Area Rug Drying?

Onfire_02_01

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Jeremy Gray
I am a small time area rug cleaner in addition to my carpet cleaning.
I cleaned an small area rug but didn't have the space to dry it, due to having my kitchen cabinets in my facility. I rolled up the carpet and put it in a length of lay flat ducting and put a fan at one end blowing through the tube. Has anyone done this? I was even thinking of attaching my Dehu to the end of the tube for dryer air.

Also does anyone know of anyone doing VLM for area rugs? Just wondering?

@T Monahan
 

The Great Oz

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bryan
I cleaned an small area rug but didn't have the space to dry it, due to having my kitchen cabinets in my facility. I rolled up the carpet and put it in a length of lay flat ducting and put a fan at one end blowing through the tube. Has anyone done this? I was even thinking of attaching my Dehu to the end of the tube for dryer air.
You can get away with this if the rug is synthetic, but would mean seriously slow drying for wool rugs. You would eventually get them dry, but maybe not before they start to rot.


Also does anyone know of anyone doing VLM for area rugs? Just wondering?
If there are people doing VLM for installed carpet, you can be certain they're doing rugs the same way. There are even a few esoteric rugs that VLM would be considered the best way. Mostly people want their rugs clean and sanitary though, so a deeper clean is needed.
 

Desk Jockey

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If air can get to all damp areas it should dry.

However if natural fiber it could brown in the areas where it touches layers. It likely will also leave roll crush and humps when laid out.
 

T Monahan

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cleanking

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I've been thinking about several 'better ideas' including my own. After some trial and error and tinkering, spending both time and money, you realize why no one else does it that way.

This. If you like to tinker, that's great, but don't expect to re-invent the wheel.....get a quick rack (https://www.centrumforce.com/products/quik-rug-rack) and move on with it.

Or find a legit local rug cleaner and just out-source your rug cleaning.
 

Jim Morrison

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I've always struggled with finding space to dry area rugs. Had a good rack made out of 2x4's (think it was modeled from a picture Ken Snow posted years ago) but after a period needed the space for storage and tore the rack down. Recently had a customer drop off a fine "Persian rug" (was a pos synthetic) and needed to come up with a way to dry it. Lucked out and found a spot where 12' 2x4's would span between a shelving unit and a tool cabinet with 9' of clear span.
Have a look around your shop, maybe the space is there.

DSC02118.jpg
 
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Onfire_02_01

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Normally I hang my area rugs over a bar that is suspended by the tracks for my second garage door. But my new kitchen cabinets are in the way right now due to a remodel.
 

Cleanworks

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Area rug cleaning is really becoming popular with people having a lot of mixed flooring these days. I started like you, bring home small rugs and hanging them wherever but that gets old fast. You can clean rugs in your garage but you need to dedicate the space to that function. I now have a small shop, after renting garage space here and there. I am still a bit of a hack, no wash pit, no centrifuge. I clean by hwe, supplemented by shampooing, some vlm, a homemade rug sucker and a watering can. When I am done, I have my racks suspended from the ceiling on a block and tackle pulley system. I am using 1 inch steel plumbing pipe covered with a 4 inch diameter white abs plastic tube. I like the 4 inch tube because it doesn't put a bulge in the carpet while it's drying. When I am done with the carpet, I lower the tube (rack), pull it up on my pulley system and tie it off on the side. I do have a concrete pad outside where I can saturate a rug with a hose if necessary and I use my home made rug sucker to remove the moisture. I will be looking to buy the real one on these days but it's probably #4 on my list of priorities. Need a few more tools before that like a Zipper, rotovac, etc. Take a good look at the homes in your area and see if you want to invest a little more in rug cleaning. Check what the competition is getting price wise and instead of lowballing, raise your prices to where you are at least going to make some money on. Remember, pickup and delivery is extra.
 

dealtimeman

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If you need your rugs dried, send them to us. We have a little excess capacity this week. View attachment 16080

We'll keep it nice and warm too, promise!!!
View attachment 16081

Brian I don't think he could be profitable sending the rugs to you, it would cost him to have them cleaned and he would loose lots of money and time.

I think that was a bad idea. Imo
 

Askal

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My rug drying racks are very economical .when I built my shop I had the trusses engineered o hold the extra weight of the rugs and spread the weight out over the different trussses with four by sixes. the poles are made from bci's skined with quarter inch plywood for sheer. I paid about five or six hundred bucks for a 110 winch to raise and lower each drying rack and each one is 16 feet long. Not a big operation but I can wash as many rugs as we can physically do with a small operation and dry them in one day. I also use wire rope for the rigging. We have 12 foot walls in the shop plus scissor trusses so the height is approximately 20 feet so we can walk under the rugs while they're drying.
 

Cleanworks

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My rug drying racks are very economical .when I built my shop I had the trusses engineered o hold the extra weight of the rugs and spread the weight out over the different trussses with four by sixes. the poles are made from bci's skined with quarter inch plywood for sheer. I paid about five or six hundred bucks for a 110 winch to raise and lower each drying rack and each one is 16 feet long. Not a big operation but I can wash as many rugs as we can physically do with a small operation and dry them in one day. I also use wire rope for the rigging. We have 12 foot walls in the shop plus scissor trusses so the height is approximately 20 feet so we can walk under the rugs while they're drying.
Nice. I make do with 10 ft ceilings and 5 -12ft long racks. I don't do anything larger than a 10 x 14 normally.
 

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