How Often and Why You Should Have Your Carpets Professionally Cleaned

Many homeowners don’t realise that in addition to regular vacuuming and spot cleaning, professional carpet cleaning is an absolute must. Carpets make any space feel more cosy and stylish, but without proper professional cleaning, they can become tired looking and full of harmful bacteria, pollutants and dirt.

Read on to learn about how often you should have your carpets professionally cleaned and some of the benefits that come with it.

Benefits of a professional carpet cleaning

Keeping your carpets clean is important for many reasons – they will look better, smell fresher and your health will be improved. Here are some of the top benefits of cleaning your dirty carpets that you should be aware of.

Eliminate health risks

Many people focus on home safety as we all want our property to be as safe as possible. While a lot of energy is put into making sure that the most obvious things, such as electrical wiring and smoke detectors are functioning normally, the carpets in the home are often overlooked.

Carpets can contain various microbes, fungi and other harmful irritants that cause health issues. Here are some of the health issues that can happen as a result of not cleaning your carpets regularly:

  • Respiratory problems
  • Allergies
  • Skin irritation
  • Weakened immune system
  • Stomach illness

Carpets will look and smell good

Dirt trapped in the carpet for a long period of time is often the cause of an unpleasant lingering odour in the home. This is especially true in homes with pets or if there is a smoker in the house. While cleaning it with your home equipment can make your carpet look cleaner, it will not get rid of stubborn odours such as animal mess or trapped smoke.

Professional carpet cleaners know how to rid your carpet of these stale odours and can have your carpet looking and smelling good within a matter of hours.

Extend the life of your carpet

When you get your carpet professionally cleaned, you not only get a thoroughly cleaned carpet, you also increase its lifespan. You invested a lot of money into purchasing your carpet so naturally, you will want to get as long a lifespan as possible from it.

Most carpets are expected to last for up to 7 years but by calling in the experts; you can expect the longevity of your carpet for up to 10 years or more.

Eliminate stains

Having your carpet professionally cleaned will remove any tough stains that spot cleaning couldn’t get rid of. By pre-spraying your carpet with a special solution designed to target stubborn dirt and grime and then using a specialised carpet cleaning machine, professionals are able to reach deep into your carpet fibres to remove dirt and spills. Some of the stains that can be removed with a professional carpet cleaning include:

  • Wine
  • Ink
  • Coffee
  • Dirt
  • Pet stains

Reduce the traffic lane effect

Living rooms, hallways and staircases are just some of the areas that your carpet is likely to receive considerable foot traffic on a daily basis. By constantly tracking dirt into those areas, your carpet will begin to wear faster than the less used carpeted areas, such as under your sofa or bed, making them darker in appearance and dull looking.

Professional carpet cleaning will remove all the dirt that has built up and reduce the dark areas where you can see the traffic lane effect.

How often should I get my carpet professionally cleaned?

Carpets need to be cleaned on a regular basis and before they become heavily soiled. If you allow dirt to build up in the fibres of your carpet, it will significantly reduce its lifespan. Regular vacuuming and cleaning does help to keep your carpet clean but basic cleaning measures alone aren’t enough to ensure that your carpets aren’t a host to harmful bacteria.

While many different factors come into play when determining how often you should have your carpets professionally cleans, such as if you have pets or if the carpet receives heavy foot traffic, we usually recommend having a qualified technician professionally clean your carpets every 12-18 months.

Choosing a professional carpet cleaning service in Newcastle

Keeping your carpets fresh is essential to maintaining a clean home. If you have pets or are just worried about dust building up, using a professional carpet cleaning service is always a good option.

If you’re in the Newcastle area and are looking to get your carpets cleaned, look no further. Flawless Clean offer a full range of carpet and upholstery cleaning services. Our powerful cleaning system will leave your home or office space free of germs and bacteria so you can relax in a healthy environment.

Call us on 0413 034 144 or via our online enquiry form to see how we can help get your carpets looking as good as the day you bought them.

Strip and Seal Vinyl and Buffing Floors

What stripping and sealing is, and why every business needs to have it done!

Many businesses opt for vinyl flooring because it is easy to keep clean and comes in an endless variety of colours and prints. Though it is not as hardy as tiles or hardwood timber flooring, the level of care you need to use on vinyl is ultimately less than it’s more durable, expensive counterparts.

However, vinyl flooring still needs a level of regular maintenance to keep it looking at its best, and avoid the need to replace it prematurely. That’s where stripping and sealing comes in! Flawless Clean team members are experts at keeping your floors in tip-top shape, and our strip, seal, and buffing services are all part of that.

Why do I need to replace my vinyl flooring?

After a vinyl floor is laid, layers of sealant are laid on top of it to protect the vinyl from scuffs, liquid spills, and other damage. If this sealant is allowed to wear away to the point that it exposes the bare vinyl, unrepairable damage can be inflicted on the vinyl itself. This might mean you need to replace the floor in its entirety, so neglecting to get your floor stripped and sealed can be an expensive mistake.

What is stripping and sealing and why does it matter?

Stripping and sealing is the process of stripping old sealant from your floor, and replacing it with fresh sealant. It’s a smart idea to have your floors regularly stripped and sealed to avoid a situation where your sealant has worn away, and is exposing bare floor to possible damage. The team at Flawless Clean can organise a regular stripping and sealing service that runs alongside your normal commercial cleaning or residential cleaning services to make sure you never have to worry about carrying that mental load!

How often do my floors need a strip and seal?

It is fairly normal for commercial floors to need stripping and sealing every 1-2 years, depending on the level of foot traffic and movement across the floors. Residential floors require it every 3-10 years – a much longer timeframe based on drastically less foot traffic. Though it’s wise to keep in mind that each area will wear away at different rates – hallways will need a service sooner than a private office, for example. In order to maintain and reduce the frequency and cost of having to strip and seal vinyl floor due  to deterioration and poor maintenance, buffing every month, quarterly, every semester (depending on the site and traffic) is recommended not only to have a daily shiny floor but as it will also prolong the life of the actual vinyl.

Other benefits of stripping and sealing

Getting a fresh strip and seal service doesn’t just protect your floor – it also makes it look completely new! A freshly sealed floor shines, and the colours of the floor look vibrant and fresh. This enhanced shine helps keep the floor looking new all year round, but it also makes it look clean and presentable.

Another part of keeping your vinyl floor looking fresh is having it professionally cleaned and buffed. Flawless Clean recommends this service every three months to keep your floors looking at their absolute best, and can perform this task after office hours to reduce disruption to the normal workday.

How to organise a strip and seal for your floor

For a professional strip and seal service from a reputable Newcastle company – contact Flawless Clean today. Our company has been looking after clients in the Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, and Maitland areas for years now, and our reviews speak for themselves. We pride ourselves on offering services that are supported by industry standards, ongoing staff training, cutting edge products, and above all else – genuine customer service. If you have been sitting on the fence about your floors, or getting a quote on commercial cleaning – don’t! Drop our expert team a line, and get some extra work off your plate.

Scrubbing and Sealing Tiled Floors

It is recommended that you remove all the grime regularly and to add a seal. This will help keep the tiles cleaner and shiner, and will also reduce the cost of having to scrub them more frequently.

Do You Need Deep Cleaning? Your Budget Isn’t The Only Determining Factor

We all know that regular cleaning is a must for your commercial office.

The ROI speaks for itself when you take into account the increased productivity of employees (fewer sick days and more enthusiasm to give their best in a clean office that shows that high standards are valued by management) and increased new business from impressing prospects and customers when they come to your premises to consider your products or services.

But if you’re in control of the budget (and balancing the books is a must!), discussing deep cleans or additional services may be a conversation that you’d rather skip.

As this post is written by a commercial cleaning company, you’re probably thinking that we’ll, of course, suggest that you take on a regular cleaning package and a separate deep cleaning package (and any other extras we can cross-sell you!).

However, that’s not the case.

We want to give you the right advice on this one so you aren’t sweating about the budget and you’re getting the best results for the investment you’re able to make when it comes to your cleaning.

First, some clarifications….

What is regular cleaning?

Regular cleaning is usually completed on a weekly (or sometimes fortnightly basis) and includes essential items such as vacuuming and mopping the floors (of your most frequently used office spaces), disinfecting desks, phones, keyboards and other IT equipment, windexing the main glass doors to your premises (and any internal glass in your main showroom/sales areas) and of course disinfecting bathrooms, wiping over kitchen appliances and rubbish removal (changing the bin liners and depositing the rubbish in your skip bin).

What is deep cleaning?

Deep cleaning usually entails those items that don’t need to be done every week or fortnight but tend to accumulate dust and grime over time.

Typical examples include skirting boards, furniture (chairs, bottoms of tables, shelves, tops of cabinets, etc..), window sills, door architraves, ceiling vents, dusting portraits and plants, removing external cobwebs (and sometimes internal cobwebs).

It can also include squeegee washing external glass windows and/or removing and washing the flyscreens or even shampooing the carpets (especially for high-traffic areas).

How To Know What You Need For Your Premises

If you have a small office (ie. The size of a regular residential house or the regular weekly cleaning time is 2 hours or less) then deep cleaning items such as skirting boards, dusting the bottoms of chairs, window sills, dusting cobwebs in the entrance area etc. tend to be incorporated into the regular cleaning schedule and completed either once a month or as needed.

If your premises doesn’t have too many rectangular shaped skirting boards (with a flat top to accumulate dust) or it isn’t street facing (ie. Your office is inside a large strata-style complex on the 2nd floor and isn’t exposed directly to the street) then a separate deep clean may not be needed as there aren’t too many of these “suspect” areas to accumulate dust over time.

When is Deep Cleaning a Necessity?

If your office is medium to large and the regular clean takes 4 hours plus per session then we’d recommend a deep clean every 2-3 months as a separate item.

The reality is that cleaning is a physical job. You could even call it a physically destructive job, as it involves a lot of bending and movements that have a high impact on the back. After a 4-hour straight cleaning session, the body needs recovery time. This being the case, even the most fit, dedicated and enthusiastic cleaner will find it difficult to have the energy to complete all the regular cleaning items each week and address items such as skirting boards, door architraves, bottoms of all the furniture (especially if you have 50+ office chairs!) and external glass.

If your premises are an industrial facility, then it is highly likely that grime is being transferred from the workshop areas to the office (intentionally or unintentionally!) and when the skirting boards and furniture don’t just have dust on them (they have grease or oily residues as well) then wiping these down with a degreaser or heavy-duty multipurpose cleaner is a must to avoid the skirting boards becoming permanently stained and of course this takes additional time.

In these types of situations, a separate deep clean every 2-3 months is necessary and realistic to allow enough time for all the cleaning tasks to be addressed properly. Trying to cram far too much into a regular clean (to make it fit the budget) just results in client disappointment (when all the areas you expect can’t be covered) and stressed out and even injured cleaners (once the cleaning session is going over 4 hours, realistically the cleaner needs a break or they are at risk of over stretching their tired muscles, making mistakes, causing a tendon injury due to picking up heavy equipment incorrectly etc.).

Where Regular Cleaning and Deep Cleaning Overlap ….. Enter the Custom Cleaning Plan!

No two offices are the same and for many small to medium sized premises it makes sense to have 1 or 2 items of deep cleaning incorporated into the regular cleaning plan.

Here are a few good examples….

Eg. A small office in an industrial area that adds external cobweb cleaning to their regular cleaning plan as they are near the bush (eg. at Warabrook or Rathmines). They also have external toilets near their mechanical workshop so the degreasing of the skirting boards in the toilets (and removal of cobwebs) is a must on a regular basis. There are only 6 skirting boards in these toilet blocks so it is quite feasible to add this manageable amount to the regular cleaning plan.

Eg.  A small office in the Newcastle CBD that adds monthly carpet shampooing to their regular cleaning schedule. Some of these office buildings are quite old and the buildings are extremely close to one another so fresh air flow doesn’t easily occur through windows or even the front door (if the front entrance is set back from the street). In order to avoid the typical musty “aged building” smell that tortures both customers and the staff that work there, the business engages in regular carpet cleaning to remove these trapped odours.

In both of the above examples, a full separate deep clean every 2-3 months of all the items on a deep cleaning list is overkill, but adding a few targeted items makes all the difference.

Flawless Clean: The Experts in Custom Office Cleaning Plans in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie

As local Novocastrians and commercial cleaning specialists, we know Newcastle and the types of cleaning issues that tend to affect the various types of premises in certain suburbs, so when we do a site walkthrough, we aim to offer advice and consultation to put together a strategic cleaning plan that fits your budget and suits the particular needs of your premises.

We also know what “works for cleaners” and how to put together realistic cleaning plans that get results. Our hands on management team will train our cleaners to perform the specific cleaning tasks that are important for your premises and make sure they have the right professional equipment for the job.

At Flawless Clean, we understand that each office around Newcastle has very specific cleaning needs, which we will discuss with you during our first free meeting when we outline a cleaning plan tailored for you. Contact us anytime at 0413 034 144 or email us at admin@flawlessclean.com.au