If efficient carpet cleaning is your thing, you’ve no doubt learned that it takes a lot more than a mop to get the job done. Nothing but a dedicated carpet cleaning machine can produce wholesome results on some of the more troubled fabrics. So I checked with my friend at Boynton Beach Oriental Rug Cleaning Pros. His website is http://www.boyntonbeachorientalrugcleaningpros.com if you are in the area and need some professional carpet cleaning.

And yet, you’ve seen professional cleaners use a truckmount carpet cleaning machine for many of their cleaning gigs. Why go through all the extra hassle if there are portable cleaners that you can just plug into a nearby socket?

Well, fabric stains and smells tend to be a hardcore bunch. They’re hard or even impossible to deal with using anything but the most powerful tools at your disposal. Anyone who’s ever tried taking out the smell of mold or even pet odor from a dense fabric or leather knows how unrewarding or a process it can be.

Thanks to the truck’s gas-powered engine, truck mount carpet cleaners are much more powerful than anything you can buy or even rent.

Why you should avoid using a DIY carpet cleaning machine to get the job done

Think of these machines as miniature versions of truck-mounted big boys. They were downsized to make them accessible to the public; the smaller size also helps maneuver the machine around, meaning portable machines will always be useful for the select few cleaning jobs that a truckmount can’t reach.

However, they fall short in comparison to truck mounts on most cleaning gigs. The water in a DIY portable cleaner won’t be as hot, the spraying won’t be as powerful and the vacuuming won’t be as strong. It’s no small difference, either – there’s a good chance a truckmount could successfully clean a carpet you would otherwise be forced to throw away. The strength of these machines also makes them the only viable choice for deep upholstery cleaning that DIY machines have no chance of tackling.

Portable rental cleaning machines are only good as an emergency solution when a stain starts taking place, although they might not make much of a difference, even with your best efforts.

How truck mount cleaning machines work, and why they’re the better choice

If an engine has enough power to move a heavy van around, you’d best believe it can handle the cleaning of your carpets and upholstery.

Every part of the machine that does the cleaning draws power from the truck’s engine. The water is first heated to a high-enough degree to soften up any dirt, grime and particles that might have caused a stain to occur. Then, the engine powers a high-pressure pump that sprays the carpet with hot water and, if necessary, the appropriate chemical. After enough time has passed, the truck uses an industrial, engine-powered vacuum to suck out all the dirty water and safely store it in a container that is part of the cleaning machine. What you’re left with is a clean, stain-free carpet.

The truck might be stationary, but the range of a truck-mounted cleaning machine is actually much better than you might think, owing to a lengthy hose that can reach even far-away places deep inside buildings – this further cements truck mount devices as the only choice when it comes to cleaning upholstery on heavy furniture.

So those couches that looked great 10 years ago are beginning to show their age. Maybe an hour of your time would be worth it to give those old bags a fresh new kid look. Maybe you don’t want to risk doing any damage to them and want to hire a professional carpet cleaner. Either way, here is my best shot at providing some great tips to clean upholstery in your home. First, let’s take a look at the DIY method…

Clean Upholstery DIY

First things first, you need to determine what type of fabric your upholstery is. Find a tag on the couch or chair and use those free Google internet searches to see what you can come up with. You should find a letter code under a cushion with (W, S, SW, X). These correspond to what types of cleaning solvents can be used. So W is for water-based or form with distilled water (no tap). S is for solvent based cleaning agents. Mild water-free (NO WATER). SW is for solvent AND water based with distilled water (no tap). Lastly, X is for professional cleaning. Don’t mess around with these. Get a professional carpet cleaner to stop by and give you an estimate.

Next make sure you don’t get the cleaning solvents on any part of the couch or chair that isn’t upholstery. For synthetic materials, put the solvent on just a small area of a cushion that won’t be seen and see how it looks. If you are good to go, then continue on with light scrubbing and then put a small fan on it to help it dry, or you can move it outside into the sunlight. For natural materials, you probably will end up using a water based cleaner. But don’t go crazy with the cleaner. You don’t want to get it too wet. For microfiber materials, you will have it easy. They are pretty easy to clean. Leather, well, you have to be pretty diligent with this process. Here’s a how to clean leather furniture video.

Professionally Clean Upholstery

If this sounds too overwhelming or you just don’t want to bother with it, give a carpet cleaner a call and ask about your particular furniture. I would go ahead and have those codes handy so you can tell them over the phone what you are dealing with. They can probably give you a decent estimate of what it will cost and you can shop around.

When it comes to cleaning computer components, cans of pressurized air have no rivals. Where vacuums of all sorts fail miserably, pressurized air cans dislodge the dust and grime, making subsequent vacuuming or brushing a piece of cake.

Pressure washers are very much similar, both in the way they operate and their unparallelled efficiency. A pressure washer has the ability to perform small miracles on hard surfaces, regardless of whether you’re trying to remove paint, hardened grime or anything else that shouldn’t be there.

How they work, and why they’re the best in the business

If you have some old paint or grime on a surface, how are you going to go about removing it? Most people try to scrub the surface with water and detergent, with poor results. When this doesn’t work, they’ll go on to grab ahold of something metal and sharp to try and remove the unwelcome addition. While this usually does the job, it also removes paint or even pieces of the surface.

With pressure washers, high-pressure bursts of water (oftentimes hot) will soften the grime up for the blow. After enough persistence, whatever was causing an aesthetic disturbance simply washes away, leaving a clean surface.

These machines are used on a variety of materials, from metal and concrete to different types of wood. They’re equally effective across the board, although drying the wood might be difficult later on.

Aside from industrial and professional uses, many pressure washers found their way to people’s homes; whoever owns one probably can’t imagine dealing with difficult hard-surface cleaning without it. If you’re in the market for one of these, read on to find out the best models for everyday use…

Top 3 pressure washers

Generac 6602: With its 212 CC and a 3,000/2.7 PSI/GPM ratio, the Generac is among the more powerful commercial pressure washers that you’ll come across. A $400 price tag is slightly higher than that of some other models, possibly explaining why the machine has a somewhat-expensive look to it. The height makes maneuvering a breeze, but might make transporting harder; the hose also isn’t among the most flexible ones. In terms of water output, however, you can rely on this blaster to take care of business nearly all of the time.

Simpson MSH3125: A nice alternative to the Generac, Simpson still does a good job of removing anything from graffiti to hardened spills. Since it can be folded, it’s probably the best pressure washer you’ll come across if you’re concerned with transportation and storage, although its appearance is nothing to write home about.

AR383 Blue Clean: While the blueish hue of the AR383 is nice, it still sports a plastic-looking appearance. Unlike the previous two devices, the AR383 runs on electricity instead of gas; despite being weaker than the previous models at ‘just’ 1901 PSI, it’s also a lot more popular for home use thanks to its weight and size. A true portable machine, the AR383 only weighs 17 pounds and costs $150, making it a bargain for most home owners.

Buying your furniture is nice and all, if you have money to spare. However, there will always be something telling the man in the house that he could have done a better job – with the right tools.

It’s often true: building your own furniture is a superior option, so long as you have the equipment and the knowledge. You’ll be able to use better materials and shape them to your exact needs, not to mention that the whole thing can cost a lot less(if we don’t count the price of the tools, that is).

Still, constructing furniture in your garage is no joke, and it will take some practice and a lot of dedication before you end up with satisfactory results. To make your home improvement effort easier on you, we’ve assembled a list of tools that will help you mold your home to your liking.

Tools You’ll Need To Build Furniture

• Table saw: Since you’ll be handling wood for a good portion of your furniture-building endeavor, a decent table saw will be the cornerstone of your garage-turned-factory. You’ll use it for a majority of large cuts, and there’s really no replacement in terms of efficiency and precision. Keep in mind that a table saw can take up a lot of space, depending on its type – some models are semi-foldable, though, so you can just park your car outside while you’re grinding away. Depending on how serious you are, your table saw can cost from around $200 all the way to thousands of dollars.
• Workbench: This will probably end up taking more space than your table saw, but one could argue that it’s even more important. The plus side is that you probably already have some sort of workbench in your garage if you engage in occasional repairs, which is a start. To fine-tune stunning pieces of furniture, however, you might have to invest into a larger and more feature-rich one.
• Power drill, hand saw, quality file: These are the tools that will add finesse and help shape the final product. If you’re a handyman at home, you probably already have a power drill and hand saw. Getting a quality file won’t be too expensive; the trick is learning how to use it to perfection, as it’s an invaluable tool for use on wood as well as metal.
• Welder: Can’t be getting off too easy – to construct a versatile and long-lasting piece of furniture, carpenting wizardry just won’t cut it. In many cases, you’ll need to manipulate metal to reinforce the furniture or add new features to it. Many DIY handymen steer clear of welding. as they find it to be a difficult and dangerous process. While a table saw is every bit as scary as it looks, a welder can really do some damage if you drop your guard – if you’re unsure in your ability to wield these powerful devices, there’s no shame in sticking to bolts and screws for the time being.
• Safety equipment: We’ll keep this one simple: whenever you’re building at home, imagine a safety supervisor is patrolling the area, looking to hit you with a hefty fine if you’re not following every safety regulation to the letter.

Do you have a beautiful home with a large backyard, but still feel there’s something missing? A greenhouse might be just what you’re looking for. These small (for the most part) structures will let you grow a variety of plants off-season and regardless of the weather outside. Before you start building your own backyard greenhouse, though, make sure to go over our steps so you avoid having any setbacks on your way to becoming a master gardener.

• Budget comes first. Like it or not, we all have a budget to work under, no matter the venture. Knowing yours is the key to building a complete and lasting structure. Don’t be afraid to meticulously plan out how much every little thing will cost before starting. It won’t be fun, but it might be the only way to create a functioning greenhouse without spending more than you’d like. Some will be content with a $100 dollar greenhouse; others won’t mind spending $10,000 to grow the perfect avocado for their salad.
• Do you have a blueprint? Building as you go sure is fun, but if you’re building big, it probably won’t get you far unless you’re an engineering visionary – even they refer to blueprints every now and then. You can build simpler greenhouses without a blueprint, but you’ll definitely need to put things on paper if you’re making a larger effort.
• Make sure you have the tools. Deciding to take matters into your own hands is certainly commendable, but those hands will need to wield appropriate tools if you want something good to come from your building endeavor.
• Make sure you have the materials. Some of the things you’ll need for your greenhouse might be hard to get. Depending on where you live, you might have to drive for hours to get all the right stuff before starting the project. Running out of materials at a critical stage won’t just make you look silly; it can also be very detrimental to the project, possibly even threatening to undo the work you’ve done so far in cases of extreme weather conditions.
• Ventilation, lighting, heating – your greenhouse might need all three.

1. A working ventilation system is the key to a functional greenhouse with healthy plants – weather and fertilizer type will play a big factor here. While more efficient, there’s a good chance an electrical ventilation system will spike your utility bill quite a bit.
2. Artificial lighting is obviously absent from budget greenhouses, but you can’t always get satisfactory results without it. If you’re in a cloudy area, LED or sodium lights might be the only way to give your plants their much-needed light. Even with an abundance of sun, you’ll still get much better results with artificial lights, albeit with greater expenses. If you’re spending money to power artificial lighting for your greenhouse, you should hope to sell at least some of your fruit and/or vegetables at the local farmer’s market.
3. While artificial heating isn’t the most common feature in hobbyist greenhouses, some climates are simply too harsh for plants to thrive whenever the home owners want them to.

Lastly, don’t hesitate to ask for the help of a neighbor or friend while constructing your greenhouse. It’s going to speed things up considerably, and you can always pay them off with a promise of homegrown vegetables.

Buying A Greenhouse

If you don’t want to build your own greenhouse, here are a few recommendations on a greenhouse you can purchase: