It is a common misconception to think that every piece of furniture needs to be removed from a room prior to hiring professional carpet cleaner. Since we rarely have storage space, time or energy to empty our homes of all belongings, the end result is often not scheduling a clean that you really need. First, understand that it is a completely normal to clean AROUND larger furniture items. Areas under beds, dressers, couches and recliners do not need to be cleaned as frequently as your traffic lanes and exposed areas of carpet. Think about it. You have zero foot traffic under your dresser or couch, so why not wait until you rearrange furniture to address the areas that were previously inaccessible. Don’t over-think the preparation for a clean. It is much more important to clean the exposed areas twice a year, than it is to stress over the lower traffic areas under beds, entertainment centers etc. Second, modern low-profile carpet wands can reach under many furniture items.
We can typically access areas under beds, coffee tables etc with at least 3 inches of clearance. If you have a nearby tiled area and you frequently rearrange your living room, of course you can slide some furniture out of the way for cleaning. Ripley Services will move items like couches, love seats and chairs (upon request) for you with our Gold Package and above.
Another common mistake is moving furniture out of it’s normal position prior to a clean. All too often we clean a home where the nightstands are pulled out, couches pushed forward etc. I presume this is a diligent homeowner wanting the areas behind and under furniture cleaned. Unfortunately, what you have really done is COVER your worst traffic areas. If you are working with a company that doesn’t move any furniture, then you get the area behind a nightstand cleaned, but the dirty area that is right in front of it that you covered, stays dirty. In order to perform a proper preclean inspection, we need to see your normal traffic patterns and we need longer dwell time for our cleaning solution to emulsify the heavily soiled traffic lanes. If you are concerned about an area behind or under furniture, don’t move it in advance, simply ask your technician to clean the areas of concern. If they don’t move furniture, you will be informed and can move it yourself if desired, but you won’t undermine the rest of the clean. Ripley Services is happy to move items like nightstands, recliners etc upon request.
