Author: rodriguezclean

Tips to Prevent Frozen and Burst Pipes

I want to share some tips that will help you save money. As you probably have noticed, the weather in Louisville, KY, fluctuates, and in a few days, temperatures may drop significantly, causing water lines to freeze. Keeping your water lines from freezing and bursting is not easy, but here are some tips to help you avoid a water damage restoration situation.

1. First, go down to your basement and locate the main valve that turns off the water supply to your outside faucets. The reason for this is that when your faucet and pipe freeze, the ice can continue running inside, causing more significant damage. By turning off the water supply, there is no water to freeze and swell up, reducing the risk of bursting pipes.

Frozen water lines in spring are a major cause of water damage in Louisville, KY. If you don’t want to make a water claim on your home insurance policy, you may want to follow these tips.

2. Second, install a faucet cover on your outside faucets. These covers can be found at Home Depot, Lowe’s, Amazon, and other stores. Putting on the cover is very simple. Inside the cover, you will find a plastic line going through the cover with a loop that goes onto the faucet.

Attach the cover and pull it tight from the outside. The cover helps keep the cool wind away from your water line. While this cover works well, remember that if temperatures drop very low, there is still a chance your faucet could freeze.

For better application and tips, consider calling your local plumber. Despite this disclaimer, I highly recommend using these covers, as I use them at home to avoid dealing with water damage restoration issues and potential water damage claims.

3. Third, insulate your water lines with foam. You can find this foam at the same places as faucet covers: Home Depot, Lowe’s, Amazon. This foam, designed to prevent condensation, works excellently to prevent pipes from freezing.

In my experience, using this insulation foam is necessary, especially if you cannot turn off the water supply. Installing this foam is easy; it’s already pre-cut and slides on easily. The challenging part is insulating water lines in a crawl space, which can be messy. If you prefer not to handle this yourself, call your local plumber.

Conclusion

As a homeowner or business owner, you are responsible for the maintenance of your property. The most common cause of water damage claims in spring here in Louisville is burst water lines. To prevent this from happening, follow these steps:

1. Turn off the water valve that feeds water to your outside faucets.
2. Install faucet covers on your faucets.
3. Insulate your water lines with foam.

If you prefer not to deal with this yourself, call a plumber for assistance. If you experience a water damage situation in Louisville and need help, please don’t hesitate to call Rodriguez Cleaning and Restoration at 502-365-6779.

Rodriguez Cleaning and Restoration is known for professional carpet cleaning and area rug cleaning in Louisville, but our technicians are also certified in water damage. We have the latest equipment and tools to assist you with any water damage you may have. Hopefully, these tips will prevent you from needing our services. Good luck!

How Do You Know If Your Sump Pump Is Working Properly?

Being a water damage restoration company in Louisville allows us to see and deal with many issues most homeowners don’t encounter every day. The most common issue for water damage in Louisville, KY, is the failure of sump pumps. Your sump pump can fail to work for many reasons, and that’s what I want to cover here. Having a sump pump failure on a rainy day could cost you several thousand dollars.

Let’s review how your sump pump works and what its function is. Sump pumps are designed to be in water and pump the water out of your basement. You may ask yourself where this water comes from. It’s very simple. All the water we get from a rainy day drains down around your foundation and goes under the concrete slab in your basement. If we get a lot of rain, this water will start rising up, and your sump pump pit will start filling up to the point where your sump pump will begin pumping this water away from your foundation walls. This is a quick explanation of how your sump pump works.

If your sump pump isn’t working properly, you will have what is called water backup. Many insurance companies sell water backup endorsements for your policy. If you don’t buy this coverage separately, you could be in trouble. Most of the time, when something like this happens, you will be spending over $7,000 on average. Water backup from your sump pump will often have a very drastic impact on your home. When you call a company like Rodriguez Cleaning and Restoration to assist you with water damage, most of your flooring will need to be removed because this water is heavily contaminated and polluted. Baseboards and drywall that were contaminated will also need to be removed and disposed of.

The first thing is knowing what a sump pump is and where you can find it. Let’s begin with where to find your sump pump. If you don’t have a basement, you don’t need to worry about sump pump issues. If you want, you can skip this article, but I still recommend you read it because you could help a friend and save them the headache of going through a terrible water damage situation that could be prevented by knowing how to maintain or check that your sump pump is working correctly.

As mentioned, if you don’t have a basement, you are fine. But if you do, let’s find your sump pump. Look for a dark hole that is most often in a corner, behind a door, or in a closet. If you have an unfinished part of the basement, check there first. You will find PVC pipes or other pipes coming out.

Now that you’ve found it, the first thing is to make sure your sump pump is plugged in. Your sump pump works with electricity. If you unplug your sump pump by mistake and don’t plug it back in, I guarantee you that a water backup is about to happen in your basement.

Let’s make sure your sump pump is connected to the electricity and that the outlet has power.

After your sump pump is plugged in, let’s review how it operates. Your sump pump has a switch that varies in shape and form. Most of them have a floating switch. If you take a bucket of water and dump it in the hole or tank, you should hear the sump pump running. If you’re not afraid to use your hand, you can raise the floating piece up, and it should start the pump.

Another overlooked issue is dirt in the bottom of the pit (tank). Many of these pits have never been cleaned in the past. This dirt could clog your sump pump.

Now that we have checked your sump pump and confirmed that it’s working properly and the pit is clean, we need to ensure that the sump pump is dumping the water in the right place and far enough from your foundation. Your sump pump has a line attached to it that you need to make sure is not broken. If it is broken, I recommend you call your local plumber, and they can fix it for you.

You will need to find where this line is dumping all the water. This line should be at least 2 feet away from your walls. By being away 2 feet, we know this water won’t flow back in. If your line is too close, all the water that is being pumped out will come back in with the rest of the water from the rain. Eventually, your sump pump won’t be able to keep up with the water flow, and you will have water backup into your house.

I hope this article is helpful to you, and if you need any assistance with water damage in Louisville, please give Rodriguez Cleaning and Restoration and Restoration a call at 502-365-6779.

In Louisville, KY, we deal with a lot of situations where your house or business could end up flooding. These could be natural reasons such as a lot of rain over a few days and water just starting to come into your home, or The Ohio River deciding to flood your house. Other reasons could be out of your hands, like a sump pump failure or a water leak in your water heater tank. But what are the do’s and don’ts after a flood in Louisville? Very simple: follow our recommendations.

Safety First After a Louisville Flood

The first thing is the safety of you and your family. If you have water in your basement or any other part of your house, be aware that water and electricity aren’t friends. Make sure this water hasn’t touched or gotten to any outlet or electrical receptacle. If it has, do not go into the water. Call a professional.

Another important safety precaution is to avoid as much as possible contact between your body and the water. Water that runs through the ground is considered black water. In your yard, there are many contaminants and pesticides that have made this water very dangerous.

What To Do After a Louisville Flood

• Remove as much excess water as you can by mopping and blotting. If you have a shop vacuum, use it.
• Disconnect all your appliances from the electricity.
• Take some towels and wipe excess water from wood furniture after removing lamps and tabletop items. This will prevent color transfer onto flooring.
• Remove wet bed sheets.
• Look around for wet boxes and dispose of them if they are not salvageable.
• Put toys in boxes.
• Remove and prop up wet upholstery and cushions.
• Place aluminum foil or wood blocks between furniture legs and wet carpeting.
• Turn on the air conditioning for maximum drying in summer. Set the fan to auto.
• Make a sign saying, “Do Not Enter” and explain to your kids to stay out.
• Remove colored rugs from wet carpeting. You don’t want permanent bleeding everywhere, plus it can damage the area rug.
• Move valuable art objects to a safe and dry place.
• Gather loose items from floors. If possible, box them up.
• Remove all your decorative wall items.

What NOT To Do After Flooding in Louisville

• Don’t pretend you can handle this situation with a shop vacuum from Home Depot. You need professional help.
• Don’t hire or trust the first person or company that shows up at your door. Do your research or call your insurance company and ask for a referral or any close friend.
• Don’t leave wet fabrics or clothing in place. Hang furs and leather goods.
• Don’t leave books, magazines, or other colored items on wet carpet or floors. Take your books to a dry area.
• Don’t use televisions or other household appliances. Disconnect them.
• Don’t turn on ceiling fixtures if the ceiling is wet, and keep out of rooms where ceilings are sagging.
• Don’t turn any light switches if your walls are wet around them.

A flooding situation is a big stress that some people have to go through in their lives. I hope you are not one of them, but it’s always good to educate ourselves in case it ever happens. It’s better to be on the side of people who know what to do rather than those who ask, “What am I going to do now?”

Don’t forget, if you have to go through a flooding situation in your life, Rodriguez Cleaning and Restoration is here to assist you and help with any water damage in Louisville you may have. Give us a call at 502-365-6779; we are available to you 24 hours a day.

For Business Owners, CEOs, HR Directors, General Managers, or Anyone in Charge of Keeping the Company Running or Employee Retention

Please stop looking outside or taking seminars to learn best practices to improve productivity or employee retention. Improving the productivity and retention of your employees is not a difficult science. The answer is right in front of you.

You are probably saying, “How can a carpet cleaner teach me or talk about productivity or employee retention?” There is no secret or magic. The answers are in your company with your employees. If you talk to them or pay attention to them, they will tell you, or their actions will speak for themselves.

I recently worked at two different places where the employees weren’t very happy with their employers. I’m not talking about how much they were getting paid. I’m referring to the way they were treated and their work environment conditions.

The first company is a manufacturing company where they have several hundred employees working in an assembly line making parts for cars. They get paid from $12 to $30 an hour. Some of them are paid well, and some others are getting a decent pay, but their complaints weren’t about pay. It was something else. I will explain.

When you work in an assembly line, most of the time you work for 8 hours. After your first 2 hours of work, you get a 15-minute break, and two hours later you get a 30-minute lunch break that is assigned for lunch. Your break time starts counting when you stop working. You have to walk to your break station or room. When you get there, most people warm their food before eating it. Don’t forget they get 30 minutes from the time they stop to the time they have to start.

If you come out for a break with 50 people at the same time and there are only two microwaves to warm the food of 100 people, and you have to wait, how would you feel?

If on top of this, your table is dirty and your break room looks like trash, your 30-minute break that you are taking to relax and rest is turning into a bad and unpleasant experience.

If you are the owner or general manager of a company like this one, you know that training, retaining, and hiring new employees is very hard and costly. Why not take care of those hard-working employees that keep your company alive? Finding new employees will cost you more in the long run if you keep losing your qualified and trained employees.

If you are part of the management team, don’t be afraid to come out to your supervisor or the person in charge and mention the issues that you see. Unhappy employees don’t benefit anybody.

Unhappy employees don’t produce and perform as well as happy employees working in a clean place with all the tools and conditions to get the work done, as well as a comfortable place to rest during their break time.

If you have 20 minutes to have some good lunch and talk to your friend, you want to sit in a comfortable and clean place.

You Can Save Your Oriental Area Rug by Knowing How to Do a Bleeding Test

If you are an area rug owner, you understand the cost of replacing a rug or how a gifted rug can hold sentimental value beyond any monetary amount. Knowing how to maintain your rugs can save you from the unfortunate experience of damaging them or having to buy a new one. The first step in any cleaning or spot removal procedure is knowing how to perform a bleeding test on your rugs.

What is a bleeding test? It’s quite simple. A bleeding test involves testing the solution or chemical you plan to use on your rug to see if it will cause color bleeding. Once colors start running, fixing the issue becomes challenging.

Here’s how you perform the test:

1. You need white towels and paper towels. White is crucial because if you use a colored towel, you might get bleeding from the towel itself onto your rug. For instance, if the rug is blue and the towel is blue, how would you know if it’s the rug bleeding or the towel color transferring?

2. After obtaining your white towel, apply some of the solution you plan to use on it. If you intend to use soap and water, test the soap as well.

3. Find a discreet area on your rug for the test—preferably not the center. Look for areas with bright colors like red, blue, or yellow.

4. Place the towel with the solution facing down on one of these bright colors. If possible, test a few colors in the same area. Apply some pressure with your hand or a heavy, flat object to help the solution penetrate the fibers. Wait for 10 seconds to see if any color transfers to the white towel.

5. If there is no bleeding, you can use the spotter but remain cautious as it could still bleed later. If you see color transfer, avoid using that spotter as it might damage your rug.

If you need to test another spotter, choose a different area and avoid testing multiple spots on the same rug. Test only one color at a time.

I hope you find this article helpful. If you need assistance with area rug cleaning in Louisville or carpet cleaning in Louisville, please contact us at 502-365-6779.

How Many Professional Oriental Area Rug Cleaners Do We Have in Louisville?

It’s disheartening to see how many area rug cleaners in Louisville claim to be professionals and advertise themselves as the best or with the most years of experience. I recently conducted estimates for a client who had two oriental area rugs with pet odor issues that needed professional cleaning. When I arrived on time, I introduced myself, and the client showed me the rugs and explained the situation.

By listening to her, I noticed she was very concerned about the odor because she wanted to keep her rugs and didn’t believe it was possible to get them clean and remove the pet urine odor. To provide a better assessment and explain the outcome of the cleaning, I needed to ask many questions about the rugs and their care.

I asked about the rug’s age, how often it was professionally cleaned, who cleaned it, and how often accidents occurred on the rugs. After a thorough inspection, I explained my cleaning plan and the procedures I would follow to remove the odor.

When I presented my pricing, I found that my quote was around two hundred dollars higher than my competitor’s, who charged over $600 for their professional area rug cleaning.

Louisville Area Rug Cleaner

Being $200 more than our competitor did not stop the client from hiring us. Despite being a new client with no previous experience of our service quality, she chose us. I asked if she remembered how the other company cleaned the rug or what she was paying for.

Interestingly, many professional area rug cleaning companies in Louisville offer only surface cleaning, which only addresses the top of the rugs. Most of the rugs we clean have not been cleaned in 5 years, contrary to our recommendation to clean rugs or carpets within 18 months.

If you haven’t cleaned your rugs in two years, do you really want just the top cleaned?

Not every rug can be fully immersed in water, but most can be. Would you save a few dollars for a half job?

After discussing the differences between our process and the competitor’s, the client revealed that another rug cleaned with our method was priced very high. Being a professional area rug cleaner involves more than just training; it requires understanding your product or service and listening to clients to provide accurate answers. I still clean several oriental area rugs every week.

Rodriguez Area Rug Cleaner Louisville

Cleaning rugs regularly keeps the process fresh and teaches something new every day because each rug is unique, including its issues.

If you’re looking for a professional area rug cleaner, ask plenty of questions and expect detailed answers. If you don’t receive thorough answers, the cleaner may lack expertise.

If you’re considering a large franchise, try to speak with the person doing the cleaning. For small professional area rug cleaners, you know who to call: Rodriguez Cleaning and Restoration.

A true professional should not offer half-service. You should prioritize what’s best for the client. Unlike us rug cleaners who handle hundreds of rugs, you may not have the knowledge, so you rely on us for the right recommendations.

Any professional carpet cleaner or service provider should always prioritize the client’s best interest. It’s not just about the money; offering exceptional service leads to satisfied clients and valuable referrals.

Professional Carpet Cleaning Louisville

Can a Professional Carpet Cleaning Louisville Innovate to Get the Work Done?

Rodriguez Cleaning and Restoration is not only your preferred Professional Carpet Cleaning Louisville company but also a team that embraces innovation when necessary. Our carpet cleaning services, as well as any other service we provide, follow established steps and procedures to ensure quality every time.

However, being a preferred professional carpet cleaning service provider in Louisville comes with its own set of challenges and opportunities. Our business is growing rapidly, and with this growth comes more work and larger homes.

Working on larger homes presents both benefits and challenges. While it increases our business volume, it also requires meticulous attention to detail and the right equipment.

For instance, we recently worked on an 18,000-square-foot, three-level home. The work required attention on two levels: the basement and the master bedroom, located at the front of the house.

To address this efficiently, we used a commercial truck mount machine, known for its steam carpet cleaning method, which is recommended by carpet mills for maintaining new carpets. To avoid damaging the new hardwood floors, we had to move our truck multiple times.

Instead of making multiple trips, we innovated by cleaning two areas from one setup and accessing another area through a window. This solution was facilitated by our referral partner, Lee W Robinson in Louisville, who helped us find the best approach.

By using this method, we not only avoided additional trips but also saved the client money and ensured their home was not damaged.

When you choose Rodriguez Cleaning and Restoration for your professional carpet cleaning in Louisville, you can expect a customized cleaning plan tailored to your needs. Our commitment to innovation, personal touch, education, and attention to detail sets us apart.

For more information or to schedule a service, call us at 502-365-6779.

What Carpet Cleaners in Louisville KY Do We Have?

How Many Professional Carpet Cleaners in Louisville KY Are Out There?

Our beautiful city of Louisville, as you know, is growing, and with this growing city, we also have many companies starting out. How many professional carpet cleaners in Louisville KY are open and operational? This is a great question, but it’s a hard one to answer, even for a carpet cleaner like me.

The carpet cleaning and restoration industry is not the most glamorous or well-known. There are many cleaners and restorers out there who are uneducated. It’s sad to say, but it’s the truth.

Why would you call yourself a professional carpet cleaner if you watch a YouTube video and rent a shampooer from Home Depot? Doing things like this harms the industry. Many carpet cleaners claim that being a professional is no longer necessary.

I consider a professional carpet cleaner to be someone who takes training or certification from the IICRC to learn about different fibers, such as nylon and cotton, and how to clean them properly. Recently, I went to estimate an area rug cleaning for a 10 x 14 cotton rug because the previous carpet cleaning company did not clean rugs, especially cotton ones. This is concerning. How can they claim to be the best carpet cleaner in Louisville if they avoid cleaning cotton rugs? Most fine upholstery is made of cotton. Are they also avoiding upholstery cleaning for cotton items? Many carpet cleaning companies in Louisville list upholstery cleaning on their websites. Be careful when hiring someone to clean your carpets or upholstery.

Returning to the topic of the best carpet cleaner in Louisville, it’s good that they avoided cleaning the cotton rug if they lacked the proper knowledge. Cotton holds moisture, and cleaning the rug in place could lead to it remaining wet for over a day, risking damage to the hardwood floor beneath it. I’m glad they did not damage my new client’s home. Let’s say it one more time: my new client.

Having the right training and education helps prevent many issues for carpet cleaners and their clients.

Best Carpet Cleaner in Louisville KY

Returning to the topic, how many carpet cleaners are there in Louisville KY? Good luck out there is all I can say. Just kidding! Here’s what you need to do:

• Call a few friends and ask for referrals. Reach out to someone involved in construction, a realtor, your flooring dealer, or your interior designer.
• After getting some references, go online and check their reviews. Make sure to check multiple sources.
• Check Google, Facebook, BBB Louisville, and any other review sites you prefer.
• Once you have reviewed a few companies, call them and ask several questions, such as: How do you clean carpets? What is the drying time? Do you offer any guarantee on your work?

It may sound simple, but these are the most common questions we receive.

I hope this short article helps you find a professional carpet cleaner in Louisville. If you don’t want to waste time looking for a reliable company, just give us a call at 502-365-6779 to receive the most outstanding service experience ever—or it’s free.

Best Carpet Cleaners in Louisville KY

Looking for a Coit Carpet Cleaning Alternative?

If you live here in Louisville, you know that Coit Carpet Cleaning Louisville is the biggest carpet cleaning company in our beautiful city. Does being the biggest mean they are the best? I don’t think so. Are they good? Yes, they are. Why are they the biggest? They have been in the market for a long time and do a lot of marketing.

Is Coit my only alternative for Louisville carpet cleaning or area rug cleaning? No, they are not. There are many other options for you out there.

Coit is a reputable company that we follow and from which we have learned a lot. In fact, they were the model we followed when we started our business, as well as many other carpet cleaning companies in Louisville and other states.

I learned a long time ago that you have to copy what some good companies do to be able to get into the market. This does not mean that we copy everything from them. This means that we studied everything they do—the good and bad things. Each company has its own strengths and weaknesses.

What we did was copy and improve the good and positive characteristics, while the bad ones we took extra time to understand and ensure we don’t repeat them.

Rodriguez Cleaning and Restoration Louisville Carpet Cleaning

Your Best Choice for All Your Professional Carpet Cleaning Louisville

At Rodriguez Cleaning and Restoration Louisville Carpet Cleaning, you won’t find a big company with 20 employees. Our carpet cleaning Louisville and area rug cleaning company is a small, local business with dedicated Cubans and Americans working together to offer you the most outstanding service experience ever.

At Rodriguez Cleaning and Restoration, we don’t have the capacity to compete on scheduling because we don’t have the manpower. This is not our goal, as a larger team often means more headaches and lower quality.

When I started this business, I promised that Rodriguez Cleaning and Restoration would be known for the best and most professional carpet and area rug cleaning company in Louisville.

To fulfill this promise, we rely on hard work, consistency, extremely high-quality services, and outstanding workmanship. These are the main qualities you will experience when you hire us.

Currently, our company is exclusively referred by many high-end realtors in Louisville. Most flooring dealers rely on us to assist their clients with carpet maintenance.

Many Louisville interior designers refer us to their clients for area rug cleaning and upholstery cleaning.

Education and having the right equipment are also part of our values. Without training and proper equipment, it is impossible to offer high-quality services. Understanding the differences between fibers and how to clean them is what separates a good experience from a nightmare. Using the wrong solutions on your carpet and lacking the right equipment could cost you thousands of dollars.

It is also crucial to follow carpet mill recommendations. Most carpet manufacturers, like Shaw and Mohawk Flooring, recommend cleaning your carpets within 18 months of purchase. They also advise hiring a professional carpet cleaning company with IICRC certifications.

What is IICRC? The IICRC is a certification and standards developing organization (SDO) non-profit organization for the inspection, cleaning, and restoration industries. In partnership with regional and international trade associates, the IICRC serves more than 25 countries with offices in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan.

When You Hire the Best Louisville Carpet Cleaning Company, You Receive:

• Free estimate or consultation over the phone or in-house.
• Written price with no hidden fees.
• Free inspection and recommendations.
• Custom cleaning services tailored to your needs.
• Attention to detail plus superior quality.
• 100% money-back guarantee.
• Uniformed and educated technicians.

When you hire us, you don’t take any risk. I take all the risk. I want to earn your business with hard work and dedication to you.

For more information about our company, check our home page Rodriguez Cleaning and Restoration or call us at

Call Rodriguez Carpet Cleaning at (502) 365 – 6779