The argument for a whole-home vacuum system:

• It’s much quieter than a regular vacuum.
• You won’t have to lug a huge vacuum up the stairs or across the house.
• You’ll have cleaner air and fewer allergens with the vacuum being in a central location (usually the garage or basement).
• Whole-home vacuums last a long time and add value to your property.

The argument against:

• They’re very expensive and can use more electricity than a regular vacuum.
• It can be incredibly difficult to install a system if your house has already been built.
• If the pipe gets clogged (which is rare if the vacuum is installed correctly), it could require you to open up a wall to unclog it, which can be incredibly expensive.

If you need a deeper clean than your vacuum can provide, contact Steamer’s Carpet Care today. Our trained technicians use some of the most powerful equipment available and will treat your carpet as if it were their own.

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Surprisingly enough, carpet doesn’t actually have to be glued down when it’s installed (carpet tacks will typically do just fine), but carpet adhesive can improve the quality and lifespan of your carpet by keeping the carpet in place over time. Carpet glue is also necessary for stairs because carpet tacks won’t hold up for long on stairs.

You might not want to use carpet glue for a couple of reasons, though:

• If you’re carpeting a hardwood floor and believe that you might go back to just the hardwood floor one day, skip the glue. It’s very difficult (not to mention messy!) to remove carpet glue, so plan ahead.
• Carpet glue can stink up a room for a couple of days, so if you or someone you live with is particularly sensitive to strong scents, you might want to pass on the glue.

If you need your carpet cleaned, contact Steamer’s Carpet Care today to schedule an appointment. Our skilled technicians promise to treat your home as if it were their own and cannot wait to make your carpet look as good as new.

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We did a little bit of research and found that the prices varied, but they seemed to be on par with carpet or other flooring, between $2-$5 per square foot — considerably cheaper than hardwood flooring, which can cost around $10 per square foot, installed. Additionally, porcelain tile is more durable than hardwood flooring — less likely to get those scratches, nicks and chips that plagues owners of hardwood floors.

Need your tile cleaned? Contact Steamer’s Carpet Care today. Our trained technicians use powerful, truck-mounted equipment to get your tile looking as good as new. We also offer grout sealing so that just-cleaned look can last much longer.

Do you have wood tile in your home? What do you think about this kind of flooring? We’re dying to know, so leave us a comment.

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But it’s getting better. If you have a big house or one with multiple floors, one of the things you probably hate the most about vacuuming is how heavy your vacuum is, but vacuum cleaner companies are making an effort to make lighter vacuums.

Here are some of the lightest vacuums being sold today:

Dyson DC40 Multi-Floor — This upright bagless vacuum comes with a HEPA filter and excellent ratings. It weighs in at 14.5 lbs.
Shark Navigator Lift-Away — Weighing in at 13.9 lbs, this bagless upright has reviewers raving about its suction and versatility.
Hoover WindTunnel Air — Even with its HEPA filter, this bagless upright vacuum only weighs 12 lbs.
Hoover Presto 2-in-1 — If you’re willing to purchase a stick vacuum instead of an upright, you’ll find a much lighter vacuum. Weighing a mere 6 lbs., this cordless stick offers a good value for its price.
Electrolux Brushroll Clean — Weighing in at only 5.5 lbs., this cordless stick is excellent for hardwood floors, but reviewers complain of short battery life.
Dyson DC44 Animal Digital Slim — The second lightest vacuum on our list, this Dyson weighs only 4.9 lbs. and has reviewers excited about its ease of use.
Eureka Easy Clean II — The lightest vacuum on our list, this Eureka stick weighs only 4.4 lbs and boasts excellent suction. It’s not cordless, though, which can be a blessing and a curse because many cordless vacuums suffer from low battery life.

Do your carpets need a deeper clean than your vacuum can give? Contact Steamer’s Carpet Care today to schedule an appointment with our respectful and talented technicians.

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Straight lay — This is probably the pattern you’re most familiar with. As its name implies, the tiles are laid in a straight line throughout the room. This is a great pattern if you’re a fan of simplicity or you have exceptionally beautiful tile.

Offset — In an offset pattern, you lay the tile like bricks, where each row is half of a tile offset from the one before it.

Checkerboard — Alternate two complementary colors of tile to give it the appearance of a checkerboard.

Pinwheel — Pinwheel tile patterns use one small square tile with four larger square tiles surrounding it.

Modular — Modular patterns use three (or more!) different-sized square or rectangular shaped tiles to make an intricate pattern. There are a lot of different patterns in the modular category.

If you need your tile cleaned, contact Steamer’s Carpet Care today. Our trained technicians use powerful equipment to clean your tile and grout, and we even offer grout sealant to keep your floors looking like new.

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After all of that, you probably won’t be surprised when we tell you how excited we are about this carpet alarm clock from Yanko Design. It’s an ingenious alarm clock that is embedded into a square of carpet. The alarm clock requires you to stand on it in order to turn it off, and comes with an LCD readout of the current time.

If you’ve ever overslept because you turned your alarm off and went back to sleep, this alarm clock is for you. By forcing you to get out of bed, Yanko’s carpet alarm clock helps ensure you won’t fall back to sleep.

When you rely on your carpet to make sure you wake up in time for work or school, it’s important that you have it cleaned by professionals. Our trained technicians are just as passionate about carpet as we are and would love to give your entire home that deep cleaning it deserves. Contact Steamer’s Carpet Care today to schedule an appointment.

Would you be interested in owning an alarm clock that forced you to get out of bed in order to turn it off? Let us know in the comments!

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This afternoon is the Western Conference Quarterfinals. Our Spurs will be playing at the AT&T Center. Tickets required.

The San Antonio Botanical Garden is offering the first Starlight Movies in the Garden of the year tonight at 8:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. Additionally, the garden will be open to the public for a Garden Jazz Party and plant sale on Sunday.

There will also be Cinco de Mayo celebrations all across town on Sunday. We’re most excited about the celebration in Market Square, 514 W. Commerce, which is free and open to the public. The celebration will feature music and food to commemorate the Mexican army’s defeat of French invaders in 1862.

We love living and working in San Antonio, and we are so grateful to serve San Antonio’s carpet cleaning needs. If you need carpet, rug, upholstery, tile or air duct cleaning, contact us today. Our trained technicians would love to make your home as clean as possible.

Do you have something fun planned for this weekend? Let us know in the comments!

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Even knowing the difference between the two types, it can still be difficult to decide which variety of vacuum cleaner is best for your home. To help, we’ve pulled together a list of a few of the most important considerations during this decision period:

• Bagged vacuum cleaners let you clean your home while limiting contact with the debris, while bagless vacuums usually have a cup that must be washed out when it gets full. This may not be important to you, but if you (or whoever does the cleaning for your home) have allergies or asthma, this may be the deciding factor.
• If you accidentally vacuumed up something important (like your wedding ring or one of those tiny toys that your kids love), it’s much easier to retrieve it from a bagless vacuum than one with a bag.
• Bagless vacuums can be much more convenient because you won’t have to go find the right type of bag for your cleaner, which gets more difficult as your vacuum gets older.
• Bagless vacuums claim to not lose suction as the dirt chamber gets full, which is a big shortfall for the bagged variety.

Need a deeper cleaning? Contact Steamer’s Carpet Care today to schedule an appointment for our trained technicians to come give your carpet new life. We look forward to hearing from you.

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Currently, our zoo houses more than 9,000 animals of 750 species, making the zoo a perfect choice for an afternoon out with the kids. By the way, Nickelodeon’s ParentsConnection agrees with our assessment — they ranked the zoo the number one tourist spot. The San Antonio Zoo also offers a separate children’s zoo area designed specifically for kids under the age of five.

Additionally, our zoo boasts a long list of accomplishments:

• One of the first “cageless” zoos in the nation
• First to receive accreditation from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums
• One of the largest bird collections in the United States
• First zoo to breed endangered whooping cranes
• First to hatch and rear Caribbean flamingos
• Successfully bred 53 endangered snow leopards in the last 43 years

There are plenty of ways to support the San Antonio Zoo. They welcome donations and volunteers and have many sponsorship opportunities. If you’re interested in supporting the zoo or planning a visit, check out their website.

We love being a part of the San Antonio community, and it’s important to us that we’re able to give back to the city we call home. If you’d like more information on our community giving initiatives, click here.

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Here are some tips to help you choose the best rug for your kitchen:

• Decide whether you want a runner or a few smaller rugs (one for in front of the sink, one for in front of the stove and one for where you prepare meal ingredients). This is usually a decision guided by your own preferences, but sometimes the shape of your kitchen will affect your choice — a runner won’t work well in a square kitchen, but could be a good choice for a more narrow area.
• No matter which shape you choose, be sure to measure your kitchen first to ensure you get a rug that will fit in the area.
• Think about how the rug will feel under your feet. You’ll want a rug with plenty of cushion and a soft feel.
• If you’re prone to spilling liquids or dropping food, choose a material that will resist moisture. Materials such as polypropylene or olefin are great choices for this reason.

Remember, kitchen area rugs require cleaning, too. Food stains, high traffic and more can cause your kitchen area rugs to become dirty and unsanitary. Contact Steamer’s Carpet Care today to schedule an area rug cleaning appointment and keep your kitchen beautiful.

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