If you’re a regular follower here on the blog, you know I LOVE things around my home to be clean. It’s a lot harder now to get that clean feeling than it used to be before the babies arrived, but it’s still very possible! In fact, one of the best gifts I was given after we brought the twins home was a maid service to come in and give our home a deep cleaning from top to bottom! My goodness, it was FANTASTIC!!! I mean, I really enjoy cleaning myself, but I wasn’t able to, so why not bring in some professionals?
These days, we’re staring down the barrel of the “crawling” stage. At almost 5 months old, the twins are now enjoying tummy time instead of getting angry about it, and even doing a bit of rocking on their knees and similar “right before crawling” poses – they’ll be mobile before we know it! With that in mind, I’ve been trying to find someone to come in and sanitize all the floors completely. That way, I can maintain their cleanliness, but I know from the get-go that I started off with something perfectly clean and fresh!
So when Kevin from Chem-Dry contacted me about their cleaning process, I was impressed, to say the least. And schooled, as well! Turns out I didn’t know much about carpet cleaning. But never fear – Kevin is here to give us all the details and help us to decide what works best for our home!
Important information on #carpetcleaning for homes with #babies – today on the blog! #cleaning…
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There is nothing more exciting than bringing a new baby home from the hospital! It’s a wonderful event for a home and a family. But, it can be stressful, too, and you have to be prepared. Especially if you are a brand new parent! Do you have the crib put together? Is the nursery decorated? Did you buy enough diapers and clothing and wipes and…
…the list goes on and on and on. It’s overwhelming, and that’s not all!
There is one important thing that’s not even on the list that you will want to complete as soon as possible: professional carpet cleaning.
Deep carpet cleaning probably isn’t one of the first things that come to mind when preparing to bring home a baby from the hospital. It’s not as important as the car seat, but it is a very good idea. Dirty carpets contain a lot of allergens, germs, contaminants and yucky stuff you won’t want to subject your newborn baby too. Your baby will spend a lot of time on or near the floor and carpet not long after you bring him or her home. You will want the floor to be as clean and as safe as humanly possible.
Is Carpet Cleaning Safe for Babies?
First of all, we do not recommend rental machines or DIY solutions. Misuse of a rental machine can lead to damage of your carpet or danger from chemicals, and most DIY solutions are ineffective at removing deep, embedded dirt. Trust a professional service when it comes to cleaning your carpet, especially with a newborn in the house.
Most methods of professional carpet cleaning are safe for babies, but you want to avoid services that use excessive water, soap, detergents or chemicals.
Word of Mouth
To find the right carpet cleaner for you, first consult family, friends and neighbors who have babies or small children in their home. Ask them which carpet cleaner they use and if they are happy and comfortable with the service. It’s always reassuring to get advice from another parent you know or trust.
Online Research
Otherwise, if you have no one to ask, research your local carpet cleaner’s process on their website.
If you want the peace of mind in knowing that the service is totally harmless, go green. Find a carpet cleaner that advertises green-certified cleaning methods and has the certification to prove it. You should be able to learn about the equipment and solutions a carpet cleaner uses on their website under their “services” section.
Look for certifications or badges that link to an official source. Not every “all-natural” or “eco-friendly” claim on a website is accurate. Some can be deceiving or only partially true. You can also search the FDA GRAS list for their brand in order to see if their solutions are “generally considered safe”. You want to be sure their process and cleaning solutions are not harmful at all and free of chemicals.
Reviews
You might find helpful information from customer reviews online too. If a review mentions fumes or the carpet not drying within 24 hours (or more), you will want to continue searching.
If you’re not confident in what you find online, call the service directly. The owner or customer service representative should be able to list all the ingredients in their solution and provide a step-by-step overview of their process.
Steam Cleaning or Dry Carpet Cleaning?
During your research you will find that most carpet cleaners offer steam cleaning. Steam cleaning is the process of using extreme heat, soap and gallons of water to disinfect the carpet. Steam cleaning is the most common form of carpet cleaning but not the absolute best or safest for homes with newborns. Instead, consider dry carpet cleaning.
Dry carpet cleaning is better than carpet shampooers or carpet steam cleaning because it requires much less water, no soap and no harsh chemicals. The fewer chemicals around your newborn the better.
Why is too much water a problem? Because too much water for carpet cleaning can result in wet carpet when the professional carpet cleaner leaves your home. Wet carpet can be a source of mold and mildew growth and other toxins. Also, a carpet cleaner that uses too much water also probably uses soap to clean carpet. Why? Because you need a lot of water to rinse soap out of carpet. Soap is not good for carpet cleaning because if not 100% rinsed out from the carpet, it will result in immediate soiling and a residue that can attract dirt and contaminants. You don’t want contaminants in your carpet when you bring home a newborn.
Which Carpet Cleaner to Choose?
In order to ensure the process is 100% safe for your newborn, you want to hire a carpet cleaner that meets the following criteria:
Green-certified
Chemical-free
Low-moisture
No soap
No phosphates
No detergents
You can be confident that if the company meets all those requirements, your carpet will be beautiful and a great place for your baby to learn to roll, crawl and get into all kinds of trouble as they grow!
About Chem-Dry
Chem-Dry offers green-certified carpet cleaning free of chemicals and soap. Our process uses 80% less water than steam cleaning and The Natural®, our proprietary cleaning solution found on the FDA GRAS list.
Thanks so much for all this information, Kevin! I was pretty thrilled myself to pop over to the Chem-Dry website and find that they also offer area rug cleaning, upholstery cleaning, and tile and stone cleaning – which means they could pretty much clean my entire house! I’m okay with that!
When it’s time to clean YOUR carpets, what’s YOUR favorite method?
Due to the amount of comments from all of my wonderful readers, it is not always possible for me to respond to each one. However, I absolutely do read them all, and if you’d like to address something specific, or have a question for me, please don’t hesitate to email me at Kristen@theroadtodomestication.com. I will respond to your email as soon as possible! Thank you for visiting the blog!
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