We know accidents happen and it is not realistic to call a professional carpet cleaner for each spot or spill that occur on your carpet. As a result, Pacific Mist has made a “how to” guide for homeowners who are up to the challenge of removing spots or spills. This guide is to be used as a reference only and if you feel unsure about any of the steps involved don't do it and give us a call. Moreover, this guide is only applicable to synthetic carpet and upholstery and should be used as a “one off” solution for minor spots or spills. If the spot or spill is severe please call Pacific Mist Carpet Cleaning.

Not every spot or spill is the same. Sometimes you will know what was spilled and sometimes you won't and sometimes it will take more than one application to achieve the best results. However some basic knowledge is needed before we begin. NEVER scrub your carpet or use a circular motion for spot removal. You never want to damage or even destroy the carpet fibres. Be gentle and deliberate when treating a spot or stain and always give yourself enough time to complete the process.
No matter what the staining substance is your final step is ALWAYS a light flush of the area and extraction with a shop vac or by blotting. Similarly you will ALWAYS finish up by draping a white cotton cloth over the spot with an appropriate weight of some sort on top.

​The goal is to keep pressure on the spot and have the cloth soak up any substance which may rise to the surface during the drying process. And finally, ALWAYS first test whatever cleaning solution you apply to an inconspicuous area prior of the same carpet prior to application on the affected area.

Like all carpet cleaners, you will need products and tools to aid you in your spot removal. Fortunately, all items listed below are everyday house hold items which are easily found in your home.

• Shop Wet-Dry Vac
  
• White paper towels or white cotton terry cloths
  
• Powdered laundry detergent (nothing with BLEACH)
  
• Spray bottle (used for applying your home made cleaning solution)
  
• Over the counter house hold ammonia, white vinegar, isopropyl rubbing alcohol and hydrogen peroxide
  
• Tea spoon, dull knife or butter knife
  
• Heavy book or a light brick
  

Below will be a guide to direct you how to clean different types of spots and spills. How you treat (what household product you use) various spots and spills will be dependent on the soiling material but the process will for the most part be the same for all types of spots. For ease of use the process will be numerated 1-3 and the various common problem spill types will be listed alphabetically. The example used for our process will be a water unidentified or greasy spots or spills.


Process for greasy spots or unknown spots and spills...


1- Use a white cotton terry cloth or paper towel to absorb (via blotting) the substance which is on the surface of your carpet. You may also use a spoon or butter knife to gently remove the substance. Next you will apply isopropyl rubbing alcohol to a clean paper towel or terry cloth and gently wipe the surface (gentle blotting if spot is deep in the carpet fibre). However, because isopropyl is a solvent you MUST not allow it to reach the backing of the carpet. Carpet backing is latex and a solvent will degrade or even destroy the latex bond.

Process for spots with a water base...
2- Using paper towel or cotton terry cloth, or wet-dry vac if large quantities, you will blot up fresh spills. Conversely, if you were not able to treat the spill immediately and it has dried you will have to perform a light flush of the carpet tuffs with tap water. It is VERY important not to add to much water to the affected area. Blot dry then cover with a book or brick on top of a FRESH terry cloth or section of paper towel.


3- If step 2 does not work you will have use your own home made cleaning solution. Your solution will consist of 1/4 tea spoon of dry laundry detergent (without bleach) mixed with 1 litre of fresh tap water. You will then apply a minimal amount of cleaning solution to the affected area via blotting. If you see that the cleaning solution is working and the spot is being removed continue. Follow up with a light water rinse from a spray bottle and blot up with a clean paper towel or terry cloth (if available use a shop-vac) to soak/suck up remaining moisture.
If the spot remains after dry blotting then apply 3% hydrogen peroxide to the carpet tuffs and allow 1 hour for the peroxide to dwell. Rinsing peroxide out of the carpet is not needed since the peroxide will reduce to water once exposed to light. Once again you will want to remove all water by applying paper towel or terry cloth to the surface which you will cover with a heavy book or brick.
Treatment for different types of stains...

A) Nail Polish: remove most substance by spoon or butter knife. Using a non-oily nail polish remover, apply to white terry cloth and delicately rub affected area in one direction or blot as needed. Proceed to step 3 to complete treatment.

B) Mud: must be completely dry prior to removal. Once dry, use butter knife to shatter dried mud and vacuum up immediately after. Proceed to step 3 to complete treatment.
C) Chewing Gum: use an ice cube to freeze the gum and then shatter the gum. If this does not work you may use a citrus based cleaning product or freeze the gum with an over the counter freezing agent found at most hardware stores.
D) Candle wax or other types of wax: a brown plain paper bag with no lettering and an iron set on medium heat is all that is needed to remove wax from synthetic, but not Olefin, carpets. Wax from the carpet will be absorbed onto the brown paper bag once the iron is place on it. You will have to change the paper bag according to the amount of wax saturated per section of bag. Remove the left over wax with alcohol or a dry cleaning agent.

E) Cough Syrup, pop, mixed drinks, soy sauce, starch, toothpaste and blood and other food products: you will want to use a wet dry vac for large spills and the blotting methods for small spills. You will neutralize the spot with 1 tablespoon household ammonia (clear variety) and 1/2 cup of water once you have removed as much of the spot as possible via the blotting/ shop-vac procedure. Never saturate the carpet to the point that the backing gets wet. You will then revert to step 3 and use hydrogen peroxide to treat (misting) the affected area. It is very important, and for best results, that solutions used for cleaning blood is cooled. You will continue treatment of the affected area over the course of 2-4 days by gently applying a light mist of hydrogen peroxide.

F) Coffee, tea, beer, wine and perfume: you will use the same method as E) but will use 1/3 of a cup of vinegar to 2/3 cup of bottled water in lue of the ammonia mixture. This mixture will be applied with a spray bottle to the point of complete saturation. Once again you will revert to step 3 and use hydrogen peroxide to treat (misting). It is very important, and for best results, that solutions used for cleaning blood is cooled. You will continue treatment of the affected area over the course of 2-4 days by gently applying a light mist of hydrogen peroxide.
G) Urine, vomit, feces: follow F)


If you have any questions or concerns you can always post them on this blog and we will try to answer them to the best of our ability and in due time. You can also post pictures to the blog. However, you must send an email to info@pacificmist with your contact information prior submitting a question. This service is for locals only.
Factors which will affect your results are time and other cleaning products you may have put in your carpet. We strongly advise that you check the ingredients of the product prior to applying it to your carpet. Beware of wide ranging sweeping claims made by advertisers who sell products to the general public. They may do more damage to the carpets then the spill you intend to clean.
Some stains are permanent. For example, bleach hair dyes, acne medication and plant fertilizers are just a few types of stains that cause permanent damage because they change the carpets colour.

Cleaning floors in a commercial setting for customers demands the upmost attention to detail. However, sometimes the size and scale of cleaning a commercial floor makes balancing productivity and attention to detail a challenge. Like many things in life, advances in technology has allowed the cleaning industry to strike a balance between quality and quantity when cleaning floors.  
​
The traditional mop in bucket is gone and will be forgotten in the dust bin of history. But why is this important to you? Because by utilizing commercial cleaning methods in your home, you will be able to extend the life of your floors and leave your floors fresh, clean and safe for your family.

No more swishing and sloshing around dirty mop water around on your floor. No more stinky mop heads. And most importantly, (for extending the life of your floors and protecting your investment) no more leaving harsh chemicals on your floor which trap dirt and even leave a potentially damaging film behind on the surface of your floors.

But fret no more! The tips below are tried tested and true by the most experienced of cleaners and without a doubt will leave the floors in your home spotless for many years to come.

First and foremost, stop using anything that is not a neutral ph cleaner and rinse free! The Ph level of the cleaning agent indicates if it an alkaline or an acid. A ph of 7 is considered neutral (same ph as water). Clean and Green is a great example or a rinse free neutral cleaner that is safe for all flooring types including natural stone.  

Ditch the mop and bucket and go with microfiber! Home depot carries the Rubbermaid Floor Kit.Rubbermaid produces a high quality product that is inexpensive (under $40), durable and most certainly battle tested in a commercial setting. The head which is blue and coarse is for wet cleaning while the head which is green and has loop fringes is used to remove dust and debris prior to wet cleaning.  

For our home we purchased two mops and 2 spare wet cleaning mop heads. The kit includes to wet mop heads and one dry head. We would recommend against purchasing the version which has a solution bottled attached. The spray shower parts become worn and degrade over time.

After dust mopping,  soak your clean mop heads in the neutral ph rinse free cleaning solution in a bucket a and ring the mop head out and begin cleaning your floor. Monitor the level of soil and debris on your mop head and change when needed. Avoid cross contamination and never put a used mop head back in to your clean bucket with the clean mop heads. Depending on frequency of cleaning and soil levels, each mop head can clean between 50-200 sqft of flooring.

Surrey / Langley / Delta
Complete Cleaning Supplies
Address: 17942 55 Ave, Surrey, BC V3S 6C8
Phone:(604) 576-2292

Vancouver
Kingsway Vacuum Sales and Service
Address: 3531 Kingsway, Vancouver, BC V5R 5L8
Phone: (604) 435-5581

 Time can be a carpet cleaners best friend or worst enemy when dealing with stain removal. Last week we received a call from a home owner in Maple Ridge regarding a urine stain on a mattress. The homeowner was wondering if there was any chance at us removing a urine stain from the mattress.

My first question was when did it happen and how old is the mattress? If the stain was over two weeks old I knew that Pacific Mist Carpet Cleaning chances to remove the stain would be limited. Cleaning a mattress is very challenging since it is essentially a giant foam sponge. The urine seeps into the foam and is difficult to remove. The problem of removing the urine may be compounded if the homeowner has put excessive amounts of water on the mattress while cleaning. However, in this instance this was not the case. The homeowner called Pacific Mist Carpet Cleaning the day after the accident occurred and had only blotted the surface.

My next question to the homeowner was how old was the mattress and what was its value. They explained too me that they had just purchased the mattress a week before from Sleep Country in Maple Ridge. The mattress cost them $3500. From my experience, higher end mattresses more often then not include a stain protector. Stain protectors absorb and trap the staining substance and make cleaning a breeze. Moreover, the mattress was almost brand new which meant that the protector would still be in tact. Over time protector wears off.
​
Below are the before and after pictures. The cleaning went off with out a hitch and our customer from Maple Ridge was extremely happy. For all of your carpet cleaning, mattress cleaning and specialty cleaning needs please not hesitate to give Pacific Mist Carpet Cleaning a call.  

We recently did a carpet cleaning job in Vancouver. It was a rental unit and was trashed. It was near UBC and a grad student had been renting the unit for the past three years. He has numerous roommates over the years and the unit had been ground zero for many "epic" parties as described by the renter. 

The unit looked like it had never been vacuumed. To say the carpet was full of dust bunnies would be the understatement of the year. We always pre-vaccumm the carpet to ensure that out pre-spray binds to the dirt that lays below the surface rather than the dirt on the surface which is easily removed with a decent vacuum. 

Once we had vacuumed the carpet we applied a high ph cleaning solution to all of the carpet area. We let the solution dwell for 20 minutes. We cranked up the psi on our truck mount carpet cleaning unit and began extracting and rinsing with a low ph cleaning solution. A low ph cleaning solution reduces surface tension and ensures that no residue will be left behind.  No residue prevents rapid resoling. 

The carpet cleaning was successful and all of the stains and traffic lane patters were removed. 

 

Well this was an interesting call that I am sure other carpet cleaners may have passed on. About two weeks ago a customer from Vancouver called me and booked a carpet cleaning. It was a simple job in so far as it was 2 bedrooms, hallway, living room and dinning room. No pet stains or any other type of specialty stain removal was needed. Then the day before the appointment, the customer called me and told me that her husband had tripped and hit his head on the corner of his nightstand and had bled a little bit on the carpet.

I figured that a little bit of blood would not be an issue. Wow I was wrong. I arrived at the home the next day and was shocked at what I saw. Blood was everywhere. It was in the bedroom, in the hallway, in the living room and dinning room. It was though he had walked throughout the house dripping blood all over his carpets on purpose.

I will admit that I was kinda grossed out by it. But the thing that bothered me the most is the extent of blood actually on the carpet and the amount I was told over the phone that was on the carpet. Huge difference between the two. When I saw it I almost turned down the job. However, being the nice guy (customer was getting married that week and some functions were being held at the house) and liking a challenge I started the job.

Unfortunately I cannot go into detail of how exactly I roomed the blood because it is a closely held trade secrecy that has been passed down from generation to generation (carpet cleaning runs in our blood= no pun intended). 

The results far exceeded my expectations. I think the carpet cleaning was so successfully as because the blood was fresh. The point you should take home from this little story is to let a carpet cleaning service company address whatever stains or spills you have sooner rather than later.

By Ed Scott

I had an interesting job this past month. The customer found us by googling “carpet cleaning Coquitlam.” The job was a ground floor 2 bedroom apartment in Coquitlam. Consequently, we were able to use our truck mount cleaning system. On most condo's we use our powerful portable machine because usually the unit is inaccessible with out truck mount. While the portable is powerful, it can be time consuming and labour intensive to use. Plus, I love using 230 plus water temperatures to clean carpet. The suction is another reason. With 15 Hg of lift and over 400 CFM what is not to love about having the fastest dry times?

This appointment was booked over the phone as was the estimate. The customer told me that she had read great things reviews about our company and decided to give us a try. The first thing that jumped out at me about this customer was that she was doing her due diligence before hiring a carpet cleaner. This usually occurs because of a bad experience with another carpet cleaning company.

I arrived 15 minutes early to make sure the unit could be accessible with our truck-mount. Everything was fine so I buzzed the home owner to let her know that we had arrived. We began the job as always with a walkthrough.

The first room was ordinary in so far as their was visible traffic lanes, a grey path, leading from the entry way to the bed and from the bed to the closet. The second room was a shocker! Our home owner is also a pet owner. Her dog, to shield him from embarrassment we shall call Fido, had gone number 2 at the enrty way of the door. The pet stain had happend sometime late last year. Of course the homeowner had tried to clean it up the best she could but the damage had already been done. I explained to the home owner that I could not guarantee that I would remove the stain since the accident had occurred so long ago.

After setting up our machine and unrolling the hoses we began by thoroughly vacuuming the carpet areas. We then mixed up a enzyme based pre-spray with a heavy dose sodium bicarbonate. This additive would add the much needed kick to our regular pre-spray to effectively treat the large stain in the second bedroom. After the unit was pre-sprayed we let it the solution dwell on the carpets for about fifteen minutes. We used a cordless drill with a brush head to agitate the solution in to the carpet in the heavily stained areas.

The final step was extraction. We extracted with our Rotovac 360i and a heavy duty rinse agent (acidic) at a operating temperature of 230 degrees. As you can see by the pictures the job turned out wonderful. The homeowner was impressed and extremely happy that the dark pet stain was removed from the second bedroom. In fact, she was so happy that she left us a glowing review on Google Plus.

By Ed Scott

I must say that I love cleaning dirty carpet! When a potential customer calls me and starts telling me about their carpet and how dirty is I become excited. I love a challenge and the possibility of making something beautiful again fits well with my results orientated personality. 

This week I had a call from a customer in Richmond who decided to spray paint his fire palce in his basement. This did not turn out well. The fire place turned of perfectly but unfortunately he did a real number on his carpet and upholstery. 

This was one of the cases in which I knew I had an opportunity to make a life time customer if I could deliver results. 

For this job I used a heavy duty pre-spray and cleaned it twice. The first pass was done with just hot water (230 degrees) and the second pass was done with pre-spray with a solvent additive. I let the pre-spray dwell for 20 minutes before I cleaned it with a Rotovc. 

I also cleaned the upholstery with a heavy duty solvent based pre-spray. The home owner was going to through out the couch if I could not get it clean so he have me a lot of latitude with what products I could use on it. The couch turned out well. 

In the end the customer was thrilled that I was able to return his basement carpet and upholstery back to normal. 

Ed Scott

 What I have written Below is a cautionary tale of how NOT to deal with pet stains if you are a home owner or renter and if you are a landlord be very selective for whom you rent your unit too! 

 Typically around the middle of the month I receive some last minute calls for people moving out on the 15th. Almost always you can hear the urgency in the callers voice. Having the carpets cleaned professionally  sometimes is over looked when tenants are looking for a new place to live, packing and moving. More often then not this this will occur the case when roommates are involved.

This week I had young man call me in the afternoon to book an appointment. I was just returning from carpet cleaning in Surrey and told him that I could squeeze him in the following day in the late afternoon.  This did not work for him since his landlord was coming at noon the following day for a move out inspection. Consequently, he needed the carpets cleaned that evening. Since he only lived 5 minutes away from my house I agreed. 

I asked him the typical questions: how many areas do you need cleaned, do you have pets, is their an elevator in the building and parking. He wanted 5 areas cleaned and he did have pets and their was and elevator and a underground for parking. He did mention that his pets had some accidents but that it was nothing major. He declined having me perform a pet treatment. 

From my experience renters rarely invest in additional services. They simply wanted to clean the carpets at the lowest price point to an acceptable level so they can receive their damage deposit back. 

I arrived to one of Coquitlam's newest  luxury condos about an hour after the customer and I  first spoke. I knew that his unit was going to be nice since it was a large unit. Not many of the newer apartments buildings have 3 bedrooms. 

The customer met me in the underground and brought me up to his unit. As soon as he opened the door it hit me: urine. Not a faint smell but a strong deep pungent smell. I walked in and was shocked! From our brief conversation on the phone I could have never expected what awaited me.

Above is a small sample of what the apartment looked like in and every room. Urine and dog poop  dotted the landscape from wall to wall. He saw the look in my eyes after we were done doing the initial walk through. I told him that I could clean his carpets but I could not guarantee  that I would remove the stains or the smell and that the price would be significantly higher. He had been in the apartment for two years and his dogs (yes plural he had 3 of them and one just gave birth to 5 puppies). He once again declined additional services and asked me to do my best. Within minutes of me arriving I witnessed the dog urinate twice on the carpet. 

If he had agreed to additional services we would have given him different options. We could do a subsurface extraction on each and every spot or we could pull the carpet and replace the padding underneath  and clean and seal the subfloor and then clean the carpets. 

You can't always get what you want and I had to treat this carpet like a regular carpet because the customer would not pay to have it cleaned the right way.  I explained to the customer on numerous occasions that a regular carpet cleaning was going to do very little to remedy his situation. 

First I vacuumed then  pre-sprayed the unit with an acid to neutralize the alkaline urine salts. I let the acid dwell for about twenty minutes. I then pre-sprayed with an enzyme based pre-spray (bio break) mixed with a USR (urine stain remover product). Again I let this dwell for about fifteen minutes. I then extracted with an acid rinse. The end result was as expected: the majority of stains remained and some where removed.

I asked the customer where he was moving too and what type of accommodations (house townhouse or condo) he was moving to and more importantly what type of flooring was in his new place. He gave me a  nervous look and said he was moving to another all carpeted condo. I gave him my opinion that he more than likely was not going to get his damage deposit back. As well,  he should consider himself lucky if the condo owners don't sue him in small claims court because his dogs have done thousands of dollars worth of damage to this unit. 

When I was packing up my gear (portable carpet cleaning machine) the customer asked me how much it costs and where he could get one. I don't usually do this but I suggested that he invest in a small portable spotter cleaning machine. In the carpet cleaning industry us technicians use it for small spots or stains or callbacks. Normally I would never recommend a customer purchase a tool meant for professional  carpet cleaners. However, in this instance I thought it was the appropriate since it may reduce the harm to both himself (it can't be healthy living in that environment) and his future landlord (the thousands of dollars in damage done by the dogs have to be paid for by somebody). 

Ed Scott

Today was an interesting day. I had a local real-estate agent ask me if I could clean the carpet of a 2100 sqft townhouse in Port Moody. She explained to me that the house was going to be put on the market by weeks end the carpets were in desperate need of a  steam cleaning cleaning. I had another real estate agent use the analogy of selling a car to illustrate  the point that home should be in tip top shape prior to being put on the market. The logic is that a person would be less willing to pay top dollar for a used car if it was dirty.  This makes sense.  The asking price for the 3 level 4 bedroom townhouse is over $800,000.

The total amounts of areas that needed carpet cleaning in this Port Moody townhouse was 11.  One of the worst areas in the house was the carpeted dinning room. Why builders continue install carpets in adinning area is beyond me.  

As you can see by the pictures,  this carpet did need a professional carpet cleaning. The worst areas were directly in front of the kitchen. Because of this I decided to use a enzyme based pre-spray. Enzyme pre-sprays are excellent for food based stains, oils and greases. I also added a oxygen booster to my pre-spray because of the white carpets. An oxygen booster really makes the white in the carpet pop. 

I pre-treated some of the other spots and stains with Avenge Legendary Spotter. After I had pre-vacuumed, I pre-sprayed the entire area. I let the solution dwell for around 15 minutes. I then used my Rotovac 360i to extract with an acid rinse. As you can see, once I started cleaning my Rotovac  360i cut through the dirt and grime like a hot knife through butter!

My operating temperatures during this process was at 220 degrees and the PSI was set at 400. As is always the case,  I was sure to do many dry passes with my Rotovac 360i to ensure that the carpets would be dry within a couple hours. 

The carpets turned out great and the listing agent was happy. As an added bonus the neighbour booked me to clean her townhouse the following day. 

Ed Scott

I have decided to change the style of my blog to a "week in review style." Each and every week I will summarize my work week. I will show you some of jobs I encountered and how I cleaned them. 

I will also tell you under what circumstances I obtained the work. I hope you all like this style and find tie bits of information that may help you choose the right carpet cleaner in Vancouver and Surrey.

It was 2:30 in the afternoon and I had just finnished my last job of the day (3 in total) when I received the call. I was just heading back from cleaning carpet in Port Moody. The female customer had just been released from the hospital and needed her carpets cleaned ASAP.  The carpet cleaning job was in Vancouver. The customer  had three dogs (2 large and one small) that had free reign of the house while she was in the hospital. Her neighbours had been feeding them and giving them water in her absence and taking them outside for bathroom breaks. 

Unfortunately, the dogs had some accidents. The Neighbours had closed all of the bedroom doors but the dogs had urinated on the tile floor  directly in front of the master bedroom. The urine seeped under the door and saturated the carpet. 

I arrived at 3:30 that afternoon. First I vacuumed the bedrooms. I immediately saturated the pet stain with a Odour Stain Remover  (OSR) product. I saturated the area fully to ensure the OSR would seep into the padding underneath the carpet.  Pet stains are like icebergs insofar as what you can see on the surface is a fraction what lies beneath. For effective pet stain treatment, it is imperative to treat the carpet padding.

I then pre sprayed the rest of the area with a high ph cleaning solution and 220 degree water. The next step was to use a carpet cleaning rake to agate the cleaning solution into the carpet.  After about fifteen minutes I began the hot water extraction process with our Roto-Vac 360i extractor and a acid rinse with a deodorizer (low ph cleaning solution to bring the carpets ph level back to neutrality)

After the carpets were cleaned (including the pet stain) I used a water claw to perform the subsurface extraction on the pet stain. The water claw was placed directly over top of the pet stain and extracted the OSR solution from the pad. I flushed the area with hot water until I could visually see that no more yellow liquid was being extracted from the water claw. For the final step I injected a low ph acid into the carpet pad and subfloor to neutralize any remaining contaminates. 

The job turned out well and the customer was happy with the clean carpets and the pet stain removal performed by Pacific Mist Carpet Cleaning. 

Ed Scott