So you see the dreaded spots on your wall, what do you do? For the most part you should call in a professional to determine how much mold is actually in your home. You may only see it on the wall, but it may be much deeper than that. It may already have spread inside your walls. So find a company that handles mold remediation such as Courtesy Care and get them to take a look to see how bad the mold really is. If you’re positive that the mold is just on the surface then there is something you can do. Glenn Rowe of Courtesy Care has provided a little tip to help you out.

The first thought of most people is to grab a spray bottle of bleach and water and go to town scrubbing the mold off. You should NOT do that. Why? For a couple reasons.

1. The force of the spray bottle can dislodge the mold spores spreading them through your home.
2. Mold has to be saturated in bleach for 13 hours before the bleach will kill the mold spores. There’s no way you can, or would want to, saturate your walls for 13 hours with bleach.

So what should you do? Again, only if you know that the mold is on the surface only should you attempt this. Get a mixture of 40% Dawn or Joy dish soap and 60% water and put it on a rag and wipe the mold away. The dish soap has to be Joy or Dawn because of a chemical that they contain. This chemical actually encapsulates the mold spore and suffocates it. That’s how you can get rid of surface mold without spreading it to other areas of your home.

How to prevent mold in your home

But how to prevent mold from even growing in your home to begin with? The CDC has provided some nice tips to prevent mold. They are:

1. Keep the humidity level in your home between 40% and 60%. Use an air conditioner or a dehumidifier during humid months and in damp spaces, like basements.
2. Be sure your home has enough ventilation. Use exhaust fans which vent outside your home in the kitchen and bathroom. Make sure your clothes dryer vents outside your home.
3. Fix any leaks in your home’s roof, walls, or plumbing so mold does not have moisture to grow.
4. Clean up and dry out your home thoroughly and quickly (within 24-48 hours) after flooding.
5. Add mold inhibitors to paints before painting.
6. Clean bathrooms with mold-killing products.
7. Remove or replace carpets and upholstery that have been soaked and cannot be dried promptly.
8. Consider not using carpet in rooms or areas like bathrooms or basements that may have a lot of moisture.

Just remember how dangerous mold can be and take the appropriate precautions. If there are signs of mold, it’s best to get your home tested to see if there is even more mold lurking elsewhere.

So what is this overlooked hero? It’s the gutters on your home! Yes, these hardworking guys save your home from all sorts of damage. Yet most people forget to take care of them. Often times, when something goes wrong on their home, they repair the symptom (such as the wood rot or peeling paint) and never imagine that their gutters need to be cleaned in order for these problems to go away.

Now I’m not saying all of your homes problems are from clogged gutters, but several costly problems can be avoided just by cleaning out your gutters.

How often should you clean your gutters?

The short answer: at least twice a year. Every fall and spring your gutters need to be cleaned out. Most people only think of cleaning their gutters in fall, which it’s great to clean them at that time. But you have plenty of things falling from trees in the spring, too. Especially here in Oklahoma where we have a ton of oak trees. We have a ton of blossoms falling from them every spring. But if you live around a lot of trees, especially if they’re close to your home, you need to clean your gutters out more often. Your gutters may be clogged before the fall season ends and you don’t want the rain and clogged gutters to cause costly problems for your home.

We can help with your gutters!

Thankfully, you don’t have to get up and down the ladder trying to get your gutters cleaned. Why? Because Purus Windows can help you to keep your gutters flowing smoothly. I can help keep them heroic year round. With the fall season upon us, go ahead and make your appointment now to insure that your gutters will provide the protection that you need and expect of them.

One problem you may have with gutter cleaning companies is, how do you know they have actually done the work? You’re hiring them so you don’t have to get on the ladder yourself. So you don’t want to have to get up there and check their work. Well, I make checking my work easy for you. I’m the only company in the area that will take a video for you of the completed job so that you can see that the work is done and your gutters are clog free!

You won’t even have to take time off to have your gutters cleaned. I’ll just upload the video to a part of my website that only you’ll know about so you can view the video for up to 2 weeks afterward! Now you can rest easy knowing that the job is completely done!

Don’t want to clean your gutters ever again?

In addition to keeping you gutters cleaned, I can also help keep your gutters clog free with Rain Flow gutter protection. The manufacturer is so confident in it’s product, that it offers a 20 year product warranty. I also offer a 1 year service warranty on top of that! What’s great about this system is that it’s invisible from the ground so you it won’t detract from the beauty of your home. And, if you have us install gutter protection for you, your gutter cleaning is FREE!

Whether or not you hire Purus Windows to take care of your gutter cleaning and gutter protection, it’s getting time to take care of them to protect your home. I’d love the opportunity to meet you and help you protect your home, but if you’re going to clean them yourself just remember one thing… be careful!

The Who

Unfortunately there’s several carpet cleaning companies that will try to take advantage of homeowners. Wouldn’t it be nice to know who to call? You can always call the pros over at Courtesy Care, but what do you want to look for in a carpet cleaning company?

The first thing you want to make sure of is that they are certified with the IICRC (The Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification). The IICRC has been training and setting the standards for the cleaning and restoration industry for over 30 years. And don’t just look to see if the company is certified. Make sure that at least one of the technicians is certified. A certification is no good unless someone knows how to use it, right?

Also, check around with others to see if they have had any experience with the company. Don’t be afraid to ask for referrals. A quick google search can sometimes pull up information about a company.

And make sure of what all is included in the carpet cleaning. Sometimes you see ads for a whole house being cleaned for $5. This should send up some red flags. Obviously that is a bit of an exaggeration, but companies that advertise dirt cheap prices are usually taking shortcuts. They normally survive on up-sells (sometimes companies won’t use any cleaning solution unless you pay more).

The What

How should your carpets be cleaned? One of the largest carpet manufacturers, Shaw Floors, says that the carpets should be cleaned using hot water extraction, sometimes called hot water truck-mounted extraction, or better known as steam cleaning. In fact, if you don’t show proof of having the carpets cleaned in this way it can void the warranty.

I know this may come as a shock to many, it did to me, but you don’t want the cleaning company to use shampoo. There are other solutions that companies can use, but shampoo leaves a residue on your carpets. What does this mean? After the shampoo that’s left on your carpets dries it becomes sticky. You may not be able to feel it with your hands, but it’s there. And the sticky residue attracts dirt and your carpets end up getting dirtier faster.

Be wary of anyone that says they can get all the shampoo up from the carpet. It’s just not possible. Shaw Floors, in a test using the best extraction equipment available, tried to remove all the shampoo from the carpet and couldn’t. It’s just not possible to get all shampoo removed, so it’s best to not use it at all.

The When

How often should your carpets be cleaned? At least every 12-18 months. Of course the more traffic there is on the carpet, the more often it needs to be cleaned. But if your carpet is not cleaned at least every 18 months, some carpet manufacturers won’t honor the warranty. It’s necessary for the longevity of your carpets to have them cleaned often.

First of All, What is This Plan to Keep Your Windows Looking Great?

You already like your home’s windows to be cleaned at least twice a year, right? You’d like to have them cleaned even more frequently to keep them shining throughout the year. Now, it’s pretty simple. I now offer a monthly service to keep your home looking great. Here’s how it works:

1. Every month your home’s exterior windows will be scrubbed down and left sparkling.
2. Every month your screens will be wiped down to keep them looking great all year.
3. Twice a year the interior windows of your home will be cleaned and left shining.

Why Are Only the Exterior Windows Cleaned Every Month?

For a couple of reasons. First, the exterior of your windows get dirty the quickest. And second, it helps to keep the cost down so that you can enjoy a great view at a very affordable rate.

No Need to Make an Appointment

When you sign up for your monthly window cleaning service, I’ll just go ahead and schedule you automatically. No need to worry about calling and trying to schedule the appointment. Of course, I’ll call you well ahead of time to let you know when I’ll be coming by.

When it’s time for just your exterior windows to be cleaned you don’t even need to be there! This frees up your schedule to be able to do what you need to. And when it’s time to clean the inside of your windows I’ll take care of those first so that it frees you up to do what you need to do.

You’re Going to Save Some Money

Because your windows are kept cleaned every month, you pay less for each window cleaning! Think about it. Every month your home’s windows are professionally cleaned so you get to enjoy a beautiful, streak free view. I haven’t put this package on the website yet, but it’ll be up soon. Just call or email me to let me know you want the monthly service.

Okay, time to introduce Glenn Rowe with Courtesy Care. Courtesy Care handles all sorts of maintenance for your home. Everything from carpet cleaning to tile cleaning to fire and water damage restoration. They handle all sorts of things. So how can a vacuum save you hundreds of dollars?

Quite simply, it will help keep your carpets in great shape. Have you ever noticed the areas that you constantly walk on start to change colors? They start looking worse than the rest of the house? Do you know why? Dirt, when looked at under a microscope, has a bunch of jagged edges. So when a lot of dirt gets tracked into the home and on the carpet, then you walk in it, it starts sanding your carpet for you.

Doesn’t sound too good, does it? As the dirt starts sanding your carpet, it wears off some of the dye on your carpet. Now your carpet starts looking really dirty. Can these “traffic lanes” be cleaned? Unfortunately, they can’t. Once the carpet fibers are damaged, there is nothing that can bring them back to their original color. Technically, all the dirt can be removed from those spots, but the damage is already done.

So the answer to keeping your carpets looking great is vacuuming regularly. At the very least you should be vacuuming once a week. The more traffic on your carpet (pets, shoes worn inside, kids, etc.) the more often you should vacuum. Does vacuuming really help?

Vacuuming will pick up 70% – 80% of all dirt. With all that dirt removed, you’re not going to grind as much into the carpet. So vacuuming, along with a regular carpet cleaning program, can save you from having to replace the carpet .

How often should you have your carpets cleaned? What system should be used on your carpets? And what should you look for in a carpet cleaning company? I’ll answer those questions next week!

Listen to what Glenn had to say!
–
Glenn Rowe
Production Manager
Courtesy Care
Carpet Cleaning, Water Damage Restoration,
Tile & Grout Cleaning / Sealing
Certified in: Carpet Cleaning, Odor Control

At Purus Windows we have a rain guarantee that we think will really make you feel a lot better about having your windows cleaned this time of year. You see, rain isn’t what causes your windows to get dirty. What causes dirty windows? Simply put – dirt.

Dirt and dust collect on your windows and you may not notice it at first, but when the rain comes and starts moving that dirt around; then you notice it. If you just had your windows professionally cleaned by Purus Windows then you won’t have any dirt for the rain to move around. The water should dry clear.

So what is this rain guarantee? If it rains within 3 days of your original cleaning and you notice that some of the windows are dirty, we’ll come out and clean the outside of those problem windows for free! Just give us a call or text us at (918) 605-7906 or send us an email at info@puruswindows.com and we’ll swing on by within a couple days to take care of your windows.

So go ahead and book your appointment today and start seeing the world clearly!