Perfect Clean Home

Many people have an issue with the price of professional dry cleaning. This fact alone has led many to seek out different, less expensive methods such as home dry cleaning treatments. While they provide a cheaper alternative to professional dry cleaning, many remain skeptical as to how effective they really are.

The Process

Clean Home

Regardless of its name, dry cleaning uses perchloroethylene to remove soil and stains from fabric. It is able to dissolve greases and oils and prevents shrinkage, loss of color, and fabric distortion. The process begins with the pretreatment of spots and stains using special cleaning agents. The garments are then loaded into a machine and washed with perchloroethylene, then pressed and packaged.

Two types of home dry cleaning products exist: with a dryer bag (i.e. Dryel) and without a dryer bag (i.e. Dry Cleaner's Secret). Both processes begin with removing spots with the provided spot remover before either placing the garments into either the dryer bag or directly into the dryer along with the cleaning cloth, depending on the product. When the garments come out of the dryer they are wrinkle-free and typically require no other treatment.

Benefits and Drawbacks

Professional dry cleaning has obvious benefits, obvious drawbacks, and less obvious drawbacks that need to be brought to light.

When you bring your clothes to a professional dry cleaner, you can typically expect nothing less than perfect. Your clothes will most likely be clean and stain-free, and all the wrinkles pressed out. The entire process is more precise and thorough than the alternative at-home dry cleaning methods. You get what you pay for. Speaking of which, the cost of professional dry cleaning is a major drawback. It's expensive, with prices ranging from nearly four dollars to over twenty dollars, depending on the size of the garment, the fabric and the amount of treatment needed.

A little known fact about the process of professional dry cleaning is that the chemical perchloroethylene poses health risks to both the people handling the garments while they are being cleaned, and the customers who wear the clothes afterward.

Home dry-cleaning is a cheaper alternative. It costs less than fifty cents per garment to dry clean at home if everything is done correctly. It also freshens and removes wrinkles in one simple process without the use of harmful chemicals. The biggest drawback is that home dry cleaning kits cannot remove stains that are larger than a dime and sometimes need to be touched-up after the first cycle.

The Verdict

The truth of the matter is that deciding between professional dry cleaning and home dry cleaning is a matter preference, budget, and necessity. If you have heavy or large stains, professionals can do the best job, but if you know that your local dry cleaner uses chemicals that may be harmful to your health then you might want to avoid using their service. If you have smaller stains or simply need to refresh a piece of clothing, then home dry cleaning is your best bet.

~Ben Anton

Want to learn more about dry cleaning at-home? You can read more on this article on our comprehensive home dry cleaning website.

With so many vacuum cleaners on the market today how can a consumer know what one to buy for house cleaning purposes? It is never easy to sort out the pros and cons but that is an excellent starting point to begin the search for the best vacuum. I have researched the market and spent many hours pondering which machine would be the best. I wrote a list of what was important to me before researching what was available. I did not do the research because I love vacuum cleaners but instead because I use and depend on them everyday in our cleaning business. Vacuum cleaners come in two basic types as most people know an upright and a canister.

In today's market some vacuum cleaner companies make a backpack vacuum, which as the name suggests is a vacuum that straps to your back. A few home cleaning service companies use a backpack vacuum but that is not a usual choice for a home owners use. Why carry a vacuum on your back when there is no need to? My research brought to light one brand of vacuum that consistently scored higher than the rest and most of the time at the number one spot.

Clean Home

What were important to me were several criteria.

First, the machine must do an excellent job picking up dirt, dust, and debris. As you can imagine, our customers would be upset if their floors were not clean after we completed our work.

Second, the machine should be durable and dependable. I have used machines that are a waste time because the belts break frequently or the hose clogs easily.

Third, the vacuum must be light. Home cleaning is a physically challenging endeavor especially when doing several in a day. Usually cleaning the floor is the most physical part of our daily house cleaning work. We have clients that purchased the wrong machine for home use. Little or no thought went into how difficult it would be to lift the heavy machine they own to the second and third floors. Pushing a heavy vacuum around from room to room can be a drag if the machine is too heavy.

Forth, ease of use was important to me. Bending over to wrap a cord up every time you are done is not what I would consider for a vacuum cleaner as easy to use, especially when there are other options available.

Fifth, good vacuums come with a HEPA filter. If you suffer from asthma or allergies a HEPA filter will keep your air clean. I can still remember as a child the smell of dirt and dust in the air after mom was done vacuuming around our home. All professional house cleaning service companies use machines with true HEPA filtration.

We tested and daily use the Miele canister vacuum. At this time they discontinued their flagship model vacuum which went by the name Blue Moon but they still have many top of the line models to choose from. All their vacuums have many features that will help you to do the job easier and quicker. Check their web site at milele.com for all your your vacuum needs.

Mr. Maid Cleaning is a family owned Pittsburgh based residential and commercial cleaning company. Go to http://www.mr-maid.com and sign up to receive your free monthly newsletter.