Star Carpet, San Diego Carpet Cleaners

If you are unfortunate enough to suffer through a flood, whether it is on a community scale or simply your own basement, there are things you can do to minimize the damage to your home.  Of course, the most important thing you can do is to call a disaster cleanup specialist like Star Carpet.  When it comes to getting your flooring clean and sanitized, Star Carpet provides the fastest, most professional service available.

Outdoor carpet can brighten up a porch or other outdoor area and make floors softer and more inviting.  Outdoor carpet is a special type of carpet that stands up to wear and tear better than traditional carpet, particularly moisture and rain.  It is useful for areas where you need extra protection for the floor but cannot use indoor flooring materials like carpet and laminate.

Whether you choose hardwood or laminate flooring is an individual choice based on several factors.  One is not "better" than the other; rather, both serve different needs.

Laminate is cheaper on average than hardwood planks and is generally easier to install.  However, laminate does not have the longevity of real wood and, while it requires no maintenance, it is much more sensitive to water damage and other factors than real wood.  Furthermore, laminate is mass produced and may be more uniform than real wood.  Some people consider this a benefit while others like the uniqueness and variety of traditional wood grain.

Unless you have exactly the same laminate, tile, carpet or wood throughout your home, there is going to come a point when you must "marry" two flooring types together.  There are a variety of ways to do this, and Star Carpet can help you visualize and implement the right technique to marry flooring substances throughout your home and create a seamless and beautiful flooring contour.

Star Carpet and Flooring can install the perfect floor for you, whatever your idea of that means.  However, Star Carpet and Flooring can also help you before the installation by guiding you through the process of choosing the right product to begin with.

Many people see a floor at a friend's home and decide that is what they want.  This is a bad way to choose a flooring product because your friend's needs may be very different from yours.  If you want to choose the right floor, it is important to think about your individual needs and requirements.

If you are concerned about the high price or intensive installation work involved with a tile floor but want the beauty and durability of tile, laminate "tile" may be the right answer for you.  Laminate tile is very similar to laminate wood flooring but looks like tile instead.  Laminate is tough but offers the beauty of much more delicate materials at half the price and half the installation time of many popular flooring choices.

For all your carpet FAQs, turn to Star Carpet & Flooring.  We have the answers to the most commonly-asked carpet questions as well as some less common ones!

According to the government agency website www.floodsmart.gov, floods are the most common natural disaster in the United States.  The average flood claim for insurance purposes is around $34,000, and more than $3 billion is paid every year for flood claims.

This means that the chances are that any homeowner may be faced with a flood situation that results in high costs.  If flood waters enter a home, damage is almost certain to occur.  On the other hand, if a homeowner can quickly get a professional cleanup company like Star Carpet & Flooring in to work on the damaged floors, many carpets and flooring materials can be salvaged. 

Making the decision between hardwood and laminate flooring may be difficult for some homeowners.  There are advantages and disadvantages to both types of flooring, and it is sometimes hard to know which is the best choice.  Star Carpet offers advice on choosing the right flooring that fits a homeowner’s lifestyle, taste and budget.

Severe thunderstorms over the last few days have led to flooding and power outages in central and east-central San Diego County. Meteorologists have been warning residents of thunderstorm cells capable of producing 60 mile per hour winds, and some San Diego residents have seen flash floods pop up that have destroyed the interior of homes in a matter of minutes. No matter how sudden the flood damage for San Diego residents, Star Carpet and Flooring is ready to respond with 24-hour emergency flood service.

As we move towards autumn, vacations come to an end and the kids go back to school and many people are starting to look ahead in terms of the calendar. Don’t look now, but it won’t be long before we are all reminded that it’s time to begin our holiday shopping. Given what’s happening, many people are getting things done that they may have been putting off for a while including having their carpets cleaned. This is generally a good idea after months of pets and family members dragging dirt, sand and other grime into the home so that the floors are ready for the rest of the year.

Anyone who has carpeting understands that as nice as it looks when it’s installed or after it’s properly cleaned by a professional service, keeping it looking nice is a constant battle that can seem like a treadmill based on the beatings that carpeting takes regularly. It’s easy to forget that carpeting sits on the floor, and floors are not only naturally dirty but they also attract dirt, dust, mites and all different types of bacteria. Any or all of these substances can lead to carpeting quickly starting to look dingy, dirty and worn out, and these problems do not even include accidents that lead to stains.

Anyone who has carpeted floors in their home or office understands that while they look great and offer much in the way of comfort, they require a lot of work to maintain properly. Those who want to maximize the investment they make into their carpeting also understand that most of this ongoing work involves making sure that these floors are kept as clean as possible. The longer dirt is allowed to build up on a floor, the shorter the lifespan for carpeting becomes even with the best carpet cleaning professionals around working on these spaces.

If you have ever watched television shows that take a long and particularized look at the microscopic creatures that live in places like on our skin, in our walls or even on our pets, you may have been as horrified as many others. We all know that this microscopic world is there, but most of us feel better just generally acknowledging it and not looking at it for obvious reasons. The same could be said about our carpeted floors, as these areas in a home or office are basically receptacles for innumerable types of microscopic organisms.

Many of these organisms have no effect on us, but some such as allergens do and they need to be kept under control. However, most people are not high-level scientists and therefore they are not aware of certain laboratory-driven techniques that can be used to drive these allergens from their homes or work spaces. Fortunately, there are approaches that can be put in place that will help keep these invisible creatures under control and perhaps allow people who are prone to allergies to enjoy some peace of mind and to breathe easier.

An article recently ran in a Canadian publication that discussed the problems with allergens and how to deal with them. A link to the full article can be found here. The article listed some of the common substances that can generate allergens that wind up in your carpeting, including:

Pets

Pollen

Cockroaches

Dust mites

Cleaning solutions

Chemicals in your carpet or its padding

Glues

Paints

Molds

Perfumes

Allergens can cause people to suffer from watery eyes, runny noses, to endure seemingly non-stop coughing fits. They can generally make someone’s life miserable if these tiny creatures are not kept under wraps to some degree.

There are three different steps that can be taken by people to help lower the number of allergens that are present in a home or office, and these steps include:

Keeping the humidity in your home or office between 30 and 50 percent

Vacuuming often

Have your carpets cleaned professionally every six months

People can control the humidity in a space with a dehumidifier. Those who suffer from allergies should make sure that their vacuum cleaner and/or filter is set up to reduce allergens. People who do not have their carpets cleaned regularly should make sure that they work with a company that understands how to handle this problem and that it has the equipment necessary to remove these allergens to the point where people affected by them can enjoy some comfort.

When floods hit an area, they leave behind a scene of what seems like total disaster. Assuming that people are even able to get back into their homes, they can be and often are totally overwhelmed at the prospect of cleaning up and getting on with their lives. Seemingly everything in a home will need some sort of attention, and most people would not even really know where to begin with removing the flood water, repairing all of the damage that’s been inflicted and restoring the home to a safe condition that does not invite the growth and spread of mold and mildew.

It’s desperate times like these when homeowners are glad that they have been faithfully paying their insurance premiums for several years, as this is when they need that backing and help the most. The reason that we purchase insurance for our homes is precisely so that in the event of an unforeseen disaster, we do not have to face the possibility of financial ruin. Sadly, it looks as though a lot of people in Virginia are going to have to do something about their insurance coverage, as recent flooding has led to a lot of unpleasant surprises when homeowners there found out that they were not covered.

An article that ran in The Roanoke Times described the extremely difficult situations that people there were facing after floods moved into the area earlier this month. The full text of the article can be found here. The article points out that insurance policies are complicated and lengthy contracts and that when they are renewed the language that’s contained in them can change. It’s possible that this is what happened to some of the people in this situation, but few if any homeowners realized that this was the case until it was too late.

The team at Star Carpet & Flooring has been serving customers as San Diego flood remediation professionals for many years, and we have seen firsthand the confusion that can dominate a situation when problems with insurance claims arise. We would suggest that anyone who has questions regarding their coverage take the following steps:

Find a copy of your homeowners’ insurance policy.

Review it as thoroughly as possible.

Contact your insurance agent if you are confused about any of the language.

Ask your insurance agent if any of the coverage limits have changed recently.

Specifically ask about flood coverage.

Find out what you need to do to make sure that you’re covered.

We are fortunate that in Southern California we do not have to worry about tropical storms or hurricanes. While we have our own natural forces to contend with from time to time, these deluges dump water on places to the point where they are completely inundated and the people who are left behind need to take immediate action to get themselves back on their feet. While most people would consider it an enormous advantage to have time to prepare for the arrival of such a storm, in some ways it’s a very helpless feeling to know that such a thing is on its way and that there’s nothing that can be done to prevent it.

That’s what many people in South Florida are experiencing this week as they watch Tropical Storm Chantal approach. The storm is moving through the Caribbean and it’s expected to pound some of the islands in the area before making its way towards Florida later this week or perhaps this weekend. While there is a lot that can happen with a storm in a handful of days including having it weaken or change course, any possibility of being affected by a tropical storm or a hurricane should prompt people to take certain steps and to take them immediately.

One of the many problems that can be left behind after an enormous storm is flooding. Even in relatively tropical areas where the land is accustomed to absorbing a lot of water, every place has its breaking point and floods are commonplace when these types of weather events occur. Hopefully no one will need to worry about having flood remediation done in their homes or in their commercial buildings, but chances are at least some will and perhaps thousands will have to take steps to make their buildings safe for return.

There are certain things that can be done ahead of a storm, such as placing sandbags in strategic locations and making sure that there are no openings in a building for water to invade, but the best way to prepare for a storm is to be ready in case the worst-case scenario unfolds. If a flood does take place, homeowners and business owners will need to have the flood water removed. After that, they will need to make sure that everything inside of a building is properly dried so that mold and mildew are not allowed to grow and spread. This could only lead to serious health risks for people who are exposed to these substances over a prolonged period of time.

Everyone who pays any attention to the news understands that last fall, the northeast was hammered by what is now simply known as Superstorm Sandy. This historic weather system ripped apart homes, took lives, permanently injured many others and all but devastated several different areas. It’s been several months now, but people are still only beginning to dig out from under the mess that was left behind. While many people are working tirelessly to put this terrible situation in the past, there is still a very long way to go.

At this point, there are different groups that are beginning to analyze the situation as a whole to track the progress of several different forms of recovery. One of the areas that was analyzed involved the homes that at least outwardly still appear to be inhabitable. A survey was done that looked at the number of homes still standing and in which people still hope to live that have mold growing in them. That survey found that more than 60 percent of them, or 420 out of 690 homes surveyed, had what was described as visible mold advancing.

This is a very troubling statistic for several reasons. Not only does this mean that there was not enough flood remediation and mold remediation work done, but it also means that this is a problem that is going to likely get worse before it gets better. That’s because we have now reached the summer, and as the temperatures rise and the humidity levels remain high mold will only grow faster. These are ideal conditions for mold and if it is allowed to grow without interruption it can all but take over a structure and render it uninhabitable.

In addition, there could be serious problems with entire neighborhoods, including those 270 homes that as of now do not contain visible mold. That’s because mold spores can and do travel through the air. Therefore, if a home has had the proper flood remediation work done but it sits next to one that has not, it’s quite possible that this uninfected home could face mold very soon. That’s troubling because homeowners who have had this work done may not suspect that the growth and/or the return of mold is possible.

Overall, Superstorm Sandy created a disaster for countless people. Those people are bravely fighting to overcome this extreme challenge, but everyone needs to pull together and do the right thing at every step in order to get over this situation as quickly and as efficiently as possible. Flood remediation work needs to be done immediately and it needs to be done right to minimize the chance that long-term problems will arise and people will be put at risk.