What is the best method for air duct cleaning?

Perhaps even more so than our other services, air duct cleaning is a service that is unfortunately full of gimmicks and imitators, rather than high quality service providers. There are most certainly other high quality companies in the Snohomish County and King County regions other than us, but there are also many companies using inferior equipment or methods.

The best way to clean air ducts is with negative air and compressed air. Negative air is created by hooking up a large vacuum (pictured below) directly to the furnace to pull debris out while using compressed air tools at each individual vent to push the debris back toward the vacuum. The other advantage this method has is that it allows the technician to clean the furnace itself and fully clean the main trunk line, rather than just cleaning the “branches” that lead from the main trunk to the vents. This follows the Nation Air Duct Cleaners Association (NADCA) standards for duct cleaning.

Examples of inferior systems include ones that hook up the vacuum to each vent, as this means the main trunk line is not being cleaned. Another common method is using a brush system that has no large vacuum attached to it. In this case, it’s essentially just a spinning brush and a shop vac, which provides far less effective cleaning than our 5000 CFM vacuum.

If you have any questions about air duct cleaning or want to learn more, we are here to serve you!

Answered- What is the Best Vacuum Cleaner? The Definitive Guide to Purchasing a Vacuum

As promised in our last post, we want to address another common question- “What is the best vacuum?” Along with that, people often ask- “What is the best vacuum for pet hair?” That fits perfectly into our answer to the first question, which is that it depends on what you’re dealing with and what your budget is! Here we will quickly breakdown what to look for in a quality vacuum.

What to look for (in no particular order):

• CFMs produced by the vacuum motor- this will indicate how strong the suction power is, and you want something that’s is 85 CFM or higher. But remember, regularly cleaning your vacuum and keeping it clog free is the only way to get the full CFM power!

• Ease of maintenance- Some vacuums are very easy to pull apart in order to clean, maintain, and replace parts. Others require just short of an engineering degree to be able to put them back together properly.

• Bagless vs Bag- Many people will tell you that vacuums with bags can do a better job than bagless vacuums, but this is not necessarily true. As long as the specs like CFM check out, then you don’t need to worry too much about if it has a bag or not.

• Quality brush roll- Look for brush rolls that are made from metal or wood rather than plastic. These will last longer and are a key part of getting the most out of your vacuum.

• Style- Upright vacuums are usually the best option for homeowners (and they typically include handheld attachments). Backpack vacuums usually produce better suction, but often require purchasing a separate accessory brush roll and can get very expensive.

• Filtration- Look for a vacuum with a HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) filter. This means the filter will trap at least 99.97% of particles that are 0.3 microns, which are the hardest microns to trap, so that they don’t get realeased back into the air

• Price- There’s a saying that “You get what you pay for.” For the most part, this holds up as true with vacuums, but there is one major caveat, and that is Dyson (see below for more details on that). The vacuums we recommend below range from about $300-600, and anything below that likely won’t be effective over a long period of time, and you’ll end up paying more in the long run by having to replace the vacuum.

Brands (Good and Bad):

• Best overall- ProTeam and Powr-Flite. These are the brands we use at on-site cleanings and in our high end area rug shop. The ProTeam X1500XP is a workhorse and will last for many years without breaking down, but when it does break down it can be very labor intensive to fix/replace parts. The Powr-Flite 15” Upright is our favorite for an effective, household vacuum that doesn’t break the bank and it has a whopping 135 CFM, all while being easy to maintain and replace parts.

• Best for pet hair- While “best” is somewhat subjective, the Shark DuoClean line is very good (here is one good option) due to their dual brushes to pull out the pet hair that’s deeply embedded.

• Not recommended- all Dyson vacuums. We know, we know, but hear us out on this one! Dyson has incredibly convincing marketing, but their vacuums just don’t measure up. We have gone in with our ProTeam vacuums into countless jobs that have already been vacuumed with a Dyson, only to pull up loads of pet hair and soil from the carpet. But here’s the real red flag- Dyson does not release the specs on their vacuums. Virtually any time a manufacturer keeps those secret, it means the specs are not good so they don’t want you to know. Great marketing, but average to above average performance and not worth what they cost.

If you have further questions regarding vacuums, feel free to contact us here or call/text us at 206-801-0161.

How to Clean Cranberry Sauce off Carpet (and Other Thanksgiving Spills)

As we all know, Thanksgiving looked a bit different this year, but even with smaller gatherings, spills still happen! So while we hope you had a great Thanksgiving meal, you might now be wondering how to get cranberry sauce, gravy, or other spots out of carpet, upholstery or area rugs. Below we will lay bullet points to make this a quick read and easy guide for you. Of course, you can always contact us with any questions or to schedule a carpet cleaning, upholstery cleaning or area rug cleaning if you’re in the Edmonds/greater Seattle area.

• First of all- do not use vinegar! If you look up how to spot clean online, the most common suggestion is vinegar. However, it is so rare that this would ever help that we recommend just staying away from it completely. Another common recommendation is dish soap- if you do this, use only very sparingly, otherwise it will leave a residue in your carpet.

• Second- one of the most important aspects of cleaning is bringing the surface being cleaned to pH neutral. The best spot cleaners will be safe, yet effective pH neutral cleaners (we recommend Folex for anything store bought). If you are one of our clients, we provide a lifetime supply of our free spot cleaner. This is why using vinegar is not helpful and can actually set stains in- because it’s acidic.

• Hydrogen peroxide is your friend! For virtually any organic stain (wine, caffeinated coffee, most food spills), you want to add oxygen to the spot to help remove the stain. We recommend avoiding big name products like Oxiclean, Resolve, etc. as these have damaging ingredients in them. Instead, you can pick up 3% hydrogen peroxide from the drug store, and at this dilution it’s even safe for wool! Put it on the spot, scrub gently with a brush, let sit 5-10 minutes and then aggressively dab with a towel.

• For cranberry sauce, we again recommend hydrogen peroxide. However, you want to be careful with how much you use, and start with a neutral pH spotter first. After using, be sure to speed dry with a fan (even a small household fan would help).

• Lastly, if it seems like an especially tricky spot, call us! Especially if it seems like the spill may have seeped down into the carpet pad or upholstery cushion, it’s very likely that self-spotting it would actually make it worse. Whether you’re a client or not, please feel free to call us so we can help you troubleshoot any difficult spots you may have.

Remember, if you’re in Edmonds, Shoreline, Mountlake Terrace, Seattle, Mukilteo, Bothell, Lynnwood, Everett, or the surrounding areas- we are here to serve you!

Green Carpet Cleaning in Edmonds

One of the biggest misconceptions with carpet cleaning, upholstery cleaning and area rug cleaning is that the main focus is just to make the surface that’s being cleaned look better. While this is very important, and we have every trick in the book to do so, it’s equally as important to clean for health. Soft surfaces in your home or office act as giant filters (especially carpet and area rugs), so just like any other filter, they need to be cleaned regularly in order to improve the air quality of your home.

So if you’re going to clean the soft surfaces (or hard surfaces like tile and grout, and hardwood floors) for health, you’re probably also concerned about the products and chemicals being used, right? Of course! Here’s where it gets tricky: there are many buzz words in the cleaning industry such as green, chemical-free, and water only. All of these terms have some meaning, but not always what you think it is. Here’s the bottom line: look for non-toxic products, processes and chemicals. Any company can claim they use a “green” method, but unfortunately there is no regulation holding them to a particular standard.

At Sno-King, we exclusively use non-toxic, kid and pet safe products. When we are cleaning, we not only use very safe products, we also rinse them out completely to ensure there is no residue left in the carpet, upholstery or other surface after the cleaning is completed. That way we ensure that it’s a true residue free carpet cleaning and there is only water in the carpet. In addition, we use high efficiency fans to dry the carpet, upholstery or area rugs very quickly, typically within just a couple of hours.

If you’re looking for safe, effective professional carpet cleaning in Edmonds, Shoreline, Bothell, Mukilteo, or the surrounding areas, please feel free to call, text or email us.

Does carpet protector really work?

You may have heard about carpet protecting services, particularly the popular ones like Scotchgard, Teflon, Maxim, etc. These companies, along with carpet cleaners and some carpet manufacturers, tend to promote these products as a way of repelling stains, spills, and other soils on your carpet or upholstery. This all sounds great, but the real key is this- is it true?

For a good answer on this, we believe it’s best to consult with a company like ours- one who cleans the carpet after it’s been installed and used. Fortunately for your sake, we have done a lot of research on this topic! Whether on upholstery, carpet, area rugs, or other surfaces, we are extremely confident in our fiber protector service because we have seen it work first hand. Not only in stand alone tests at our shop, but in real world situations, while cleaning carpet in clients homes in Edmonds, Lynnwood, Shoreline, Bothell and the surrounding area. No matter where it is, what the soil is from, or what the carpet is made of, our experience has shown us that applying a high quality protector makes the carpet far easier to clean. This is why we offer a 6 month warranty with all fiber protector applications- if you have a spot or spill within 6 months of applying fiber protector and you can’t get it out, we will swing by for free to remove the spot! That’s how confident we are that our protector treatment, along with our free bottle of spot cleaner, will keep your carpet clean for a long time.

If you have any questions about our protector treatment, pricing for carpet cleaning, methods for our professional upholstery cleaning, or anything else- please contact us! We are transparent and honest about everything we do, and we would be honored to work for you or even just answer questions that you have related to carpet, upholstery, tile and grout, hardwood or area rug cleaning.

In the meantime, enjoy this amazing before and after!

How long does carpet cleaning take?

You’re busy, we get it. Kids, pets, jobs, household chores…all kinds of things can make it tricky to schedule a professional carpet cleaner for your residential home. An important factor is to know how long it takes to clean carpet, that way you know how long to stay off the carpet, how long to keep the dogs in their kennels, or the kids occupied.

In general, you can plan for a carpet cleaning company to be at your house for one hour per every 250 square feet of accessible carpet, or per every 3-4 rooms. Accessible carpet means the actual square footage that is being cleaned, rather than the size of the whole room (to account for going around some furniture such as beds, entertainment centers, etc.).

Now here’s the good news: because our service is more customizable than any other company, you don’t have to worry too much about how long the cleaning appointment takes! Whether we are doing carpet cleaning, upholstery cleaning, tile cleaning, or any other service, we can work around you and your needs. Our process allows the carpet and upholstery to dry very quickly, so you don’t have to worry about wet feet getting tracked around the house or not being able to sit on your furniture for a day or two. We also can start on one side or floor of the house while you have the kids on the other, and then switch halfway through to make it as convenient as possible for you. Our goal is for you to be able to sit on your clean, cozy couch like our clients in the photo below shortly after we are finished with the work!

Can You Remove Bleach Spots From Carpet?

This is a question we get asked very often by our carpet cleaning clients. Due to our state of the art cleaning process, we can remove virtually any spot from carpet…except for bleach. Unfortunately, the bleaching effect isn’t actually a stain- in fact, it’s actually a removal of dye from the carpet fibers. So rather than cleaning a spot out, there’s nothing there to clean, the color is just gone! So whether it’s carpet, upholstery or area rugs, the bleach is there to stay.

This is one part of our service that exemplifies our commitment to transparency: we will spend as much, if not more, time telling you what spots we can’t clean out of your carpet, upholstery or area rugs than we will telling you what we can get out. This is because we don’t want to over promise how amazing your carpet will look (even though it will if we clean it), we want to give you realistic expectations and an honest assessment.

However, even if we can’t get all the bleach spots out, we can still vastly improve the look of your carpet (see the photos below from a recent job we did in Seattle!). This was a rental house where the tenants got the carpet extremely dirty, but thanks to our high end carpet cleaning process with hot water, we were able to get just about every spot out! Our client is thrilled that she doesn’t have to spend money replacing the carpet now that they are back to an acceptable state for her next tenant. Clean carpet is very important when moving into a new home, so we want to ensure our clients can offer that at an affordable price.

Best spot cleaner for carpet and furniture

Ever wondered what the best spot cleaner is for carpet? Look no further!

With so many spot cleaners out there, it’s hard to know which one will work the best. In fact, some of the spot cleaners at the store are actually harmful for your carpet and upholstery! Anything that contains a chemical that’s considered an “optical brightener” is potentially bad for your carpet as it can set stains in, make dyes unstable, and thus create bleach spots in your carpet as it sits over time.

That’s why we give away our free bottle of Spot Out to every customer. Not only is it free the first time, but we also provide free lifetime replacements! It’s residue-free, safe for any type of carpet or furniture (even clothing) and it’s safe to use around kids and pets.

If you need an effective carpet or furniture spot cleaner, just book a job with us and you’ll get a bottle absolutely free. Or if you’re a current customer, let us know if you’ve run out and we’ll drop one off for no charge!

Does carpet dry faster in warm weather?

The end of spring and beginning of summer is often when busy season ramps up for most professional carpet cleaning companies. Why? Because it starts getting warmer out and most people believe that their carpet will dry faster since it’s warm outside. Especially in areas that we serve, like Edmonds, Seattle, Lynnwood, Mukilteo, Woodway, Shoreline, and others, the seasonality definitely contributes to this! However, that idea is not necessarily true.

A lot of carpet cleaning companies don’t use any, or at least not very many, high-efficiency fans to speed dry the carpet after they clean. We have 7 fans on every van to ensure we can get really quick dry times. Whether it’s warm or cold outside, we set up all of our fans and move them into areas that we just clean the carpets to ensure the fastest dry time possible. In the summer, it does help to open windows, so in theory the carpet will dry slightly faster, but it’s really our fans that make a big difference. See below for an example of what one of our fans looks like!

Should I replace or clean my carpet?

Have you ever thought to yourself “Why hassle with cleaning? I should just rip this nasty carpet out at be done with it!” While there are certainly times where that’s the best option, there are a few things to consider.

Pros of replacing carpet instead of cleaning:

• You don’t have to worry about if the carpet was cleaned properly

• You get to sit back and relax while someone else does the labor intensive work

• You can use Sno-King’s company account at a local supplier to get a large discount on new carpet and pad

Cons of replacing carpet instead of a professional carpet cleaning:

• It’s far, far more intrusive than cleaning. You typically have to move out for a short period of time since all of the furniture has to be removed

• The main downside is a big one- cost! Often times, you’re looking at somewhere around $5-$6 per square foot to replace carpet (and that’s if you don’t get really high end carpet or your price can easily double). With professional carpet cleaning, you will typically spend anywhere from about $.30-$.60 per square foot.

You also might be surprised what spots can come out with a professional carpet cleaner who has proper training and education. With our state of the art equipment, superior process and professional training, we can get virtually any spot out from red wine, to blood, to pet urine. You can see our before and afters here!

If you want advice on if you should replace your carpet, you can always send us photos and/or call us at 206-801-0161. We are more than happy to serve, whether you end up hiring us or not!