooring. This is because no flooring should be deprived of the protection that a rug pad can offer. Rug pads essentially prevent wear and tear of flooring from the friction that might arise from a rug rubbing on the floor’s surface.

Prolonging the Quality of Your Rug

It is imperative that people start learning that rug pads are necessary to go along with any rug regardless of flooring. Rug pads help rugs last longer because of the protection they can offer. A rug pad forms a cushioned layer that separates the flooring from the rug. This ensures that there is less friction between the rug and the floor especially when the rug is walked on. How it works is that the fibers of the rug are protected and will not be crushed as badly when a rug pad is being utilized.

Furthermore, when using a rug pad over a carpeted surface, the rug pad will serve as a means of protection for the fibers in the rug and the carpet as well. This will help both the surfaces of the carpet and rug to maintain their quality for years to come.

Protection from Stains

A common problem that rug owners encounter is the transfer of dye from the rug to their carpets. This is especially so when the rugs in question are more colorful. If your rug happens to be of a lighter color, you might find that this problem is even more prevalent. This problem also extends to stains that can be transferred from rug to carpet, especially if the rug is not a firsthand one.

This problem can be easily avoided by using a rug pad. A rug pad is a worthy investment that can help you enjoy benefits that survive the test of time. Some people might underestimate exactly how useful rug pads are because they do not know that they are extremely reliable in maintaining the quality of different surfaces.

Helping your Rug Stay in Place

The safety implications of a rug cannot be simply ignored. It is common knowledge that a slippery rug, regardless of whether it is on a tiled, hardwood, or carpeted floor can become a dangerous hazard for people who walk on the rug. They might slip and seriously injure themselves just because you do not own a rug pad. A rug pad will ensure that the rug stays in place and unnecessary injuries can be avoided. Furthermore, it is much easier to do your vacuuming when the rug can stay in place. What are you waiting for? Contact a rug professional today to purchase a rug pad!

What Water Damage Does To Your Carpet Or Floor

Water Damage

Water damage can occur extremely quickly without you even noticing. It could be caused by a leak in your washing machine, leftover water from a thunderstorm, or even forgetting to turn off your faucet. Just like how you did not notice the cause of the water damage, you might wake up finding your floors soaked in water and water-logged. This can result in a great deal of hassle for you as the damaged floors and carpets might have to get cleaned and even replaced. Below are some effects of water damage on your carpet and floors, as well as some methods of mitigation.

Bad Odors Because of Mold Growth

Carpets are usually extremely absorbent to many materials and substances that might be harmful to our health. Mold spores can be easily trapped in the carpet fibers that are tracked in with people’s shoes. When there is water damage or a large-scale spillage on your carpet, the increased moisture in the carpet provides a very conducive environment for the mold to start growing. The mold can grow fairly quickly if no intervention takes place. There might also be a chance where dangerous molds start to grow in your carpet, and its harmful spores become airborne to harm the health of people in your home or facility. Furthermore, if mold is allowed to grow on your carpet or flooring, it might emit horrible odors that might deter your potential customers.

Minimizing Damage

It is extremely crucial to remove as much water and moisture from your carpets and floors as possible. In the case where outdoor humidity is low, you should consider opening your windows and doors so that your home or facility is more well ventilated and the moist air inside the room can be replaced by drier air from the outside. You should also utilize electric floor fans that can expedite the drying process. Additionally, you can also turn up the floor heating so that the water can evaporate faster.

Extensive Water Damage

If the water has already seeped into the floorboards, sometimes it can be difficult to handle by yourself. In this case, to maintain the longevity of your carpet, it would only be wise to hire professionals to clean and deodorize it.

Hardwood Floors

The moment you discover that there is water on your hardwood floors, do not hesitate to remove the water by using a mop or vacuum. If you are able to work fast enough, and prevent any water from being absorbed, your floor might not even suffer from any water damage. However, in some cases, if damage is too extensive, the entire floor might even have to be replaced.

Here at Reilly’s Oriental Rug Cleaning, we have a team of dedicated professionals and technicians that are well-versed in water damage situations. They have many years of experience under their belt and can provide excellent service and water damage solutions. We value our customers and we are committed to providing a customer-centric experience. Do feel free to contact us if you happen to have any enquiries or want to book an appointment!

Top Tips To Fix An Unraveling Oriental Rug

Oriental rugs can be a stunning and remarkable addition to the furnishing of your house in order to complement the other fixtures. It is also an impressive example of skilled craftsmanship that really ties rooms together. They often require many hours of artisan work to create and are extremely beautiful once you can understand the effort that goes behind making each rug. Usually, the rugs are made up of different components. For example, the field, the warp and the fringe.

The main reason for an unraveling oriental rug is when the fringes go through wear and tear. Fringes can vary from being intentionally long and flamboyant to being so short that they almost seem like they are hidden. Essentially, the fringes are the threads that are left over after weaving the rug, where the tassel runs through from each end of the rug. This is like the base structure of the rug and to maintain the structural integrity of an unraveling oriental rug, repairs should be necessary.

Why Does the Fringe Unravel?

Since rugs are usually placed on the floor, they are always exposed to wear and tear. This can range all the way from food crumbs, water and harmful substances that are transported via our shoes and feet. All these things can dirty and potentially destroy the fringe of an authentic oriental rug. Rugs are often there for their aesthetic purposes. Therefore, if your oriental rug has started to unravel, or shows signs of disintegration, then there is a good chance that it requires quick action to repair.

How can an Unraveling Oriental Rug be Repaired?

Usually prevention is better than cure when it comes to unraveling oriental rugs. When you notice that the fringe comes undone or damaged, it is important that you send the rug for repair immediately. If you choose to ignore it, the exposed knots can result in a higher probability that your rug becomes unraveled. This would not only negatively affect the value of your rug, but it also puts your rug at the risk of permanent and irreversible damage.

However, sometimes it might be hard to ascertain whether the damage is indeed detrimental to your rug, or if it simply dirt. In many cases, after having the oriental rug professionally sanitized and inspected, people find that their rugs are still salvageable.

Leave the Repair to the Professionals

It is important to understand that if you were to repair your rug by yourself without any prior training or proper equipment, you might risk making matters worse. The rug experts usually have substantial knowledge about this matter and possess the necessary skills to untie and secure the rug before re-doing the fringe knots. The professional might use diverse stitching techniques that require years of training.

The main objective of sending your rug to a professional for repair is so that it can keep its aesthetic value. However, it is also crucial that the monetary value of an oriental rug is maintained. It is possible for professionals to carry out repairs regardless of the extent of damage, but it goes without saying that the repair process should be left in their good hands.

Top Tips For Protecting Your Floor During Winter

Although it is widely accepted practice to apply salt and sand on walkways, it might turn out to be extremely harmful for the floor surfaces in your facility. Salt and sand are usually applied in order to prevent people from slipping on snow and ice. The reaction of these substances together might reduce the longevity of floors, while increasing repair and floor care costs, and forcing you to contact a professional. This article will explain some easy steps to prevent something like that from happening before mitigating the water damage problem.

The Importance of Proper Matting and Moisture Levels

In the winter time, it can be inevitable that your customers and employees might track snow into your facility with their shoes. The ice and snow that they introduce to your building eventually melts and turns into puddles of water. One way to mitigate this problem is to implement the use of mats especially at the entrance of your facility. This can potentially reduce the incidences of people slipping and also damage to your floors.

What you can do is place a scraping mat outside the building or in the entry walkways. Unknowingly, customers will engage in removing harmful substances from their shoes unto the mat. Additionally, you can add another absorbent mat on the inside of the building after the scraping mat so that the snow and ice continues to dislodge as they approach the exposed floor. It is important that you use mats with rubber pads so that no one slips on mats and injuries can be avoided.

How to Solve the Sand and Salt Problem

As mentioned earlier, salt and sand particles are used to prevent people from falling on slippery snow and ice surfaces. However, this is a big mistake because it can erode your floor finishes when they are brought into your building with shoes. Whilst the suggested matting can prevent such materials from being brought into your facility, it is imperative that floors are regularly cleaned and buffed because they can cause water to start pooling and melt through the floor wax.

Asphalt is another material that is easily broken off and brought into buildings unknowingly. Thus, it is also equally important that floors are vacuumed regularly to remove such particles and prevent them from ruining the quality of your expensive floors.

Utilize a Good Water Damage Prevention System

  • Buy sufficient materials: Be sure to ensure that near the entrance of your facility there is a station that contains all the required maintenance equipment such as mops, vacuums and buckets. It is also important that the station consists of cleaning chemicals that are necessary to maintain your floors.
  • Use proper signage: Signage can be extremely useful in such cases because they can communicate with and warn people that your floors are wet, allowing them to proceed with caution. The signs can also inform your customers that is customary to dry their shoes on your installed mats.
  • Replace the matting regularly: A good interval between replacing your mats would be about every four hours, especially during periods of heavy snowfall.

The Process Of Water Restoration For Hardwood Floors

As with all furnishings that have went through water damage, time is an extremely important factor. This is especially so for flooring because they can suffer from permanent water damage and mold infestation if no action is taken in a short amount of time. This is because hardwood flooring has the ability to absorb water and moisture very quickly. There are many other factors to consider when we talk about water restoration. For example, the type of wood used for the flooring, the type of finish that was used and the amount of moisture that has seeped into the flooring is important to note. These factors are things that only the professionals know about.

These professionals possess the niche set of skills and knowledge that can help you to restore your hardwood floors to their original state. They also have the necessary equipment that is required for effective drying of the hardwood.

Finding Out the Type of Flooring and Installation

When doing water restoration for hardwood floors, it is always important for the professionals to carry out inspections first. They have to first ascertain the type of flooring that they encounter. For example, it could be made from oak, maple, pine or cherry wood. These days, there are so many different kinds of hardwood materials. It can be difficult to know for sure what the rates of moisture absorption for each type of flooring is.

Professionals have the advantage over the untrained eye because they would know whether or not the flooring is made from real wood. Sometimes these floors have a layer of laminate on their surfaces and that can make drying an even harder process.

How To Dry Hardwood Floors

After the trained professionals have determined what type of wood is being used and the amount of moisture they are dealing with, surface or subsurface drying methods that involve dehumidification of the floors. Often times, they force a constant stream of airflow underneath the floorboards to facilitate and expedite the drying process. This is a long and time-consuming process and can reach up to a week or 10 days for it to be sufficiently dry. The drying is continued until nearly four percent of the wood’s dry standards. From then on, the professionals will allow the flooring to dry naturally.

 

The Repairing Process

Even after drying the hardwood floors, the experts still have to check if there has been any damage to the wood finish. The finishes might be made from standard floor waxes or polyurethane, and might hinder the drying process. They might also cause cupping of the floor and potentially crack the surfaces. Therefore, the whole hardboard water restoration process is extremely difficult and requires much expertise in this field. It would benefit you to hire proper professionals who have years of experience under their belts.

Here at Reilly’s Oriental Rug Cleaning, we have the most advanced hardwood drying equipment and rug cleaning solutions that can help you in cases of water damage. We offer the most competitive prices and top-notch customer service. Do feel free to contact us to solve any enquiries you might have or book a water restoration package.

Keep Your luxury Vinyl Tiles Looking Brand New

One of the most popular floor surfaces that are being used these days is Luxury Vinyl Tile (LVT). These synthetic vinyl tiles are made to emulate natural surroundings and can be extremely beautiful. However, they have to look nice and clean in any building, otherwise you would be much better off installing a cheaper floor surface. Tiles often add to the aesthetic value of the place and can lead to customers’ or guests’ first impression of you or your facility. It is true that they can become dirty very easily but it is important that you put in the time and effort to keep them looking brand new.

Investing in Floor Care

In order to ensure that your tiles are free from unwanted materials and dirt that can enter your facility, be sure to install a scraping mat at the entrance of your building so that soil and other materials can be removed from people’s shoes. This would prevent your floor from becoming stained and dirty. It is also good to know that this is the cheapest and easiest method to mitigate dirty LVT problems and increasing the longevity of the floor surface.

Daily Maintenance

It is also very important that floors are cleaned and maintained daily. Treat your LVT like any other flooring and you will be fine. Just like you would do for other tiling, utilize dry sweeping and mopping methods so that they can look brand new. Note that you should only use cleaners with a pH of 7, or the more optimal neutral peroxide chemical cleaner. Generally, common sense should tell you that in the case of any spillage, the floors should be cleaned as soon as possible, in order to maintain the standards of the tiles, while reducing the chances of people slipping and falling.

Aggressive Cleaning

If you happen to have smooth LVT in your facility, you should invest in a rotary disk automatic scrubber that comes with a light scrub pad and the aforementioned neutral peroxide cleaner. The scrubber will serve as a means to remove any remaining dirt after sweeping and mopping.

Textured LVT Cleaning

Cleaning textured LVT surfaces is slightly different from the smooth surfaces. The rotary disk automatic scrubber should still be used. However, you should equip the scrubber with a light duty and all-purpose scrub brush. Similarly, you should also use a peroxide-based chemical cleaner for the scrubber. Textured LVT surfaces have to be maintained more thoroughly because it can lose its aesthetic appeal and refined look if it is not cleaned properly.

Should You Coat Your LVT?

Many LVT manufacturers believe in coating the tiles with some sort of protective finish. This helps to make the flooring appear glossy, while providing protection to its surface. Although there are benefits to coating your LVT, it might be hard to ensure that the finish can adhere to the tiles, and to strip the finish without damage being done to the LVT.

Reilly’s Oriental Rug Cleaning can help you with making your LVT look as impressive as it should with our premium tile and grout cleaning services. We have a team of professionals who work tirelessly and who have years of experience under their belts. What are you waiting for? Do not hesitate to contact our friendly customer service staff to book an appointment or simply enquire about this matter.

How NOT To Vacuum Your Carpets

Although it might be considered an annoying chore, people who own carpets do not have a choice but to vacuum their carpets in order to keep them clean. It is an activity that might be time consuming and troublesome, so in order to optimize the way that you use your vacuum cleaner, you have to understand the most effective way to utilize this machine. Below are some ways in which you should NOT vacuum your carpets.

Using Dirty Filters

It is imperative that you follow the instructions on the manual that comes with the vacuum cleaner. This is because in order to ensure that your vacuum cleaner is working at optimal efficiency, its filters need to be clean. Filters are the part of the vacuum cleaner that are used to store the dirt and dust which the vacuum cleaner has sucked in. Not cleaning out the filter every once in a while will make the machine work at a more inefficient rate, while raising the chances of the collected dirt to be spread around the house. This would be detrimental to the cleanliness of your house, waste your time in vacuuming, and also might act as a health hazard to the people living with you.

Reusing the Vacuum Cleaner Bag

Many people have tried to save on costs by reusing vacuum bags. Although the intentions of doing this might be good in the case where people are trying to be more environmentally friendly by reusing, vacuum bags should never be reused. Experts on vacuum cleaners warn that reusing these bags can also reduce the machine’s efficiency by half, while increasing the probability of your vacuum cleaner spoiling faster. This can be attributed to the fact that as the bag becomes more clogged, the vacuum receives less airflow, and the motor has to compensate by working harder.

Never Adjust the height Of Your Vacuum Cleaner

In this modern day and age where technology is so advanced, you would hardly find a vacuum cleaner that does not have the option of adjustable height. This is important because carpets are usually higher than the flooring. Some high-tech vacuum cleaners can do this automatically, but even if yours does not have this automatic function, it is only wise to adjust the height accordingly as it will allow you to improve the cleanliness of your house.

Overfilling Vacuum Cleaners that Don’t Have Bags

The fact that your vacuum cleaner is bagless does not mean that it can be filled all the way to the brim. Ensure that your vacuum is not filled up completely before removing the collected dirt so that the vacuum cleaner can perform at maximum efficiency and you also do not have to worry about dust spreading to the rest of your house.

Not Vacuuming Surfaces More Than Once

This might take up more of your time, but if you want to ensure that your carpeted surfaces are cleaned as thoroughly as can be, you should vacuum them more than once. Experts and manufacturers say that this is because the fibers in the carpet can become twisted in more than one direction. Therefore, going over the carpet twice or more can increase the probability of sucking up more dirt that is stuck in between these fibers.

Here at Reilly’s Oriental Rug Cleaning, we offer a wide range of rug and carpet cleaning services that have been proven to be extremely helpful to our customers. Do feel free to contact our friendly and personal support staff if you happen to have any enquiries regarding carpet vacuuming!