Mikey P
Administrator
No thanks, thats immoral.
I pushed the customer twice to gave a rug company pick up the rug and have it washned-machined but they really insisted I clean it at their house. So I met them in the middle, I hosed them down in the driveway.
^^oh my^^
that sounds like a bigger loser than an ultrasound blind cleaning wagon
..L.T.A.
I suppose that depends on a number of factors.
good topic! We have over 150,000 population in the Fox Cities and Green Bay is 3o miles away with another 100,000. nearest rug plant is in Milwaukee which is 90 miles away!
Looks like an opportunity!
but where do I start?
Hey!You hispaniCness comes out when you're frustrated..
I was definitely in doubt with a rug last week from a customer, and I just subbed it out for the first time from one of my neighboring rug sucker companies. I look forward to seeing how much better it looks from a rug plant vs a driveway plantIt was good to see a common sense post about cleaning rugs on site without the usual attempts of trying to guilt cleaners in only using the best method. Always start with good vacuuming front and back. Then you have options for a good cleaning (Encapsulation and/or Brush Pro Powder on site or off site) vs a better cleaning ( extraction on site or off site) vs a best cleaning (pit wash or plant generally offsite to control drying). There is a market for all three types of cleaning. Most area rugs being purchased today are inexpensive where the onsite good and better cleaning are the only viable economic cleanings. Why would a consumer pay for a best cleaning when they can replace the rug for less than that cleaning? I had a rug pit washed at a rug class years ago and did not tell my family. They could tell it was cleaned, but did not notice that it was a better cleaning ( I could tell, but I value cleaning) than my previous encapuslation and extraction results. A lot of consumers can see that rugs are clean but may not see or value the difference between a good cleaning and the best cleaning.
I am also not opposed to Encapuclean DS with Maxim (adds dye blocker) as an interim maintenance system along with the Brush Pro powder. The Wool Perfect pre-spray and Wool Zone rinse was designed for hot water extraction. Wool Perfect is also an excellent choice as the pre-spray in a pit wash system.
However, there are rugs and certain issues with rugs that should not be cleaned on site like bleeders, urine issues, etc. Cleaners should know their limitations and pass on some jobs or take them off site to a rug washer. When in doubt sub it out.
For those that are cleaning viscose with only Brush Pro powder, are you happy with the results? Or are you happy that you did not have to buy it and got paid enough for the effort with the customer being satisfied with the results? How many return visits do you get from viscose owners?
I have to first say that I have a somewhat strong prejudice against dry compound, and a somewhat milder, but still real, distaste for using HWE on location with area rugs.
What I have found with dry compound, is that you have to let it dry for up to an hour before you can really successfully vacuum it out. I dislike using it on viscose as I have caused as much texture distortion as with hwe. I have successfully cleaned viscose rugs using hwe and when I say hwe, I really mean cwe. I only use cold to warm water on viscose. It appears to be, that not only the method but also the manufacture of the rug, that determines whether or not it can be cleaned without damage. I have shampooed viscose with a 175 using fine fabric shampoo and rinsed and it has looked great. I have done exactly the same with others and they have looked terrible. That's why we only do viscose at the customers risk and yes they have to pay me even if the rug is damaged.
With those prejudices and distastes in mind, I was impressed with the results on one of the viscose rugs, and the wool bleeder. The white areas came out white as snow, and the colors were vibrant. On the other viscose rug, it looked much like it did before, but it wasn't visibly soiled before either. It has crushed areas from being carelessly folded which did not come out either.
The only other negative part to me was some difficulty completely removing the compound; it took three vacuumings (front, back, then front again).
But from a time and headache point of view, they were completed much faster than would they would normally have been in plant.
I have a lot more testing to do before I can be completely satisfied, but so far so good.