The Best of Our Homeland Articles

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 Our Suggestions | Fabric Protection | IICRC News | 

This Page: IAQ | Choice Considerations | IICRC News | FCT Floor Care Technician | Family Importance | Services We Offer | New Technologies

IAQ

Many of us face health issues that will, indeed, not pass away. Allergies, respiratory problems, smog, second-hand smoke and other pollution problems surround us. Living indoors the majority of life is especially noticed during the cold season when the weather prevents us from getting the fresh clean air we need to have optimum health.

An unnoticed contributor to indoor pollution for most of us is the dust mite. Among the many sources for allergens is the mattress we sleep on each night. Most of us do not realize that mattresses contribute up to 60% of the allergenic ingredients of our indoor home environment. A dust mite, through its molting process, creates 200 times its own weight in refuse in its life time, and lays 300 eggs. Between 40 to 100 feces pellets are laid per day and each is is a slimy enzymes-coated substance that dries and mixes with other particles resulting in household dust. There is virtually no way to eliminate dust mites because of their abundance and reproductive ability. But extraction does control the refuse they produce which causes our problems. Mattresses can be cleaned with the same basic procedure an upholstery cleaning professional utilizes.

• Avoid EXTREMES of the color spectrum (not real dark, and not real light.)
• Avoid SOLIDS since they tend to show variation and soil quickly.
• Incorporate SCULPTURING, such as cut & loop, multilevel cut or loop, sewn pillowing or sculptured weaves in or above the fabric.
• Incorporate COLORS & SIMULATION of the soiling environment, especially autumn colors for dirt prone areas. Match type of colors for type of soiling.
• Incorporate MULTICOLOR schemes and themes.

IICRC News

Five thousand one hundred businesses are now firm-certified nationwide! As each month passes, more and more exposure to this excellent organization is made worldwide. Recently Ruth Travis listed the work that is being done for members.

• 13 press releases to over 35 trade magazines and groups reached 5 million readers.
• 55 million consumers received advertising through Matte releases to consumer Newspapers.
• 24,000 clicks to the IICRC web site were logged after an Dateline NBC TV program interviewed Jeff Bishop regarding low cost coupons for carpet cleaning. The same show was re-broadcast on MSNBC that also caused consumer calls to the referral line.
• An October 8 consumer alert in the Miami Herald exposed several fraudulent companies/ technicians in the area advertising or otherwise reporting certification status illegally.
• American Furniture Manufacturing Association and La-z-boy meetings acknowledged their acceptance of and cooperative use of the February released S300 Upholstery Cleaning Standard.
• Numerous other meetings: conventions, seminars, meetings, and trade show events occurred throughout the year.

As a consumer, all of these activities benefit you. Perhaps you see why we are truly proud to be a part of the IICRC.

More IICRC News: FCT Floor Care Technician

The IICRC has announced another Category which has been added to their certifications: FCT: Floor Care Technician. This is for all those who maintain hard surface floors such as vinyl tile, ceramic, painted and/or sealed concrete, etc.

For inspectors, their fields are enlarging also. To be now included in Substrate Inspection are: Marble & Stone Inspector, Wood & Laminates Inspector, Ceramic Tile Inspector and Resilient Floor Inspector.

This is good news for our company. I have stripped vinyl floors since before our company began in October, 1986, and though I have had excellent training, I have also ran into areas where I felt a definite lack of knowledge.

We are very grateful for the aid we have received over the years through our certification with IICRC. We high endorse it for any service business in cleaning or restoration work.

What's New

Steam cleaning is now "literal." Since we began, we have avoided using the term "steam cleaning" because the appearance of steam arising from our wand was actually condensation. We therefore have always referred to it as extraction. But now there is literal steam cleaning.

A new machine introduced to the market does actual steam vapor cleaning. The machine uses water heated to over 240 F (up to 260 F) and the dry misty vapor does the cleaning "without chemicals." It is not prudent on surfaces sensitive to dye loss, and the high heat. The process, however, is very inviting for mold, mildew, germs and bacteria removal. It is especially useful in institutional environments. We are glad to see this new technology, and perhaps later can add it to our services offered. Steam cleaning requires hot water for extraction though, and thus the reason for our standard regular extraction cleaning.

Family Importance

Our family is an important part of our business. We are grateful for the children and happy home hours we take with them. We hope that the great privileges we all enjoy as Americans will remain and flourish. Our founding fathers died for them. The American family can remain strong only as we uphold the same values and beliefs early Americans paid dearly to sustain.

Services We Offer

We gladly provide quality carpet (area and wall-to-wall), upholstery cleaning, hard floor (vinyl tile and ceramic or concrete) restoration or maintenance, hardwood floor resurfacing, stone care for slate, marble and non-granite tiles and office cleaning.

New Technologies Are Changing the Face of Carpet Maintenance [from Homeland 2004]

Now carpet chemical manufacturers are coming out with sophisticated formulations that are changing the way carpets are cleaned. For many years they have tried to create a detergent that will “DRY CLEAN” carpet. They have all along tried to reduce the problem of soiling spots reappearing with ‘encapsulation technology.’ This means they utilize a soap which dries with a brittle property – carpets can now be cleaned with a product that can be successfully vacuumed when the carpet is dry. Of course we still clean most carpets with extraction.
Also this product features optional fabric protection When the carpets dry, they will have a fabric protecting element in place at the same time!

GLORY Carpet Cleaning Service

47 Long Hill Street

East Hartford, CT 06108-1436

860-528-7205