Welcome to the Connoisseur Carpet Cleaning blog.
Bona Wood Floor Cleaner, not such a great deal..
A very popular product recommended by many if not all the floor retailers in town.. Let me let you in on a somewhat better deal.. Lemon Clean from Coast Paper Supply in Santa Cruz Virtually the exact same product and usage, minus the advertising campaign.. It’s a very low cost, neutral pH […]
The World’s Greatest Spot Cleaner!
Sometimes we forget to ask, so make sure to ask for a free bottle during our visit!
At Connoisseur we promise to not discuss religion or politics while in your home..
Unless of course, you go first..
How to Clean a Carpet: “What Now!” circa 1960 Monsanto & National Institute of Rug Cleaning
Amazingly enough what held true 54 years ago still holds true today when it comes to carpet care..
Reoccurring spots, a fact of life..
Fact: A modern synthetic carpet is about as absorbent as a screen door. When a cup of coffee is spilled, a dog’s bladder is emptied or god forbid, an entire Big Gulp is spilled on a carpet 75% or more of the spill goes directly to through the carpet and into the (far more […]
Is it worth the risk to clean your upholstery cushion covers yourself?
All to often we come across situations where upholstery owners take it upon themselves to try and remove spots or stains by removing the covers of cushions and pillows and running them through their washing machines. While there are a few synthetics that you may luck out on, the risk is very high […]
a fun but very dirty rug we cleaned recently..
To send this rug out to a plant cleaning facility would cost more than it was worth. We told them we would give it our best but not to expect much and that there would be no charge.. At Connoisseur, we love a challenge.
The great reviews just keep on coming!
Its a pleasure to have such great carpet cleaning customers here in Santa Cruz..
Yelp’s finest Santa Cruz companies working together..
Today we had the pleasure of working at Pleasure Point’s own Bella Notte Hotel. The owner of Bella Notte Inn was searching for a better Carpet Cleaner and took the advice from Tim Donoghue at Warehouse Direct Flooring to give us a try. After getting out a tough ugly grease stain from an otherwise BEAUTIFUL guest room […]
that darn Yelp filter..
I know why Yelp filters reviews but I really wish great ones like this would stay visible.. Margo C. Santa Cruz, CA 5.0 star rating 5/30/2014 Dave and Eli have, once again, done a stellar job on my carpet and this time upholstery as well. Connoisseur has been my carpet cleaner for several […]
Don’t ignore your toilet!
A regular customer of ours called over the holiday weekend claiming her tenant found a “small wet spot” on the carpet.. We showed up on Tuesday to investigate. From the looks of it, the toilet tank gasket has been leaking for over a month. The surrounding walls were soaked and that “one foot by six […]
Low water usage carpet cleaning methods
We here at Connoisseur Cleaning are a rare breed in the fact that we offer all popular methods of carpet cleaning. -Hot Water Extraction/”Steam Cleaning” – Rotary Shampoo -Encapsulation -Rotary Extraction -Bonnet Cleaning – Dual Cylindrical Low Moisture -Absorbent Compound and in many cases, a combination of two or more to get the best results. With […]
Cotton door mats will save the world!
well maybe not THE world but at least your living room carpet. I was at CostPlus World Market recently and was impressed with their nice selection or small cotton rugs. Most homes we visit have synthetic rugs/ doormats in their kitchen and entry areas. While cheap to buy, their absorbency and ability […]
Good Times readers vote Connoisseur as Santa Cruz’s Best Carpet Cleaner
For the fifth year in a row, we are truly honored! Offer good until May 15th, 2014
In true Mom and Pop fashion..
It was back in 2001 “Mom and Pops” Mike and Paula started what would be Santa Cruz’s most popular carpet cleaning company. Thirteen years later Paula has moved on to run her own business, Yellow Barn Day Care and we now have our daughter taking care of Paula’s old duty’s. Handling the phones most of the […]
Don’t let this happen to YOU!
Very funny skit from Taxi..
More great 5 star reviews on Yelp!
These guys do a fantastic job. I had ink stains in one of the bedrooms which were completely removed. There was a tea spill in the family room – gone! The entire job was beautifully done. In addition to that, the crew is extremely professional and pleasant to work with. Best of all, when they […]
my recent trip to Death Valley
and to be honest, I never thought about dirty carpets for 4 whole days…
New study shows carpeting can be good for allergy sufferers.
In January 2014, a study was released in the United States that should put an end to any doubts cleaning professionals, carpet consumers in the residential environment, health care professionals, educational facilities, building owners, and facility managers have about carpeting and indoor air quality. According to Dr. Bruce Mitchell, chairman/CEO of Airmid Healthgroup (which conducted […]
Help us make it five years in a row!
We would like to ask our loyal customers to once again vote for us in the Best Carpet Cleaner category in the 2014 Good Times “Best Of” Poll Place your votes here! and thank you!!!
Have no fear..
I have a sofa with a suede fabric and I was babysitting and a little 6 year old spilled a whole bowl of cereal and milk on my sofa. I tried wiping it with cold water and it dried hard. I called several upholstery cleaners about cleaning 2 cushions on my microfiber sofa and no […]
It’s coming! Our Annual @ 20% off Customer appreciation sale!
Discount applies for REPEAT customers only.
Absolutely NOTHING to do with carpet, tile, upholstery, cleaning. Santa Cruz, Aptos or otherwise
but just something I have been watching over and over and wanted to share here.. ~Happy Holidays from your friends @ Connoisseur
The ol’ String Mop and Bucket, a Tile Cleaners best friend..
If a Labrador Retriever is a Carpet Cleaners best friend (nothing soils up a carpet faster than the oily coat of a Water Dog) then the old fashion method of cleaning tile, stone and concrete floors with a cotton string mop and a bucket of suds is truly a god send for professional hard surface […]
Rug Doctor…yay or nay?
Yay! for producing this great commercial… Nay! for the horrendous detergent residues left behind if you follow their directions…
Stone floor cleaning in Santa Cruz Ca
Please take a few seconds to watch us work our magic on this well loved Travertine floor in Aptos CA. Identify Sweep Protect surroundings Apply cleaning agent Let dwell Agitate Steam Clean contained rinse Detail edges and corners Power dry with 360º fans Apply penetrative sealer Buff when necessary. -optional polish or homing available.
New addition to the Connoisseur fleet.
Our legendary Vortex “Big Truck” stands out so much as we drive around Santa Cruz that I often hear from customers how they see “all your trucks around town”.. When in reality we just have the one big cab over truck along with a small cargo van. Well things have been so busy around here […]
Proud father…
I had my carpet cleaned a few weeks ago. I believe the owner’s son was the one that did it. Super nice young man and since I opted to stay home, he explained things to be that I have never known. I had some nasty stains that were here from the previous owner and they […]
We’ve been busy as Bees around here..
I wanted to take a moment and thank all our past, present and future loyal Santa Cruz clientele for beeing so patient with getting your appointments to get your tile, carpet or upholstery cleaned this summer. We have been extremely busy, beesier than ever actually, I’ve never seen it quite so in 25 years in […]
More great reviews from our Yelp! filter basket..
These are new reviews from Yelpers that don’t use the site enough for their opinions to “stick”… “Wow Davis and Eli did such an awesome job! I had tile and grout which, now look brand new! Such nice young men, arrived early, respectful and quick! Most definitely will use again, and be my […]
Santa Cruz Warriors Basketball pick Connoisseur to clean the court!
We were honored to be chosen to clean the “new” wood court for our local D league Basketball team. The development team for the Golden State Warriors are actually using a 20+ year old floor that has been refurbished with new water base/Green polyurethane. After just one season the floor was getting dirtier than the […]
Need some recommendations for services in Santa Cruz?
Connoisseur belongs to the local chapter of LeTip which is a referral group of the finest dedicated businesses in town. We meet weekly to discuss and share the latest happenings within our many and varied group. I can strongly recommend each of the following individuals with the highest level of confidence that they will meet or […]
Countertop Steam Cleaning
Santa Cruz county is just loaded with 1970’s tile counters. We service close to 1000 homes a year and all too often we see a situation like in the photos below where the homeowner has let the food and grim level build up in the grout line to the point of being a serious health […]
New world record for a carpet sold at auction
June 5, 2013 / The keenly anticipated sale of Important Carpets from the William A. Clark Collection, deaccessioned by the Corcoran Gallery of Art took place today at Sotheby’s New York. The 25-lot auction totalled $44m for the Washington DC museum. The undoubted highlight of the sale was the new world record price for a carpet sold at […]
Some simple dos and don’ts for wool carpet owners..
Do not use “Oxy” or Chlorox/Chlorine bleach based cleaning agents on wool carpet, no matter how white you think the wool is. Doing so will always take what liitle die was applied to the fiber and leave you with something like this.. Second tip; If you really must clean your hand tied and died knotted wool rug in the home, rather than sending it to a […]
Santa Cruz hard water deposits on your showerhead?
*disclaimer, do not use Vinegar or any other acid cleaning products around calcium based stones such as Marble, Limestone or Travertine
Santa Cruz Good Times readers vote Connoisseur #1 again!
We want to thank all of our loyal Santa Cruz County clients for voting us “Best Of ” for four years in a row! THANK YOU!!!!!
Stove Revival in Santa Cruz
We had two fun jobs this week that I thought I’d post some pictures of.. This is a real nice floor made from Quartzite, a form of Sandstone, that the homeowners are having a real “hard” time keeping clean. Any form of traditional mopping only makes it works. A Hoover Floormate would be their best answer to maintenance cleaning. […]
As seen on TV!
These Scotts Valley home owners where fed up with their own not so professional attempts to get their beautiful tile floor cleaned. They had all the “as seen on TV” gadgets, all the industrial power shazamwow cleaners from every tile and hardware stone in town and all too many weekends wasted trying to do it themselves.. […]
Stone polishing in Santa Cruz county.
Connoisseur is proud to offer polishing and restoration of natural stone to all of Santa Cruz county. Dull, scratched, etch or just plain worn, Marble, Travertine, Limestone or Granite surfaces can be very frustrating. There is virtually nothing that Santa Cruz home owners can do to restore the shine themselves and with no local service […]
FILTRATION SOILING (dirty black edges on your carpet…)
(Those ugly black lines around the baseboards and under doorways) If you have light colored carpet, you may have experienced dark stains around baseboards, under doors, and especially near the HVAC return. This soiling comes from air passing through the carpet as it is attempting to go through the edge of the carpet pile, microscopic […]
Tips to maintain a happy and healthy vacuum cleaner
As one of the few carpet cleaning companies in town that insist on pre-vacuuming your carpet before applying cleaning agents we are often asked to inspect the condition of the home owners vacuum cleaner and all too often we see signs of serious neglect. I thought I’d post this up to help people learn the basics of regular vacuum cleaner maintenance. Lets start with Filters.. All […]
Textured Tile, love it or hate it..
You may love it’s slip resistance and how your guests (and pesky mother in law) will think you have “real” natural (and more expensive) stone and you’ll certainly love how you cant stain or etch it but….. You will absolutely HATE how hard it is to keep clean. Look at all these pits and pours.. Dirt, mop water, spilled […]
Nail polish spill on your Carpet? Don’t panic and DON’T touch it!!
This Santa Cruz home owner did the right thing when her daughter fumbled a bottle of nail polish all over her white nylon carpeting, she left it alone and called Connoisseur to the rescue! With our Rotary Extractor, some industrial strength “nail polish remover” and a special gel based solvent we were able to save the carpet in about an hour. If you […]
Saltillo Floor Refinished
Here are some photos taken of a recent Saltillo floor we stripped and resealed in Aptos. Removing the topical finish of this type of floor is VERY time consuming and messy. As the finished starts to break down, red mud develops and can splash the walls. In this case we had a unfinished kitchen to work with so the […]
Another warning about non slip rug backings
We were recently called out to inspect a new wood floor in a really nice seaside home in Santa Cruz Ca. The situation had the home owner laying a new Sisal Fiber rug over a freshly installed wood floor. The off gassing from the new floor finish reacted with the built in rubber, non skid […]
Do you need your carpet, rugs or upholstery clean and dry in a hurry?
Aptos, Santa Cruz, Watsonville and Scotts Valley home owners already know how quick their carpet dries after our cleaning. But if you need your floors or furnishings 100% dry for an event or incoming guests on the same day as your cleaning, we are more than happy to leave you with a Turbo Fan or […]
More great 5 star reviews for Santa Cruz’s favorite carpet cleaning company..
9/29/2012 We have a Dining Hall facility with over 10,000 Sq Ft. of new carpet that we usually clean ourselves. Our problem was that the new carpet was/is a dirt magnet and all that we tried didn’t work. Mike not only brought it back to near new condition, but was open about sharing what products […]
We love cleaning up after animals..
and the animals themselves for that mater.. My wife Paula and I spent Labor Day weekend at Vision Quest Ranch in Salinas. A real thrill with a nights stay in an African style tent cabin with visits from the a Honey Bear, a Great Horned Owl and Butch the Elephant.. We […]
Some advice on area rug pads
When a rug is on a hardwood or tile/stone floor, it is essential to have the right rug pad underneath. The floor may experience harm from rug scratches and furniture indentations and the dense pad will prevent this from happening. The best rug pads for hard floors are ones that are either a solid felt […]
Are you looking for a House Cleaner in Santa Cruz?
Cristi’s Green Cleaning has been referring us for some time now and it’s more than obvious that her clients love her and her workmanship. Please take a look at her website to learn more about this great local Santa Cruz house cleaning service.
Some must have products for maintaining Showerstalls..
We restore a lot of stone and tile shower stalls here in Santa Cruz. Most are in pretty rough shape from years of neglect. Too many homeowners just don’t know which solutions are safe to use and so many products fail to deliver results or worse, damage the stone or grout surfaces. Soap scum, mold, […]
Good Times readers vote us Best Carpet Cleaners for the 3rd year straight.
Good Times readers have Good Taste in carpet, upholstery and tile cleaners it would appear. Connoisseur has now won “Best Of” four times now and we’re on a three year running streak. If you voted for us we want to thank you VERY MUCH! If you just found us and wonder what all the […]
Hey Mike, what do you recommend we clean our wood and tile floors with?
Here is out time proven recommendation on how to best maintain your tile, stone, vinyl and wood floors Using this system you’ll never smear dirty mop water around or leave a soil attracting film behind. First you’ll need to pick up a gallon of a Neutral pH No Rinse Floor Cleaner such as Lemon Clean. It’s […]
Keep Your Carpet Clean – What You Can Do.
Carpets are commonly bought to add aesthetic appeal to a room. It beautifies an area, creating a focal point and enhances furniture and other decorations. To adults carpets are more of a decor, but to kids and pets carpets are more of fun furniture that’s ready for rough playing and crawling. And who can […]
Some staff changes at Connoisseur
Our employee of the last 6 years, Oswaldo “Oz” lee as moved to Long Beach to pursue other interests. Oz developed a nice fan following by many of our customers over the years and I’m sure they’ll miss him and his hard work and big smile. Taking over his position will be my son, Davis […]
Travertine cleaning and sealing
Most Santa Cruz home owners will tell you that living on a Travertine floor is much like living on white carpet. This soft porous stone absorbs every days soils both dry and wet much like a Berber/loop does, everything sticks to the surface and stares at you right in the eye. and mopping just makes […]
If the Tile Setter goofs, let us fix it, cheap…
This home owner wanted the grout around her pebble mosaic to go with her new granite slab fire place.. As you can see the wrong color was used and the contrast was way to strong.. So we Color corrected the grout with out removing it with a durable acrylic/concrete based color seal in Kahlua Cream.. […]
Pottery Barn rugs to run from…
Here is a great article from a friend of mine on the subject of bargain rugs.. click to read article I like my customers to know what they are getting when buying loose rugs for their homes. Please read this and pass it around to your friends and family who also have an interest […]