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Many homes today have natural stone surfaces.  Whether it is flooring, countertops, or inside your shower, care must be taken when trying to clean and maintain natural stone.  Natural stone is incredibly beautiful and, while durable, can be prone to staining.  Natural stone tends to be porous which is why it is prone to staining.  Chemical cleaning products will likely only disinfect and clean the surface but will not lift and remove anything from the pores of natural stone.  Further, the chemicals may be absorbed into the pores and lead to staining or damage.  Steam cleaning, on the other hand, will not damage natural stone and will restore it to its natural beauty with each cleaning.

Many homeowners have at least one wool rugs in their home.  Whether it is an area rug or the wall-to-wall carpeting in your home, wool rugs are delicate.  Because of the nature of wool, even treated and stain-protects wool, it can stain and become damaged — great care must be taken in the cleaning process which is why steam cleaning is ideal for cleaning oriental rugs. 

Steam cleaning may just seem like a great way to clean and disinfect many different surfaces in your home.  And, while it is, it is far more than that!  Chemical cleaning products leave behind chemical residue that you then touch and absorb or breathe in.  Chemicals from most commercial cleaning products have been shown to cause asthma, worsen allergies, potentially lead to cancer, and more – not exactly what you want to be breathing in. Steam cleaning in your home will not only leave behind clean surfaces but it will actually improve the air quality in your home.  What is truly frightening is that the air quality in your home – the air you and your family breathe in every day – is often far worse than the air quality outside.  Huffington Post describes just how bad the air is inside our own homes, “‘Indoor air quality can be eight to ten times worse than outdoor air quality, if you don’t clean your flooring, clean your drapes and let air inside regularly,’ says interior designer Robin Wilson, who specializes in allergy-free housekeeping. When millions of Americans suffer from indoor allergies, air quality is a huge issue.”

Do You Have Dust Mites?

Dust mites – they sound kind of harmless and most people think that if they keep their home relatively clean they probably don’t have them. But, dust mites are tiny bugs that live in your home, and whether you see them or not, they are probably there and they may even be the source of your allergies. FamilyDoctor explains why dust mites are a pretty gross problem that you should not ignore, “Dust mites feed off of pet and human dander (dead skin cells in the air and on surfaces in our homes). They live in every home in items such as mattresses and furniture…Dead skin and other waste from dust mites is a major cause of allergies and asthma. Symptoms of dust mite allergy include sneezing, runny nose, itchy nose, and nasal congestion. If you have asthma, dust mites can cause you to wheeze more and need more asthma medicine. You may have more asthma symptoms at night, when you are lying in a bed infested with dust mites. Cutting down on the number of dust mites in the home is an important step if you or someone in your family has allergies or asthma.”

Microfiber has become a popular upholstery fabric used in many applications including chairs, ottomans, and sofas.  Microfiber is not a natural material, it is a synthetic material that is known for being easier to clean and maintain because of its durability. And, while it is very popular because it is easy to clean, the cleaning generally needs to take place as soon as possible after a spill or stain gets on the couch or it will quickly become very difficult to clean.  It is always important to review your couch’s manufacturer recommendations for cleaning before doing any kind of cleaning.  But, do not make the mistake of thinking your microfiber couch will not stain – it will.  And, you have to be very careful what chemical cleaner you put on fabric because it may only exacerbate the problem.  Steam cleaning really is the ideal way to clean a microfiber couch.

We all know just how dirty and germ-covered a child can be.  And, when you put kids at a public playground, school playground, or daycare playground, the germs are bound to spread – and quickly.  Sneezing, coughing, spitting, drooling, and just touching the equipment with their already dirty hands gets the playground equipment dirty and if children play frequently on the playground they are at an increased risk of spreading illness just by playing and touching the same equipment.  The idea of frequently cleaning playground equipment may sound exceptionally tedious, time-consuming and just not possible depending on how busy you are.  But, it does not have to be that way.  And, nobody wants to use harsh and harmful chemicals where children play.  But, it can be fast, efficient, and safe to clean playground equipment if you use a steam cleaner. 

Concrete is used as flooring in many residential, commercial, and industrial applications.  With modern techniques, concrete flooring can be stained, stamped and made to look like just about anything you can imagine or it can be left alone and still look great.  Many businesses, particularly in industrial applications, opt for concrete flooring because of its durability and the fact that it will likely encounter a wide variety of stresses, machinery, traffic, substances, etc.  Concrete floors are great because not only are they durable but they are also easy to clean with a steam cleaner.

Summer is upon us and that means fun in the sun, vacations, and often, houseguests. Keeping your house clean, disinfected, and deodorized is no small task.  And, if you have children home from school on break it is even harder since they spend more time in your home each day.  Nobody looks forward to completing a deep cleaning of their home before guests arrive but you do not have to fear it!  A steam cleaner makes it easy to tackle just about any cleaning project in your home and get your home houseguest ready in no time!

Regardless of what region in which you live, if you have running water through faucets in your home, your faucets probably develop some buildup over time.  There are different types of buildup from various minerals and substances such as calcium, limescale, magnesium, sodium, silicate, phosphate, and more.  In places where there is a high mineral concentration in the water, buildup can happen very quickly and can be difficult to clean and remove without damaging your faucets.  While there are many different (and expensive) ways to try to manage the mineral concentration in your water and reduce buildup the fact of the matter is that faucets will develop scale or buildup over time no matter what efforts you make to stop the buildup.  But, just because your faucets will develop buildup it does not mean you just have to accept unsightly buildup, reduced water flow, or damaged plumbing hardware – there is an answer – steam cleaning!