Give yourself twenty minutes the night before. For an average room that's usually plenty, and it means your technician spends the appointment cleaning carpet, not relocating shoe racks.
Some of these take five seconds. A couple deserve a paragraph.
The night before
- Pick up everything that sits on the floor: toys, shoes, baskets, pet bowls, the stack of magazines. Look under beds and behind doors, and check closet floors if closets are on the list.
- Find the cords. Phone chargers and lamp cords snake under couches, where hoses snag them or they get wet.
- Clear the tops of anything you want moved. Lamps, picture frames, the bowl where the keys live.
- Move the light stuff yourself: dining chairs, ottomans, end tables. A hallway or the garage makes a fine staging area.
- Empty any piece you want us to move. A full bookcase stays where it is, for us and for anybody.
- Pin the drapes up. Long curtains, bed skirts and dust ruffles that touch the carpet will wick up moisture and slow the drying. A pants hanger or a couple of clothespins a few inches off the floor handles curtains, and bed skirts can fold up onto the mattress.
- Vacuum the busy paths if you have time. No big deal if you don't.
- Write down the problem spots. This is the one people skip, and it's worth more than the rest of the list combined. Note what each spot is if you know (coffee, the cat, something from last spring) and what you've already tried on it. Some store sprays set a stain or leave a residue that changes how it responds to treatment, and the technician picks a different approach when they know that going in.
- Decide where the pets will be. A crate, a bedroom that isn't getting cleaned, or the backyard. Same for small kids. Our process is safe for both; the hoses are just a great way to trip.
- Gate codes and parking. If you're behind a gate or in a complex, have the code or a guest spot ready.
What we'll move, and what we won't
We'll move most standard furniture: sofas, chairs and tables, once they're cleared off.
Electronics stay put: the TV, the entertainment center with everything wired into it, the desktop computer. We also leave pianos, antiques, china cabinets, beds with delicate frames and anything holding valuables or breakables right where they are. Part of that is liability. Part of it is that a cabinet full of your grandmother's dishes deserves your hands and nobody else's.
If there's carpet under a big piece that can't move, we clean around it. That carpet is usually in better shape than the rest of the room anyway, since nobody's walked on it in years.
When furniture has to go back before the carpet is completely dry, the technician sets foam blocks or tabs under the legs. That keeps wood stain from bleeding into damp fibers and metal glides from leaving rust rings.
On the day, and after
On arrival, the technician goes over your list of spots with you, room by room, and quotes the job before starting. Spots and traffic lanes get pre-treated, the room gets our low-moisture carbonated carpet cleaning, and then the pile gets groomed so it stands back up evenly.
Afterward, air movement is what dries carpet. Run the ceiling fans or drop the AC a couple of degrees, and leave the doors to the cleaned rooms open. In winter, nudge the heat up a little. Most rooms are ready to walk on in an hour or so, and here's why that short dry time matters in a humid house.
Once in a while, a spot that looked gone reappears as the carpet dries. That's wicking: something soaked into the backing or pad travels up as the fibers dry out. Call us if it happens. Our work comes with a 100% satisfaction guarantee, and a spot that wicks back is exactly the kind of thing it covers.
Twenty minutes, a few clothespins, a crate for the dog. You're ready.