Summer Carpet Cleaning

Summer in Arizona is nearly in full swing, and now is the time to get ready for Summer Carpet cleaning!

If you have not yet heard it, be warned, I am about to go there…”at least it’s a dry heat”. As an Arizona Native, I have had more than my fill of this phrase (along with the winter special -“This is why we live here”). In the cleaning industry, however, the dry heat really is fantastic! As a result of this dry and arid weather, your carpets, furniture, stone and tile will dry so much faster than they would in the cooler, more humid times of year. Let’s look at some of the pros and cons of cleaning your home furnishings during the smoldering heat of the Arizona summer:

Summer Carpet Cleaning Pros

Faster Dry time – As stated above, the air is so dry and hot (hot air can actually hold more water) that it is just begging to take any moisture from any outside source. With a little strategy, you can take advantage of our outdoor climate to get the indoors dried in half the time it would take during cooler seasons. Some tricks to try include:

Venting- This is often our top recommendation. Venting is simply opening a window in each room, just a crack (no more than 1 inch), to allow the cool and humid air to escape outside. Once a few hours have passed, you can shut everything back up and enjoy the dry furnishings without a hefty increase on the energy bill.

Burping- While burping the home can be a little more energy efficient, it is often more “labor” intensive on your part. It requires allowing the humidity to build up for around (30-60 minutes) then opening a front and rear door/window fully to allow the wet air to quickly escape outside for about (5-15 minutes). You then start the cycle over until you no longer notice a buildup of in-home humidity. As stated, this requires a little more work on your part, but can be effective.
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All Open Drying- This is more of a last resort method, which entails opening everything up until the house dries. We really do not recommend this strategy. Along with letting large amounts of dust and heat in; imagine the energy bill trying to re-cool the house off afterwards.

Scheduling Ease – A good deal of our clientele leave on vacation this time of year. As a result, our cleaning schedule tends to open up a little more, which allows better access to desired time frames (such as a morning appointment). In the winter, we often have our first appointments booked out over a month in advance. In the summer, a morning appointment generally means dry or nearly dry carpet by bed time!

Summer Carpet Cleaning Cons

Higher energy bill – We are truck mounted and have hoses that come in from the outside during our cleaning. This means that there must be one point of access that will allow a considerable amount of heat to enter the home during the cleaning process. Our teams are trained to keep entry points closed as much as possible to limit the amount of heat allowed to enter. Many of our clients simply turn the air conditioning up a few degrees while we are cleaning, but our local A/C expert Amy McClure from A & M Mechanical LLC (www.chillitAZ.com) recommends against this. She tells us, “If they want to turn up the thermostat 5 degrees, they could do that, but I would not go any higher. If they choose to do so, the system will have to work too hard to cool the house back down to a comfortable level. If the front door is only open 6 inches, it is not letting in enough heat to worry”. Amy was also quick to point out that in the extreme heat of our summer, an A/C system can take an hour to cool the home back down just 1 degree!
Keeping pets locked outdoors too long – While it is true that we recommend your pet is secure by the time we start cleaning, we do not mean for you to throw the poor things outside, especially if it is too hot out. Our technicians are pet owners too, and are more than willing to do a few areas first so that the pet may have a place in the home to be safe, cool, and secure.
While it is true that the temperatures can be quite extreme, you can now see that some of the major concerns related to the summer heat can be minimized, if your cleaning firm is conscientious enough to take extra precautions. There is often no reason to put off the much needed cleaning of your home furnishings just because it is a little warm out. So, from a born and raised Arizonan, enjoy the beautiful weather and we look forward to your call.