FAQ

How far in advance do I need to book?: If your schedule is very flexible about 3 days, but should you require a specific date and time, at least 5 working days in advance. 

How long does the cleaning take?:  About  20 - 30 minutes per room for the standard clean and the supreme clean up to 40 minutes per room.

How long does the drying take?:  About  3 - 4 hours for the standard clean and the supreme clean  5 - 6 hours depending on how much water has to be used for the stain removal.

Are your chemicals safe?:  Yes, all our chemicals SABS approved.

Do you clean with water?:  Yes, the only time we do dry cleaning is for natural fibers, for instance white cotton, white wool, certain linens, sea grass and kilums.

How often should I clean?:  Depending on the amount of foot traffic in your home or office at least twice a year. If you have pets or children or if you are a smoker the recommended time is 3 - 4 times per year.  

Why Regular cleaning is important

When children play and crawl on the floor and carpet, they breathe in allergens from the dust and dirt. The best is to keep carpets, furniture and curtains as clean as possible. All home furnishings should be professionally cleaned on a regular basis, since our normal house hold vacuum and carpet cleaners does not extract the amount of dust and dirt that a professional carpet cleaning machine can extract. Cleaning frequency is based on the number of people in your home, if you have pets or smokers and the amount of outside dust and pollution.
 We recommend every four to six months, depending on the factors mentioned above, to keep your home fresh and Healthy.

Every home has dust mites, you can’t see them but they are there.  Because we spend about a third of our lives in bed most dust mites are in our pillows, bedding, mattresses and bedroom carpets. Mattresses and bedroom carpets  should always be cleaned every six months by a professional cleaner using an extraction method to ensure the maximum amount of extraction and reduce allergens.

Why choose Expert Carpet Cleaning

At Expert Carpet Cleaning our staff are professionally trained and have years of experience. Our work is always supervised to insure our customers trust is respected and to give extra  attention to cleaning your carpets. Our staff will move all your furniture to clean the whole area and place them safely back in place. The estimate time for an unfurnished room is between 20 and 30 minutes, depending on the size of the room and a furnished room is between 30 and 45 minutes depending on the amount of furniture and the size of the room. We care about your carpets and our staff is committed to excellence. Carpet cleaning is what we do best.

Cleaning Chemicals 

We use only  SABS approved cleaning chemicals which means our customers gets the best quality work and chemicals for their money. Our sanitizing and deodorizing will always be free of charge, included in all our carpet cleaning quotes and can not be sold as a separate service, as some companies do.
The difference between our chemicals and other substandard carpet cleaning chemicals which are used by many of our competitors is that our chemicals will not leave your carpets sticky. It gives a powerful cleaning action which removes even stubborn oily and muddy residues. The inherent brightening agents bring out the true colors and sparkle leaving the carpets looking as good as new.


What we've learned over the years

We all know the saying - if it sounds too good to be true , it is! That's particularly true about  “cheap” quotes you get for carpet cleaning. Particularly when there is an advertisement for unbelievable specials as there are many complaints on the internet about carpet cleaning companies that changes their prices when the booking is made.  More often than not  a customer that rejects our quote based on the amount of money they can save elsewhere has come back asking us to come and do the job properly. This amounts in the customer paying twice as much for a service we could have done right from the start.  

Tile Cleaning Methods

Depending on the condition of the tiles our expert teams will make an assessment of the best cleaning and scrubbing methods as well as the best chemicals to ensure the tiles are cleaned to the best standards. Please see our Tile cleaning tab to determine if you require tile cleaning, grout cleaning or both tile and grout cleaning as there is a big difference. Making your tiles shine requires either polish or sealing, which is a service we offer after either sanding or cleaning the tiles.

Wooden Floor Sanding and Sealing

We can make your precious wooden floors make brand new! Please look at the picture gallery and see the amazing results we achieve with wooden floors. Once we have sealed the floors it is advised that no furniture is moved back onto the floors and no one walks over them for at least 24 hours

Hints and Tips

When Hiring a Contractor for your home or office

Whether you need a window fixed, a drain unplugged, your bathroom remodeled or your Upholstery cleaned, hiring the right contractor is of the utmost importance. The first thing to consider is the Quality of work you are willing to pay for. You need to find a contractor that is knowledgeable, trustworthy and reliable to guarantee value for your money.

Even though we are only in the cleaning industry, we get calls to fix the mistakes a lot of the less reputable contractors daily. So who better to give you advice and hopefully stop you from losing your money to an unreliable “fly by night” contractor?

Website and Contact Information: If your contractor is nothing more than a cell phone number, you should be concerned. Any reputable business will have a website and at least one land line  mobile number and email address where they can be reached.  Any Company/Contractor should take pride in his website and easy to reach at all times. The website should tell who exactly who the company is. It must contain sufficient contact information, pictures of their business and examples of work performed by their business.

Get Recommendations: Start with friends, family, and local businesses that would have contact with the contractors in the field you need work in. It’s always better to get some one that’s been recommended and to recommend good contractors to your friends and family.

Get Quotes: Always get quotes and detailed estimates in writing, never take a verbal quote or make verbal agreements on deadlines or prices without written confirmation. Get at least three quotes, compare the prices and if one is considerably cheaper that the rest, disregard it immediately – Remember, “you get what you pay for.”  Cheap cleaning in our industry means Cheap Chemicals that will ruin your carpets.

Ask for References: If a contractor can't give you at least three people to vouch for the quality of his work you're in trouble. If applicable to the kind of work you're having done—landscaping, large-scale remodeling, even cleaning —ask to see photos of past work. 

Avoiding Scams and Outright Rip-offs: If you're talking to contractors and the pricing seems too good to be true, it probably is. Either you're about to get ripped off or they're going to use such sub-par materials that you'll wish they'd just taken the money instead.

DIY Carpet Cleaning can Damage your Carpets

Shaw Industries, the world’s largest carpet manufacturer, recommends hot water extraction as the cleaning method of choice for their carpets.

As our customer we know and trust that you use our Professional Carpet Cleaning teams to do the heavy lifting and cleaning for you. We recently did a carpet cleaning demonstration in a five star conference center, who, until then, had been using these exact DIY cleaning methods. Needless to say, they were shocked to see the amount of dirt extracted from their seemingly clean carpets and booked a thorough cleaning immediately. 

If you have ever seen some one wash their carpets with carpet shampoo using a scrubbing brush and leaving it to dry or simply vacuuming the shampoo up, please send them this article on DIY carpet cleaning and the potential hazards they may not be aware of. Although any spills or accidents should be cleaned up immediately, an entire carpet should never be cleaned with regular carpet shampoo's. 

Many companies and individuals have resorted to DIY cleaning methods in order to safe on their cleaning bills when in fact using inferior carpet cleaning techniques can end up costing much more in the long run. They are simply not aware of the consequences or that they are shortening the lifespan of one of their homes/offices biggest investments. 

Most store bought spotters are bad for your carpet because they are soaps and shampoos that can leave a residue, this will cause spots to reappear in your carpet and also set stains. Without a professional cleaning team to rinse the soap out and extract all the access water, all you do is move the dirt around in the carpet, pushing it deeper into the carpet and distributing it more evenly. The soap and the dirt is now either left to dry, or vacuumed up with a dry vac.

You might want to ask: What is wrong with that? It sure looks cleaner.

Imagine washing your hair. Instead of rinsing out the shampoo, you leave it in. Scrub and massage the hair thoroughly, then add the conditioner on top of the shampoo to make your hair soft and leave it smelling fresh.  Now let the mixture dry. Your hair is now sticky and attracting more dirt. How about vacuuming the hair to get as much of the soap off as possible? It may sound ridiculous, but that's exactly what happens to a carpet when it's hand washed or cleaned with foam.

Renting a carpet cleaning machine and doing it yourself is about the closest one can get to a professional clean. The problem here lies in the extraction power of the smaller machines and the fact that they over saturate the carpet. The machine simply does not have the suction power generated by professional equipment. On a lightly soiled carpet they will manage a superficial clean at best but on dirty carpets, these machines can't compare to professional cleaning machines. 

Shaw Industries, the world’s largest carpet manufacturer, recommends hot water extraction as the cleaning method of choice for their carpets. In fact, like many manufacturers, they require that homeowners who submit warranty claims show proof of periodic cleaning by hot water extraction.

DIY FACTS:

  •  Store bought systems use chemicals in poor ratios of cleaning solution or uses extremely toxic chemical agents.  Consider how much time your pets and little ones are spending on the floor because these chemicals affect children and pets the most.
  •  Many store- bought cleaning systems may end up costing you more in the long run because the over-saturation of water into your carpet causes more mildew and bacteria to build up. Another insect that feeds on mildews and mold in carpets is the Carpet Beetle. They thrive in wet and moldy hand washed carpets and will spread throughout the home, causing damage to carpets and furniture.
  •  Most store bought spotter are bad for your carpet because they are soaps and shampoos that can leave a residue, some even contain brightener that can leave bleach spots

Hot water extraction or steam cleaning

A hot water cleaning solution under high pressure is forced into the carpet and then extracted immediately back out of the carpet. 

Supreme Cleaning

This is a combination of a deep scrub and hot water extraction method. First the carpet will be treated for spots and stains, scrubbed with chemicals using an auto scrubber. There after the chemical is rinsed out of the carpets and a hot water extraction (steam cleaning) is performed.

DETOX Your Home In Three Easy Steps

Spring is in the air and for most of us, Spring Cleaning is just a day dream. With our busy life styles, late nights at the office and a family to take care of, we don’t get the opportunity to clean as often as we’d like. So we’re here to offer some tips and advice for quick and easy ways to freshen up your home and we guarantee once you get into gear, you’ll get a real kick … and feel healthier from the difference it makes to you and your family!

Step 1:  Clutter Busting…

Most of us have a bit of hoarding in our home, so if you’re hanging on to old, scratched Duran Duran records, or pairs of shoes you haven’t worn since 1986, you’re not alone!  In fact, 50 per cent of people claim to hold on to items for sentimental reasons. However, the best approach to clutter busting is to be ruthless. Label three boxes (or bags) ‘to give away’, to throw away’ and to store’, then clear out your home room by room. Be honest with yourself – if you haven’t used something for over a year, discard it.  Once you have boxed/bagged up unwanted items, get rid of them as soon as possible. Donate, Sell or Recycle your unwanted items!  

Step 2:  Cleaning… 

Once you have had a good clear-out, your next step should be to thoroughly clean the rooms.  Take one room at a time, and don’t feel guilty if you don’t do it all at once – it’s normal to have some out-of-sight places that aren't as clean as the rest of the house. Clean air makes a huge difference when detoxing your home.  Fling open the windows to allow fresh air to circulate.   Clean behind larger pieces of furniture, like beds, which normally don’t get moved. Never dry ‘dust’ your home … use a damp cloth to wipe off dust and a dry cloth to dry-polish and shine surfaces. Of course this is a good time to get a little professional help with carpet cleaning, upholstery cleaning, curtains and even mattresses! Our experienced teams can also wash Windows, Kitchens, Bathrooms, deep Clean Showers and Tiles. After you tackle the cleaning, a weight will be lifted off your shoulders, who knew that cleaning could provide a great feel-good-factor as well as your home being healthier?  

Step 3: Organizing…

Keep furniture sleek and refined, hide lamp wires and appliance cables, and minimize accessories, whatever your style.  Also, consider how furniture is positioned: make seating conversation-friendly and create a separate area that is good for TV viewing. Display your collections!  Whether it’s books, shoes or china, most of us have a collection of some kind.  Instead of cramming everything together in a cupboard, display them either on shelves, in cabinets or even from hooks on the wall.  However, the old adage ‘less is more’ is useful to keep in mind here!    

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