We often get called to homes where the owners are about to rip out their carpet due to how stained and dirty it is.  If this is you, STOP!  9 times out of 10 we can restore your carpet and keep you from the major expense and hassle of replacement.    Just this week we were called to a family cottage where the owner had spilled a whole bottle of bright red fingernail polish the night before.  And of course, the carpet was white!  We arrived within 24 hours of the spill but the polish had dried and set.  As you can see from the pictures below, it was a mess!  And to top it off, they were expecting family the following day.  We got to work and three hours later you could barely tell there had been a spill at all.  So if you have an accident or spill, don't send perfectly good carpet to the landfill, give us a call and let us clean things up for you.

The ground water in Northern Michigan is hard, alkaline, and full of minerals like Iron, Calcium, Magnesium, and Sulfur.  It makes no sense to try and clean carpet with dirty water!  But that's just what many carpet cleaners do when they pull up at a customers home and hook a hose to an outside faucet.  Instead of following this pattern, Pristine Floor Care invested in a state of the art filtering system to remove impurities, and then a softener to soften the water providing the best cleaning possible.   When we arrive at your house we have a full tank of 65 gallons of water ready to clean with.  In a typical house we use about 20-30 gallons of this.   After cleaning, the dirty water is then extracted back out into the truck into a separate tank where we will hall it away for responsible recycling.

The calls are starting to come in for booking Spring carpet cleaning appointments and we have been out cleaning away the Winter from inside even when it is still lingering on outside.  Don't wait until we're all booked up, give us a call today, 231-941-5060.   

One of the busiest times of the year for carpet cleaning is the spring.  The winter mess has receded and people are ready to clean up their house to make ready for another glorious summer up north.  Maybe you've been looking at your carpet and wondering if there is anything that can be done to breathe new life into it.  Most people who use Pristine Floor Care are amazed at what we can do.

When it comes to replacing carpet I always tell people they should only have to do it if the fibers themselves have become torn, threadbare, or matted beyond what's acceptable.  Don't replace carpet because it's dirty!  We've been able to work wonders for people and save them hundreds, even thousands of dollars.  They thought their carpet was worn out, but really it was just in need of a good, deep, restorative cleaning.

If your carpet has been ignored or even abused, call us in to give you an honest and reliable opinion on what can be done.  231-941-5060

Keeping floors clean during the winter months is a battle!  Salt, sand, and moisture tracked can wreak havoc on carpet.  Having homes closed up for months on end also contributes by keeping dust and airborne pollutants inside where they inevitably settle into the fibers of your carpet.  

One of the best things you can do to combat the tracking in of the elements is to utilize a good floor mat or two.  We recommend having one just outside the door as well as perhaps a more decorative one on the inside.  This will trap the sand and salt and allow you to shake it out once a week.

Keeping your furnace filters changed out and fresh will also help.  Without a good furnace filter your carpet will step up to do the job.  Carpet fibers are one of the best air filters a home has.  But by utilizing a clean furnace filter you can limit your carpets potential for gathering these airborne pollutants.  

For those tracked in and airborne particles that eventually do settle in your carpet a good, thorough, once a week vacuuming is what you will need.  We find two errors in peoples regular vacuuming.  Many people neglect to empty their vacuum (or replace their vacuum bags) as often as they should.  A vacuum's performance will start to suffer after it's capacity is more than half full.  The second thing we see with vacuuming is that people simply go to quick.  One needs to allow time for a vacuum to do it's job which means pushing it at a slower pace.  Unless the vacuum is too loud, you should be able to hear the difference between a vacuum that is still picking up debri and when it is vacuuming a relatively clean section of carpet.

Employing these techniques will keep your flooring looking it's best until it's annual steam cleaning.  When that time comes, we hope you will give us a call so that we can use our state of the art truck mounted steam cleaning machine to give your carpet it's yearly deep clean.

The Summer has quickly faded into Fall.  Our business has been growing by leaps and bounds this year with many new clients as well as returning clients calling us over the recent months.  I thought I would take a moment to look back at several recent happenings.

I received the sad news several weeks ago that the owner/operator of another carpet cleaning company in town had unexpectedly passed away.  I contacted the family with condolences as well as to offer to help them in figuring out what to do with the business.  I have spent several occasions with the former owner's brother, helping him understand what equipment the business owned, how to use and care for it, the value of what he had, and pointing him to several other resources that could help in the transition.  It looks like the owner's brother will try to keep the business going and I wish him well.  In many industries we would be seen as competitors, and I suppose in a way we are.  Yet, when tragedy strikes, we quickly remember that we are all in the same boat and are called to help our fellow man when we can.  

As mentioned previously our book of business has been growing.  One growth area has been in servicing several commercial accounts.   These businesses are looking for dependable and reasonably priced ways to achieve their floor care needs.  We have been able to help them formulate a plan and move forward with the implementation.  The results have been in better looking carpet and/or tile and delaying replacement costs.

Lastly, we have finished a business model review looking at forecasts for growth, expenses, and pricing for our carpet cleaning.   The good news is that prices in 2015 have remained the same as in 2014 and we do not foresee a price increase in the near future.  This is partly due to the fact that fuel prices have remained lower than 2013/14.   

We hope that our clients have enjoyed a wonderful Summer and are relishing the warmer Fall temperatures that we have had so far.  We all know what is on it's way, but before "it" arrives, if you have any carpet cleaning needs, be sure to give us a call so that we can get you on our schedule!

The Cherry Festival is over and warm weather has finally arrived in Traverse City.  Spring Cleaning has also given way to more calls regarding spills, accidents, and stains on carpet and furniture.  You say your house guests spilled wine on your carpet, or showed up with a small dog that you weren't expecting?  We are glad to help!  It is important for many of these type of stains to understand the PH of the accident before attempting to clean.  In carpet and upholstery cleaning one size doesn't fit all and while many cleaners just use one product and give up if it fails to remove the stain, we go the extra mile to pair the appropriate cleaning agent to the stain.  Coffee, make up, pet accidents, wine, and food can all be removed with the right cleaning solution.  Some will require a high PH cleaning solution, some a low PH.  Some will need to be oxidized for full removal.  All of them will need to be extracted after cleaning.  After all, we don't want to just hide the stain, we want to remove the offending substance so that it won't come back.  

So when you're ready to send the spots and stains packing (along with your house guests) give Pristine a call and we'll bring our carpet and upholstery cleaning service to pay a brief visit to your household.  231-941-5060

Yes, it's Summer Time in Traverse City once again.   But are the affects of a harsh winter still lingering in you carpet? Salt can easily cling to carpet fiber and become semi permanent to the point that it will take a good amount of hot water to flush it away.  Carpet's trap debris, and if not vacuumed regularly, small particles can get themselves worked down into the fibers where it is hard to remove them.   Or, for another example, I am constantly amazed at the amount of animal hair that my Rotovac pulls up out of people's carpet, and that's after I vacuum with a Dyson vacuum cleaner.   

Perhaps one of the worst things for your carpet are sand particles.  Today I cleaned a beach front home where the carpet has started to literally fall apart by the back door.  Why?  My guess is that people have been tracking sand in from outside and over the years the particles have worked themselves down into the backing of the carpet.  The result is that the carpet backing has been "sanded" (think sandpaper) and has deteriorated.  But sand isn't just a summertime hazard in Traverse City.  Unless you are a snowbird, you know that we liberally sand our roads in the winter and this sand also works its way onto boots and into the house.  

If you have yet to have your carpets cleaned this year, finish off your Spring cleaning and send the last of winter off by calling Pristine Floor Care.  We'll take care of your carpet so that you can go enjoy the sand!

One of the top reasons that people call a carpet cleaner is because they have a stain, spill, or pet accident on their carpeting.   Often times people tell me that they have tried different products to treat the area but the stain simply won't go away.   The biggest reason that these grocery store products fail is that they can only mask the stain.  Think about it, does spraying a bottle of carpet cleaner on a spot actually remove the spot?  No.  I liken this to someone with a stain on their shirt.  Sure, you can spray something on the spot, but what if that was all you did?  Would the shirt be clean?  Of course not!  After you treat the stain you throw the shirt in the laundry where the washing machine will extract the original staining material.  This is the same idea with your carpet.  Treating the carpet with an appropriate product is part of the solution, but then you must have the ability to flush and extract the stain away.

This is even more important with pet accidents.  The last thing you want to do if your dog or cat has had an accident on your carpet is to spray it and let it be.  It might mask the odor for a bit but the "mess" is still in your carpet.  Again, what if a toddler had an accident in his pants?  You would never think of simply spraying the pants and then allowing them to be worn again!  This is why it is so important to call a professional carpet cleaner who has the equipment to flush and extract the accident from your carpet.

But how do you know if the person you're calling has the right equipment to do this?  It takes a powerful machine to extract everything out of the carpet fibers.  One of the most important questions you should be asking is whether or not the carpet cleaner has a truck mounted machine, or a portable cleaner.  A truck mount is heavy duty and is permanently mounted in a truck or van.  A portable unit is light weight and, well, portable.  A truck mount runs on gas, a portable off of your homes electricity.  It would be the difference between using a gas powered Toro snow blower vs a Black and Decker with an electric cord.  If you want your driveway cleared, you'd choose the Toro!  And if you want your carpets clean choose someone (like Pristine Floor Care) who operates a truck mounted carpet cleaning machine.