We Al’s Absolute Best Cleaning and Restoration have all the tools, techniques and certified/ trained technicians to handle any size sewage damage or toilet overflow job. We get to you fast, it is extremely important to get started right away in a sewage backup or water damage situation. Many times we help safeguard your home from further loss along with your personal belongings. We also pride ourselves as being consumer advocates and help you get what you deserve from your insurance company. We do it the right way, documenting everything with photographs, charts and meters, we make sure your claim goes smoothly and more importantly, that the work is done the right way when it comes to sewage you need a  professional team to properly clean and sanitize the affected areas.  We’ve handled many sewage jobs, and we have many, many extremely satisfied customers. (We can provide references and their contact information upon request.) (If you would like, click here to view our you tube channel and a testimonial from “Robert Irvine” from “the Food Network”!

We know how devastating a disaster such as this can be, we’ve seen a simple toilet overflow on the 3rd floor destroy all 3 floors of a beautiful duplex. In this case the home owner was very disgusted with their tenant, who was trying to hide the incident. The homeowner could trust Al’s Absolute Best to complete the job their best interest, not in the best interest of the tenant. In this case all the contents in many rooms were soaked with toilet water, everything had to be dried , cleaned, and sanitized while documenting and keeping all belongings organized and accounted for. People get very nervous to have people they don’t know handling their personal items, when you choose our company you have a family owned and operated business. We would never steal or break an object and not tell the owner because our business directly reflects who we are. We love what we do and we love good reviews and satisfied customers. When you need a trustworthy company with friendly, certified and trained service, that’s been around for a while you need Al’s Absolute Best!

We happily provide the following services:

Sewage Damage Restoration

Water Damage Restoration

Smoke Damage Restoration

Pet Stain / Odor Removal

Carpet Cleaning

Upholstery Cleaning

Auto Interior Cleaning

Tile and Grout Cleaning and Sealing

Fire Damage Restoration

General Cleanups/ Clean-Outs

We Serve all of CT when it comes to any of our Restoration Services Including Water, Fire and Sewage Damage Restoration

When it comes to carpet, tile, or upholstery cleaning we serve the eastern and central portions of CT from New London County up through Avon and West Hartford CT!

Areas Served

Sewage Damage Andover, Ansonia, Ashford, Avon, Barkhamsted, Beacon Falls, Berlin, Bethany, Bethel, Bethlehem, Bloomfield, Bolton, Bozrah, Branford, Bridgeport, Bridgewater, Bristol, Brookfield, Brooklyn, Burlington, Canaan, Canterbury, Canton, Chaplin, Cheshire, Chester, Clinton, Colchester, Colebrook, Columbia, Cornwall, Coventry, Cromwell, Danbury, Darien, Deep River, Derby, Durham, East Granby, East Haddam, East Hampton, East Hartford, East Haven, East Lyme, East Windsor, East ford, Easton, Ellington, Enfield, Essex, Fairfield, Farmington, Franklin, Glastonbury, Goshen, Granby, Greenwich, Griswold, Groton, Guilford, Haddam, Hamden, Hampton , Hartford, Hartland, Harwinton, Hebron, Kent, Killingly , Killingworth, Lebanon , Ledyard, Lisbon , Litchfield, Lyme, Madison, Manchester, Mansfield, Marlborough, Meriden, Middlebury ,Middlefield, Middletown, Milford, Monroe, Montville, Morris, Naugatuck, Newington, Newtown, New Britain, New Canaan, New Fairfield, New Hartford ,New Haven, New London, New Milford, Norfolk, North Branford, North Canaan, North Haven, North Stonington, Norwalk, Norwich, Old Lyme, Old Saybrook, Orange, Oxford, Plainfield, Plainville, Plymouth, Pomfret, Portland, Preston, Prospect , Putnam, Redding, Ridgefield, Rocky Hill, Roxbury, Salem, Salisbury, Scotland , Seymour, Sharon, Shelton, Sherman,  Simsbury, Somers, South Windsor, Southbury, Southington, Sprague, Stafford, Stamford, Sterling, Stonington, Stratford, Suffield, Thomaston, Thompson, Tolland, Torrington, Trumbull, Union, Vernon,  Voluntown, Wallingford, Warren, Washington, Waterbury, Waterford, Watertown, West Hartford, West Haven, Westbrook, Weston, Westport, Wethersfield, Willington, Wilton, Winchester, Windham, Windsor, Windsor Locks, Wolcott, Woodbridge, Woodbury, Woodstock

Mold is everywhere! It’s in the air you breathe it’s in your home and work place and we are lucky to have it, not visible mold on our walls but mold in general.

Mold has been here since the beginning of time, when someone say’s that something is rotting or decaying they are referring to mold doing it’s job.

The only facilities absent of mold would be a sterile operating room or maybe a space station.

If there was no mold on earth we would be walking on piles of animal and vegetable matter, nothing would break down and decay. 

Now that we understand that we need mold and it is literally everywhere, lets talk about the possibility of dangerous mold in your indoor environment.

There are hundreds of thousands of types of mold, scientists are not even close to knowing everything is to learn about mold!

One of the biggest mold problems we have is the media! Yes that’s right, our friends from the news room always need something to blow out of proportion! This time the focus is mold! The same mold that grew on Cave Mans left overs and Dinosaur Dung!

 The media calls it Black Mold! Toxic Mold! Even Killer Mold! It’s in the news everyday, it’s no wonder a homeowner gets frantic at the sight or elevated odor of mold in their home.

There certainly are some dangerous molds, some are considered to be allergenic, (meaning  that they can cause allergic reactions). a few molds are dangerous to almost anyone and  then there are many molds that cause allergic reactions to a small number of people. This always relates to the persons general health, mold that is dangerous to a sick person may not bother a relatively healthy person.

For mold to become a problem in your home, it needs a place to thrive.

A mold spore could be thought of as a seed, just like a seed a mold spore will lie dormant until it finds the right place to live and breed in your home.

Fact: Mold is airborne (Meaning travels through air)

A damp basement, a leaky sink, toilet or roof, any place with excess moister, condensation or humidity would be  attractive to a mold spore, add a food source, (paper, wood or any cellulite material)  and the right temperatures (40 to 140 degrees) through in some stagnant air and you have a perfect breeding ground for mold to establish and spread.

Fact: Your home can never be mold free but you can prevent the growth of potentially harmful molds by controlling the moisture in your home.

  I found mold growing in my home, how do I test the mold?

Normally, it isn’t necessary to test or identify the mold growing in a structure, first of all any test will show some mold but sampling and culturing  are not reliable at determining your health risk. The #1 health threat from mold is allergies, remember people have different levels of susceptibility to mold, if you are a person susceptible to mold and smell or see mold in your residence, the potential of a health risk is present, no matter what the species of mold.

From a health perspective this means you should have any mold, no matter what type removed from the structure.

Fact: Mold can start growing in as little as 48 hours after moisture and cellulistic material mix. A good example of this situation could be wet drywall around a shower stall.  

Can I do mold cleanup myself?

Absolutely, say’s AL from Al’s Absolute Best Cleaning and Restoration! Many mold cleanups can be done by the homeowner, provided they are in good health and don’t have allergy or respiratory problems.

The first step, after taking all safety precautions is to eliminate the intrusive moisture! (Stop the Leak) If the moisture remains the mold returns. Remember the mold spore or seed of mold can lie dormant for years waiting for moisture.

At Al’s Absolute Best Cleaning and Restoration, we often have to find the source of intrusive water and fix the problem before we start the next steps of professional mold remediation.

Caution: Beware of electrical shock, water and electricity do not mix, always take precaution.

When you do a mold cleanup at home, Al’s Absolute Best Cleaning and Restoration recommends you always wear the following items for protection.

• A proper respirator for mold cleanup can be purchased at most hardware stores the cartridge specs are N-95 or TC-21C.
• Disposable rubber gloves
• Goggles
• Long sleeve shirt and pants

Once you have stopped the moisture problem, you will want to remove all wet material that cannot be dried and dry all the wet material that can be dried. For instance drywall that has lost it’s integrity from the intrusive water damage should be removed. If you see visible mold on any porous materials it should be discarded immediately, being extremely careful not to expose the mold spores to unaffected areas in your home. When Al’s Absolute Best Cleaning and Restoration does a mold remediation job, we contain all contaminated areas, normally using thick, 3Mil plastic sheeting and duct tape prior to touching, cutting or removing any materials that have come in contact with mold spores. We always recommend the homeowner does the same, mold spores can travel very easily and quickly!

It is better to not do anything at all with the mold than to spread it around the entire home, on the other hand mold spores can easily spread from one room to another just through the air! This is why containment is a detrimental step in the mold remediation process. Even if you are unsure of what you were going to do about your mold issue, it would still be a wise decision to contain the contaminated area with sheet plastic.

CALL NOW FOR IMMEDIATE 24 HR Water Damage | Flood Cleanup Service (860)537-1594

As many of you know mother nature is not always on your side. Flooding can occur at any point and it’s normally when you don’t expect to have a flood. Just because your basement has never had a flood in the past doesn’t mean it wont flood or its “flood proof”. Many things can occur such as tropical Storm Irene, anyone living on the shoreline was terrified of the salt water rising into, and flooding their home! Al’s Absolute Best Cleaning and Restoration actually stayed in Madison for two months helping people get the water and debris out of their homes and yards from the rising tide and rain water! One of the most common causes of flooding and water damage issues is when there is a power outage along with a substantial amount of rain water or melting snow. When the power goes out your submersible pump in the basement will not function, allowing flooding to occur.

Water Damage happens quick, many people do not realize how quickly secondary damage and mold growth can occur. When you have a lot of water in your basement the humidity level rises, if your relative humidity is over 60% , you are considered to be in the danger zone! Any pictures you may have on the walls, decorations or delicate valued belongings could potentially be destroyed. Flooded, finished basements pose the greatest risk for both secondary damage and mold growth as well. When water seeps under and through walls it can come in contact with insulation which will certainly produce mold growth within 3 days!

When you a call a water damage restoration company like Al’s Absolute Best Cleaning and Restoration Services you can assure that your flood issue will stay a flood issue and not become a much more severe “mold job”. If you are an insured home owner, it is your obligation to take all steps necessary in preventing further damages from the intrusive water. We are professionals and know exactly how to handle your flood, so that you and your insurance company will both be happy. When you call us you will get immediate, friendly assistance and we will guide you every step of the way insured or not we are always working in the best interest of the customer.

Last winter in Connecticut was insane, ice dams caused major flooding across the state, people had floods that went through three floors of their home! In most cases the intrusive water came through the roof and ran through the walls and flooded all floors including the basement! While it was the busiest our company has ever been, it was a very hard time for many folks, many times personal belongings are destroyed. Again we are here to help you when you need us! We do everything in our power to save your valued belongings and dry your home or business properly, so you don’t have to worry about mold growth or further damages from the flood. We specialize in water damage restoration| flood cleanup| mold mitigation| flooded basement | structural drying | flood cleanup| residential and commercial floods.

Connecticut gets hit hard with a storm again, this time it’s Freak Snowstorm!
With more power outages then Tropical Storm Irene, people are scrambling to buy generators! Hurricane Irene delivered winds so strong that it snapped tees  in half and ripped down power lines, for all of us living in Connecticut it was an experience most of us will never forget! Now think about all the power lines that were only loosened up during Irene, all the trees that cracked but didn’t break…that’s what made this snow storm in so severe, causing more power outages than ever!

At Al’s Absolute Best Cleaning and Restoration we have gotten many calls from folks with no power asking if we have any generators left?

We keep many generators in stock for disasters such as these, often we have to use generators to generate power on our flood restoration calls!

We are a 24 HR Emergency Water Damage | Flood Cleanup Service

Sometimes we have generators for rent depending on supply and demand, but do to failing submersible pumps we had a lot of of flood calls, and had to use the generators to re-power the submersible pumps!
When the power goes out submersible pumps that require electricity fail, causing flooding in homes! That is a great reason to purchase a generator for your home!

When using generators they must be kept outdoors! Make sure to consider wind direction and vent the generators exhaust away from your home!

If you have water damage and are without power, call Al’s Absolute Best Cleaning And Restoration and we will come to the rescue!

We also do smoke and fire damage clean up, so we are well aware that when the power goes out folks resort to other methods for heating and cooking, resulting in more smoke cleanup calls for us. Please be careful!

Remember a small unattended water damage can easily turn into a large mold job!

Flooded? Need Hurricane Cleanup? Call Al's Absolute Best!

Al’s Absolute Best Cleaning and Restoration has generators on hand along with hundreds of fans and dehumidfiers to help dry your home in a timely fassion to prevent secondary damage and mold issues saving your home as soon as possible is our number one priority! Hurricane Cleanup can be dangerous and should really only be done by a professional restoration company. Al’s Absolute Best Cleaning and Restoration has been serving CT and surrounding states for over 15 years. We have thousands of customers who swear by our work and absolutely love us. We understand how stressful a flood in your home can be. Dealing with your insurance company can be a nightmare within it’s self, we help our customers every step of the way even dealing with the insuranc adjusters and companies so you don’t have to! You can read more about your rights under your insurance policy by scrolling through our blog posts. Also please visit our website for more information, pictures and testimonials!

Al’s Absolute Best Cleaning and Restoration is your number one Hurricane Cleanup company serving all of CT including Madison, Old Saybrook and Westbrook CT. Many people on CT’s Shoreline are in dire need of Hurricane Cleanup Services , don’t hesitate we are here 24/7 to suite your Hurrican Cleanup Needs! Call us now (860)537-1594

Water Damage Technician Course Hosted By Al's Absolute Best

The first few days included a Water Damage Restoration Technician Course offered by the IICRC. People came from all over, even local competitors such as Serve Pro,and Master Care.

We don’t see anyone in the same line of work as a negative thing, rather we see it as an excellent chance to network. There is a lot of work out there in our field and sometimes you get a cleaning or restoration job that’s just too big or too far away ! Why not keep your customers happy and refer them to a good cleaner in their area!

Anyways back to the point “Summerfest” it was a great time, people drove all the way from Georgia, Ohio, New York, Michigan and more! It was our pleasure to bring Summerfest #13 too our small hometown of Colchester, CT. Many laughs were shared along with many great ideas and new products. Demos are allowed, and many of our industries suppliers donated prize’s for the Summerfest Raffle. Another exciting event held annually at Summerfest is the “Spot Master Championship”, each year one cleaner is elected to make stains on carpet samples. The stains must be of equal size and placed on the carpet samples evenly on the same locations as the other carpet samples. The elected cleaner also gets to choose what they use to make the stains. You can read more about the spot master championship and how Al’s took the lead! Click Here to View Our Spot Master Championship Blog.

Carpet Samples Ready for Spot Master the Championship

Summerfest ended with a great little cook out back at our shop on Lebanon Ave. in Colchester. After the cookout everyone gathered in the meeting room for some final thoughts  and words of wisdom we even had two guest speakers! A lot of excellent information was shared, followed by the raffles! No one left without a prize, our suppliers really support our close community of Cleaners and Restorers, between the 8 companies that donated prizes this year we had about $3,000 worth of of cleaning supplies and cleaning tools to give away!

Al wins "Carpet Cleaner of the Year Two Years in a Row"

One last thing worth mentioning is the awards ceremony. Every year awards are given out for the carpet cleaner of the year, the man of the year and the woman of the year. Al Sims president of Al’s Absolute Best Cleaning and Restoration was elected this year and last year as Carpet Cleaner of the Year! Thanks for reading and stay posted for more up-to-date new at Al’s Absolute Best Cleaning and Restoration Services LLC.

860-537-1594

Stained Carpet Squares Ready for Competition

The stains must be of equal size and placed evenly on the carpet samples in the same locations. The elected cleaner also gets to choose what they use to make the stains. This usually ranges from lip stick, coffee stains, ink, dye, mustard anything they think of really. The competition is timed, each team of cleaners has only 15 minutes to remove about ten serious stains from a 3ft X 3ft. square of white carpet. Once time runs out all competitors are required to cease cleaning activities and hand in their cleaned carpet square to the judges.

This year Al and I  (Shawn) of Al’s Absolute Best Cleaning and Restoration, were done in record time. “We actually removed all the spots and were drying our carpet square with an air mover before most teams had completely removed even a few spots!”     : )   This wasn’t the first year we won the Spot Master Championship title, we actually won last year too!

Summertime can really bring out those pet odors! We are pet stain and odor specialists, 90% of the time those regular household cleaners just don’t do the trick on stubborn pet stains and odors. In the hot summer months bacteria thrives, emitting even stronger odors! This can be reversed with odor neutralizers and the correct thorough cleaning process.

If a pet stain sits for a while even just a few hours, the urine can actually penetrate the carpet, seeping into the padding and sub flooring. This presents a larger issue that regular carpet cleaning probably won’t solve. In this case, we would lift the carpet and pad and clean all sides, we would clean the sub floor and then seal it and re-install the carpet and padding. This is a great way to fix a pretty serious problem and save a few bucks!

Take advantage of the warm summer weather and get your carpets cleaned this year! It’s healthy for the kids, pets and family and you’ll be able to relax this summer knowing you have nice clean carpets and upholstery. If pet odors are an issue in your home, no worries, we are here to help! Calls Al’s anytime, mention this blog and save $25.00 on your summer cleaning!

What does it take to be the best carpet cleaner in CT?

To start with, how about 20 years of experience in the cleaning and restoration industry and Hundreds of classes, courses, seminars and training from the best carpet cleaners in the industry. Alan Sims president of Al’s Absolute Best is actually a master textile cleaner, this is the highest rank achievable in the cleaning industry and not many people make it through all the courses because it takes years of traveling around the country to each class! Back in the early 90’s Al started his carpet cleaning business under the name “Al’s Carpet Cleaning” He began with an old Subaru station wagon and very small carpet shampooer, working out of the house! He went into the field because he was always an entrepreneur and always had an interest in cleaning because of the instant gratification attained afterwards.

Today we have 5 trucks, an office front in Colchester, CT and a bunch of full time employees! If you think about it they always say “you learn from your mistakes” Imagine all the things my father Al, had to go through to make it where we are today. All of the on-job experience is what really adds up and helps to create CT’s best carpet cleaner.At first we didn’t stay in business because of all the big bucks spent on advertising or the fancy trucks and equipment. We grew because my father is such a personable and hardworking guy who pays attention to every detail and always taught me to go the extra mile. This is a quality that is very hard to find these days but it’s also a quality that every employee here at Al’s Absolute Best possess! Before the internet got so big we were booking most of our carpet cleaning jobs just from word of mouth, we would clean a house and the customer would love us and refer us to their friends and family. Many of the same people that stayed loyal to our company back in the early 90’s are still some of our best clients today, this really says a lot it shows that we do our absolute best all the time to satisfy our customers.

Why are other carpet cleaners so different from Al’s Absolute Best carpet cleaners?

Many of the cleaning and restoration companies today are franchises. When someone decides to open a new location it’s usually because they have some cash to start a business and are in it just to see profits. Many of these people have little or no experience in the field, but they have funding to put an ad on television and funding to start with 10 trucks and hire 15 guys they don’t know to send out to their customers. They may not even care too much about how happy their customers are with their work! It’s just like anything else, there are companies that are in business just to make money and then you have local companies that offer a more quality service and really take pride in being the best and providing the absolute best service possible. When you choose a local, family owned company the company reflects the family name. We wouldn’t want even one person to be upset with our services because it’s a direct reflection of us and our family. We only hire people that we know and trust and everyone here is as good as family to us. When you call Al’s Absolute Best Cleaning and Restoration, you will get friendly, knowledgeable advice and we will happily help you with any questions or concerns you may have.

One thing you must really be wary of is cleaning companies that offer very low prices for carpet and upholstery cleaning. If the price seems too low it normally is for a good reason, this carpet cleaner isn’t the best carpet cleaner. This carpet cleaning company will probably have hidden costs and the low price agreed upon over the phone probably won’t stand unless you don’t mind skipping 2 or 3 of the important steps for a proper carpet cleaning!

Pricing:

We offer all methods of carpet cleaning from dry foam cleaning to truck –mounted steam cleaning. We prefer to use our 5-step steam cleaning process; it’s fast, efficient and delivers the best carpet cleaning results in the industry! We charge by the square foot, in our eyes it’s the only fair way to quote a carpet cleaning job. It doesn’t seem fair to say “carpet cleaning $19.99 per room” Homes very in size so much that one room could be 100sq.ft. in one home and a room in another home could be 500 sq.ft.  At Al’s Absolute Best Cleaning and Restoration our costs include everything even deodorizer if requested or if required for the job. Our price for carpet cleaning includes vacuuming, pre-spray, rotary scrubbing, steam cleaning and speed drying! There are never any hidden costs; we will give you a ball park estimate over the phone, when we arrive to clean your carpets we measure all the areas to be cleaned. We subtract any areas that are not going to be cleaned for instance under large furniture that can’t be moved and multiply the total square footage by the price per sq.ft (usually .42 cents). Our technicians pay attention to detail, when we enter your home we lay down drop clothes to protect any flooring that we will not be cleaning, we use corner guards to protect the walls from our hoses, we also wipe down your baseboards and vacuum dust and dirt we see in corners and on radiators! We enter your home with the intention to overly satisfy your expectations; we want to be your #1 choice when it comes to choosing the best carpet cleaner!

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Al’s Absolute Best Cleaning and Restoration is CT’s Best Cleaning and Restoration Company. We have developed a great standing in the community from hard work and excellent service with a good reputation. We offer the best value when it comes to carpet cleaning and many other cleaning and restoration services. We also have an area rug cleaning salon at our new location in Colchester, CT. You can now arrange for pick-up or drop-off and your area rugs will come out better than ever! Make sure to read our other blog posts and browse our website for helpful pointers and sales!