Non-toxic carpet cleaner?
Now that we have little ones inspecting every nook and cranny of our homes, we are vigilant about maintaining clean quarters and trying to use non-toxic cleaners in the process. Chanda asks:
I have a baby who is about to take off crawling, and I suddenly am very aware of the state of my floors...! I am looking for an environmentally-friendly, non-toxic, baby-friendly carpet cleaner. Any ideas? Does Stanley Steemer do a non-chemically rug cleaning? Also, I am looking for an eco/child-friendly drycleaner. Does anyone have any leads?
I have great luck with Chem-Dry. They don't use any soap/chemicals, but instead extremely hot carbonated water (think club soda). Good luck!
Posted by: Rosanne | February 02, 2007 at 07:32 AM
We used TerraClean (www.terracleanworld.com) this fall, to clean the carpets and our heating ducts. They have a $50 coupon in the Chinook Book too, which more than covered the $20 cost of my book. They were great - timely, fast, very friendly. They were also in the process of converting all their trucks and equipment to run on bio-diesel which I thought was pretty cool.
For the rare items that need dry cleaning, we use the Dry Cleaning Station (www.drycleaningstation.com) - they've got a couple locations around town, I think, as well as a free pick-up service.
Posted by: jj | February 02, 2007 at 08:32 AM
Kind Care Carpet (http://www.kindcarecarpet.com/) cleans with bi-o-kleen, and is super fast, and well priced. :) Jeff, the owner is a super nice guy.
Posted by: Adina | February 02, 2007 at 09:30 AM
My mom used Chem-dry on her carpets. We visited two days later and my one year old got a horrible rash all over his face. He was looking for a lost car under the couch with his cheek to the carpet. Took him to the Dr. Two Dr.'s looked at it. The rash started to bubble in areas. Horrible. We called Chem-dry twice to ask them how to clean the carpets again to get what ever they put on it off. They never called back.
Posted by: Kristen | February 02, 2007 at 09:34 AM
We have also used Terra Clean and they did a great job. However, now that we have a 3yr-old, 1 yr-old and two rabbits we cannot afford to have them cleaned as often as needed and for everyday mishaps. We just ordered SafeChoice Carpet Shampoo (healthyhome.com) which can be used in rental/home shampoo units. Same brand as Safecoat paints that EBS sells.
Posted by: Ash | February 02, 2007 at 11:39 AM
We've used Eco Clean for our carpets and couch (which they performed miracles on). They were extremely affordable and only use orange-based child and environmentally friendly products that left our house smelling really yummy.
Posted by: andrea | February 02, 2007 at 11:49 AM
We also used Eco Clean. They saved my couch!
Posted by: Kat | February 02, 2007 at 04:26 PM
We had problems with all the carpet cleaner companies we hired. One of our kids always gets a nasty rash from it. Instead hubby purchased us a carpet cleaner and I scrub the carpet with a brush and very mild ecofriendly laundry detergent (its usually whatever is on sale - a little goes a long way). I use the carpet cleaner on rinse mode, its just water nothing added. The problem is during the winter months its takes all day to dry, during the summer its dry in a few hours. I know it takes a while to do, but I now have brushes for my kids and they have a lot of fun helping me out. they mostly blow bubbles in the room (its the only time bubbles are ok in the house)
Our neighbor has the cleaner companies give her a list of what they use to treat the carpet before she hires them. She found a few companies tell you they don't use chemicals, but actually do.
Posted by: Murphy | February 03, 2007 at 09:04 AM
Eco-Clean cleaned our carpets last month and were dry within a few hours. They only use Bio-Kleen products which are totally safe to use around our kids and pets. I have done the research on cleaners and I know they're safe. Walt is the owner of Eco-Clean and he is really great, seems real honest and down to earth. No "hard-sell" which I have run into in the past. Price is very reasonable too.
Posted by: Tammy | February 20, 2007 at 03:48 PM
www.eco-clean.info
503-332-9046
I looked up their information, pass it along!
Posted by: Tammy | February 20, 2007 at 03:50 PM
By the way, Walt just left here and my carpets are clean, clean, clean! Wanted to let you know that Eco-Clean still rocks.
Posted by: christinadw | November 12, 2008 at 12:30 PM
We used DMS Carpet Cleaners here in Westport Ct. and they offer Organic/Green Carpet Cleaning
Posted by: Kelly | February 24, 2009 at 11:31 AM
It was my understanding that Chem Dry does not use soap, but I had awful spotting on my sofa after they cleaned it. I had another company come. When they started to clean my sofa he showed me all of the soap that was in the fabric.
I have a steam cleaning machine and for regular maintenance I just use water. Some people use vinegar, but I think that can set stains so be careful.
Posted by: Donee | February 25, 2009 at 10:41 AM
I had my carpet cleaned today by Stanley Steemer. I asked the technician if there were any harmful chemicals in their carpet protection solvent as I have a one and two year old and I do my best to be as green as possible. He stated that there were NO HARMFUL CHEMICALS but as I sit here at 3am with my low grade headache, I am wondering otherwise. Are there harmful chemicals in their protection solvent? I am beside myself as I feel I have exposed my children to some terrible chemicals and the technician may have lied to me to get a sale.
Posted by: Stephanie | April 23, 2009 at 03:27 AM
We are getting new carpet upstairs in TEN DAYS. Well, it's been nine years and TEN MORE DAYS that I've been waiting, and the carpet guy said the carpet we have looks like it's about twenty-five years old. Gross. I can't wait. This is my first-ever carpet buying experience.
Posted by: carpet cleaning services in melbourne | December 19, 2012 at 02:03 AM