Q. I am planning on starting a carpet cleaning business (residentual and commercial) and wanted to know what is the best carpet cleaning machine. I've seen some businesses have ones that connect to their van, but then there are some basic smaller ones. Which one is the best?

A. A carpet cleaning business is rather detailed. I'm not sure of your experience, but you'll have to know a lot about stains and how to properly treat them and such, also what best to use on what types of carpets. The ones connected to vans are much more convienent for doing a lot of houses throughout one day. As far as "best", you're not really comparing apples to apples if you're talking about a basic smaller one coming from a department store.

Q. I have a commercial building that has 1500sq. ft of carpet that needs to be cleaned. I'm looking for a local cleaning company in the 21227 area that has reasonable rates & good service. Any recommendation would be welcome!

A. Check out BO-MAR Industries, Inc. you can view their site at http://www.a-pro-clean.com They provide safe products and services.

Q. I have seen it on commercials but now that I want it and cannot remember what it is called, the commercial never comes on! It just came out and you vacumm the shampoo up. It kind of reminds me of something like the swiffer. My daughter has a rug on her floor in her bedroom that needs some serious cleaning.

A. I dont know which commercial you have seen since there are a few of these in different companies,Resolve as it and I tried it and its great.Also 409 and I think Bissell and you can even find a generic brand. I needed 2 bottles for the first level of my house and I let it stay in the carpet for about 30 min then I vacuumed it up but a few deeper stains needed to be hand scrubbed but all in all it was good gave the carpet a clean like new look

Q. By carpet cleaning i mean a commercial carpet cleaning service ,the ones which appear on TV ,like Stanley Steemer.Or should the pregnant woman keep off the chemical cleaning fumes totally.The house has a mice :( Or what else would you recommend to "cleanse" the house. Is there anythingelse you would recommend to get rid of the mice and to get rid of his leftovers?

A. Absolutely get the house ready

Q. My carpet gets very dirty and lots of stains on it. I havn't hired professional cleaning company to clean it before, so I don't know I should choose what kind of cleaning. I need a kind of cleaning which can clean it thoroughly and gets dry quickly and does not need to move all my furnitures out. I asked several carpet cleaning companies, but their suggestions were all different. I wonder if there is someone knows this? Thanks for your answers, but I do not want DIY. I want hire a professional team to clean it. I consulted some companies; one said steam clean was the best; one said steam clean did not dry quickly; one said their self-invented method was the best. I was confused, so I came here to ask for help. I only want answers about professional cleaning, not cleaing by myself. Thanks. I am in Kensington, Sydney. If anyone can suggest a good company, that would be great.

A. In the past I have used Stanley you-know-who ... they arrived on time, treated my antiques with respect; when replacing the furniture they put down little pads that were easily removed the next day; the carpet was clean, fresh and ready for a dinner party within six hours. There are other companies that use the same system, I would ask friends and neighbors for referrals or ask the company for references from recent customers. Look for a company that has been around for a few years. Make sure the company is insured for any damages to your property. Also, ask if their workers are bonded and experienced. Finally, many commercial carpet cleaners apply a stain guard type of product to your carpet, which will help minimize the impact of occasional spills. This will help stretch out the time between commercial cleanings

Q. Do any one have any ideas or suggestions on how I can go about getting new contracts for my new Janitorial business? I offer carpet cleaning, residential and commercial cleaning, move in/move out cleaning. Should I do cold calling to different businesses? Flyers? How can I go about putting a proposal for companies to bid on my company to clean for them? Help Me out people.

A. You might as well forget the Internet because it's global - you need to target your efforts locally. This is best done in the newspaper, direct mail, and cold calling. Here's an idea: Call the business and get a price quote from THEM instead of the other way around. You'll find out what price YOU need to charge to get their business that way.

Q. Do they have better chemicals and equipment for cleaning the carpet than renting from the store, I want to make sure my carpet is top notch for move out inspection. cArpet isnt really dirty but i have these red stains from a cake icing on my sons carpet

A. I own a carpet cleaning company and I yes we do have better chemicals and equipment. I use a truck mounted unit that cost over 35k I carry my own soft water (cleans better) and have over 20 different kinds of cleaning chemicals in my van. Red stains are hard to get out but a good company should be able to get them out. Do not use any house hold chemicals on them as they can set the stains permanently. Always get a company that uses hot water extraction this is the type of cleaning recommended by the EPA and every major textile manufacturer in the us.

Q. I had some dirt spots in my carpet. I tried spot cleaning and then using my carpet cleaning machine to clean the rest of the carpet and to suck up the access water and cleaning solution were I hand scrub the carpet. After it dried up the spots are worse now? What can I do to correct this? I've tried using boiled water and my steam cleaning machine, it mostly dry now. It look like it work, but I will know for sure by tommorow. The first three answers are good, however the third answer did not give me a solution.

A. It could be that the spots are deeper than you think. If it got dirtier when you used the cleaning machine, it is possible that whatever is there is being drawn up as the carpet cleaner goes across it. I have used "Spot Shot" spray on carpet cleaner and it has worked great for surface stains. It would be worth a "Shot". Otherwise you can try using Oxy Clean with hot water in your carpet cleaner.