Steam Carpet Cleaning

Posted by admin on Aug 29th, 2009 in Carpet - Flooring | 0 comments

The process of steam cleaning your carpet involves hot water being fed to a spray extraction tool or wand, coupled to a pump vacuum power unit.  The cleaning solution is injected under pressure deep into the carpet through water jet nozzles.

The water will then penetrate the fiber all the way down to the backing.  This action will loosen any embedded soil, remove oil and grease deposits, and get your carpet cleaner than it has ever been.

There are many types and makes of steam carpet cleaners available on the market, ranging from small portables to the large and very powerful truck mounted units.  The principle is the same no matter what model you pick.

The models that are truck mounted are designed so that only the hose and the wand are taken into the area being cleaned.  These units are very powerful, delivering hot water and generating a high vacuum recovery that can be powered by diesel fuel, gas, propane, or even by the motor of the truck.

Most carpet manufacturers, fiber producers, and professional cleaners endorse this process for  achieving soil removal efficiency.  With the present state of art equipment and technology, we are more than capable of high production and cleaning of  carpet.

The real disadvantage to steam carpet cleaning are the problems that are associated with over wetting and longer drying times.  These can be eliminated however, by a skilled operator who uses equipment that is well maintained and in good overall  operating condition.

Currently, there are two methods being used with steam carpet cleaning.
1.  This method involves a traffic lane cleaner being sprayed onto the traffic lanes and then agitated into the fibers.  The entire area is then cleaned by using a hot water extractor that has a cleaning solution being injected into the fibers through the wand.
2.  The second method involves a free rinse emulsifying pre-spray being sprayed onto the entire carpet, then agitated into the fibers.

Steam cleaning procedures
1.  Prepare the equipment and supplies.  In a pump or power sprayer you should mix the free rinsing pre-spray.  In the solution tank of the extractor, mix the rinsing agent.
2.  If you have a lot of furniture to move, make yourself a floor plan.
3.  If the area being cleaned has furniture, you should remove as much as possible.
4.  Thoroughly vacuum the carpet.  If the pile is crushed or matted, use a pile brush to loosen the soils which will make vacuuming more  effective.
5.  Pre-spray a good amount of the pre-spray.
6.  Using a grooming tool, agitate the pre spray deep into the fibers then let it sit for 10 – 15 minutes, making sure that it doesn’t dry out.
7.  Extract the area using a portable, truck mounted, or automatic carpet cleaner.
8.  Repeat steps 5 through 7 until the entire area has been cleaned.
9.  Groom the cleaned area, replace all furniture that was removed, then clean all equipment that you used.

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Kitchen Remodeling: Should You Buy New Appliances?

Posted by admin on Aug 26th, 2009 in Kitchen | 1 comment

Each year, thousands of American homeowners make the decision to remodel their homes.  One of the most common reasons for a kitchen remodeling project is change.  The average individual is likely to enter their kitchen, at least, eight times a day.  Unfortunately, overtime you may find that your kitchen no longer looks attractive or brings you excitement.  If this is how you feel about your kitchen, it may be time for a change.  That change can easily be accomplished with a kitchen remodeling project.

A kitchen remodeling project means different things to different individuals.  There are some homeowners who only like to change around one or two things, like their lighting fixtures and floor tiles, but there are others who want to change everything.  If you are really looking to make your kitchen like a whole new kitchen, you will probably want to do a large remodeling project.  A large remodeling project not only includes a large amount of work, but also a fairly large amount of time, but the end result is almost always more than worth it.

Despite the fact that a kitchen remodeling project is almost always worth it, you may still find yourself unpleased. One of the reasons for that is because of what we tend to view as a remodeling project.  We often associate kitchen remodeling with just kitchen fixtures, like flooring, lights, countertops, cabinets, and sinks.  As much as you change the fixtures or structures in your kitchen, you may still be reminded of your old kitchen, especially if you are using the same kitchen appliances. That is why it may also be a good idea to include replacing your kitchen appliances as part of your next kitchen remodeling project.

As previously mentioned, replacing your entire kitchen appliances may make it seem as if you are really getting a new kitchen. In addition to the change, you may also enjoy the new look, especially if your current kitchen appliances are quite old.  Over the past few years, kitchen appliances have changed quite a bit.  Whether you are looking to purchase a new dishwasher, refrigerator, toaster, oven, microwave, or blender, you will find that you, literally, have an unlimited number of appliances to choose from.  Almost all of the previously mentioned kitchen appliances come in more than one color; therefore, whatever color or design you are looking for, you should easily be able to find it.  Matching your new kitchen appliances to your new kitchen décor or theme, after the remodeling has been finished, is the best way to get the perfect kitchen.

Although there are a number of reasons why you should including buying new kitchen appliances as a part of your kitchen remodeling project, you may it expensive to do so.  If you are on a limited budget, it may be best to focus on the remodeling first.  New kitchen appliances can wait, but a new kitchen countertop may not be able to.  Once you have altered the overall design of your kitchen, you can then start worrying about new appliances.  If you are trying to save money, it may be a good idea to purchase one appliance at a time.  Even if it takes you a year to afford all of the new kitchen appliances that you wanted, you will get there aftertime, without having to go broke all at once.

As you can see, there are a number of different reasons why you should replace your old kitchen appliances when remodeling your kitchen.  Even though there are a number of benefits to doing so, you do not have to if you don’t want to.  The decision is completely yours to make.

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The Psychology Behind Gardening

Posted by admin on Aug 17th, 2009 in Gardening | 1 comment

I don’t know what it is about a garden that has always drawn humans to them. But they’ve always been very popular, and an integral part of peoples’ lifestyles. Most religions feature gardens as the settings for some of the biggest events According to Christianity, humanity was started in a garden and the son of God was resurrected in a garden. The Buddhist build gardens to allow nature to permeate their surroundings. Almost everymajor palace and government building has a garden. But what’s so great about them? They’re just a bunch of plants, after all.

Of course, the reasoning is fairly obvious behind why people grow food in gardens. It’s to eat! If you live off the fat of the land and actually survive on stuff from your garden, it’s easy to understand the reasoning. But I’m thinking about those people who plant flower gardens just for the sake of looking nice. There’s no immediate benefit that I can see; you
just have a bunch of flowers in your yard! However, after thinking extensively about the motivation behind planting decorative gardens, I’ve conceived several possible theories.

I think one of the reasons people love gardens so much is that while we have a natural desire to progress and industrialize, deep within all of us is a primal love for nature. While this desire might not be as strong as the desire for modernism, it is still strong enough to compel us to create gardens, small outlets of nature, in the midst of all our hustle and bustle. Since being in nature is like regressing to an earlier stage of humanity, we too can regress to a time of comfort and utter happiness. This is why gardens are so relaxing and calming to be in. This is why gardens are a good place to meditate and do tai chi exercises. A garden is a way to quickly escape from the busy world.

I’ve thought at times that perhaps we as humans feel a sort of guilt driving us to restore nature and care for it. This guilt could stem from the knowledge that we, not personally but as a race, have destroyed so much of nature to get where we are today. It’s the least we can do to build a small garden in remembrance of all the trees we kill every day.
It’s my theory that this is the underlying reason for most people to take up gardening as a hobby.

Gardening is definitely a healthy habit though, don’t get me wrong. Any hobby that provides physical exercise, helps the environment, and improves your diet can’t be a negative thing. So no matter what the underlying psychological cause for gardening is, I think that everyone should continue to do so. In the USA especially, which is dealing with obesity and pollution as its two major problems, I think gardening can only serve to improve the state of the world.

Of course I’m no psychologist; I’m just a curious gardener. I often stay up for hours wondering what makes me garden. What is it that makes me go outside for a few hours every day with my gardening tools, and facilitate the small-time growth of plants that would grow naturally on their own? I may never know, but in this case ignorance truly is bliss.

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Installing a Drip Irrigation System

Posted by admin on Aug 16th, 2009 in Home | 0 comments

If you’re looking for ways to keep your garden watered without wasting too much time and money, you’ve probably gone through a lot of options in your mind. Maybe you’ve considered a sprinkler, a hose, or a good old-fashioned watering can. All of these methods might be convenient, but most of the time you will end up wasting water on plants that don’t need any more. If you live in a drought stricken area like I do, you know that every bit of water counts. I ended up getting a drip irrigation system. I haven’t regretted this decision at all.

When you install a drip irrigation system, you can choose one of two varieties: above ground and below ground. The above ground version drips small amounts of water continuously onto the ground, and allows it to soak in. It is all regulated from a pressure controller, which ensures that the water just comes out at a drip instead of a spray or a stream. These pressure regulators are very inexpensive. The whoe drip system can be set up with a pressure regulator and a garden hose with holes poked in it (although it is ideal for you to get a pipe designed for this type of use, I’ve found that the hose method works acceptably).

The underground system is a bit more of a pain to install and maintain. But if you’re really into the aesthetic aspect of your garden and don’t want any visible watering system, then you might consider it worth it. It’s essentially the same as the above ground version, only a small trench is dug for the hose or pipe prior to any planting. This allows the water
direct access to the roots for the most watering efficiency. Plus, you can impress your neighbors by having a beautiful garden without ever going outside to water it! They’ll be baffled.

To choose between the two systems, you need to take several things into account. Do you have the same plant layout year round? If it is always changing, you probably won’t want to bury your hose. It can be a pain to dig it up and re-align it with all your new plants every year or so. Even if your plant layout never changes, you need to consider how much you really mind seeing a hose in your garden. If it really bothers you to the extent that you’re willing to work for a few hours to get rid of it, then by all means bury it. But otherwise I would suggest staying above ground if for nothing else than the convenience of repairing and rearranging.

One of the main advantages of the drip irrigation system is its efficiency. Instead of spraying large amounts of water willy-nilly like a hose does, it makes the most of your precious water by putting it exactly where it is needed. It can also provide your garden with constant watering, instead of just having to go thirsty whenever you’re not around to water it.

So if you’re looking for an easy, cheap, convenient, and efficient alternative watering method, you should go out to the gardening store today and purchase the necessary items to install a drip irrigation system. I think you’ll be surprised at  how much easier it is to maintain a garden after you have it.

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Picking a Healthy Plant

Posted by admin on Aug 10th, 2009 in Gardening | 1 comment

When it comes to getting started with your garden, you have two choices; planting seeds, or buying entire plants. Both have their own benefits. If you plant seeds and care for them every day, you will find it is a much more rewarding experience when you have a full, healthy plant. However, this method is a lot more risky. I can’t tell you how many seeds I’ve planted and never seen any trace of whatsoever.

If you choose to buy the plant from a nursery and install it in your garden, it reduces a lot of the work involved in making it healthy. However, I have found in the past that many incompetent nursery workers will absolutely ruin the future of the plant by putting certain chemicals or fertilizers in. I have adapted to this incompetence by learning to choose the healthiest plant of the bunch. Here I will discuss some of the techniques I use in my screening process for plants.

It may sound superficial, but the one thing you need to check for on your prospective plants is how nice they look. As far as plants go, you can truly judge a book by its cover. If a plant has been treated healthily and has no diseases or pests, you can almost always tell by how nice it looks. If a plant has grown up in improper soil, or has harmful bugs living in it, you can tell from the holey leaves and wilted stems.

If you’re browsing the nursery shelves looking for your dream plant, you want to exclude anything that currently has flowers. Plants are less traumatized by the transplant if they do not currently have any flowers. It’s best to find ones that just consist of buds. However if all you have to choose from are flowering plants, then you should do the unthinkable and sever all of them. It will be worth it for the future health of the plant. I’ve found that transplanting a plant while it is blooming results in having a dead plant ninety percent of the time.

Always check the roots before you plop down the money to purchase the plant. Of course if the roots are in absolutely terrible condition you will be able to tell by looking at the rest of the plant. But if the roots are just slightly out of shape, then you probably won’t be able to tell just by looking at it. Inspect the roots very closely for any signs of brownness, rottenness, or softness. The roots should always be a firm, perfectly well formed infrastructure that holds all the soil together. One can easily tell if the roots are before or past their prime, depending on the root to soil ratio. If there are a ridiculous amount of roots with little soil, or a bunch of soil with few roots, you should not buy that plant.

If you find any abnormalities with the plant, whether it be the shape of the roots or any irregular features with the leaves, you should ask the nursery employees. While usually these things can be the sign of an unhealthy plant, occasionally there will be a logical explanation for it. Always give the nursery a chance before writing them off as horrendous. After all, they are (usually) professionals who have been dealing with plants for years.

So if you decide to take the easy route and get a plant from a nursery, you just have to remember that the health of the plants has been left up to someone you don’t know. Usually they do a good job, but you should always check for yourself. Also take every precaution you can to avoid transplant shock in the plant (when it has trouble adjusting to its new location, and therefore has health problems in the future). Usually the process goes smoothly, but you can never be too sure.

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