Dry Foam upholstery cleaning

[Mikey P]

I had a nice conversation yesterday with a long time member here. Until he recently found the secret to (old fashion) Dry Foam cleaning, he has always hated cleaning upholstery.

If I understood him correctly, he uses a pump up that creates a shaving cream like foam that he puts on a brush, sponge or other scrubbing device. After a thorough pre-vac the foam gets applied, agitated than vacuumed off with a special silent shop vac..

The mud in the shop vac tank, the great long lasting results, the quickness of it all (one trip set ups, no TM set up, no noise, a couple hundred in equipment has this guy whistling dixie.


I'm very intrigued but would like to hear form old schoolers like @Lee Stockwell , @Jim Pemberton and @Desk Jockey as to why this system is no longer pushed?

 

[Willy P]

Mardy is the reason. Nobody likes foam any more.

 

[Jim Pemberton]

Until the advent of "dry tools", I found it to be a good alternative method to hot water extraction, especially on delicate natural fiber fabrics.

It is surely superior to dry solvent cleaning, and many fabrics that are susceptible to browning or bleeding can be safely cleaned with this method.

My reservations about it include residue issues, especially on pile fabrics (velvet/chenille), and that most of the time fabric protector does not work well if applied afterward because of those residues.

I've had some success with fabric protector when applied after using an encap solution as the dry foam cleaner, when followed with towel extraction.

Its also not as effective on synthetic fibers that have heavy accumulations of oily soils.

 

[Mikey P]

Have you tried heating up the foam Jim?

 

[Zee]

I've used the VonSchrader upholstery cleaning setup for multiple years...

Yes, we can clean with it...but I always have the uneasy feel about the residues.

Maybe this guy you talked to Mikey, should just get a VonSchrader an forget about monkeying around with the shop vac.

 

[Jim Pemberton]

Hot water does help to create more foam, and will increase cleaning somewhat, but if its in a bucket or a foaming sprayer, the amount of heat you can actually transfer to the fabric during the cleaning process is fairly limited.

Foam, by its nature, does not transfer much heat to the surface of the fabric.

Encap products clean remarkably well, and with the aid of mechanical agitation, the results are impressive.

I know you have a substantial commitment to protector application in your service mix. I would make sure that the dry foam process that you use does not restrict the results of your protector before making it a part of my cleaning process.

 

[Mikey P]

He said the von Schrader was crap in comparison

 

[Zee]

Can you "out" him, so he can tell us why? And how is his process being performed?

 

[Mikey P]

No, up to him..

 

[Zee]

I'm just curious.... Because I am in the same boat (as I believe many here): do not like cleaning upholstery! No matter what kind of tool we buy...
So it'll be interesting to hear how someone gets "deliverance" into upholstery cleaning nirvana.

 

[Steve Lawrence]

I've been using VS dry foam for cleaning delicate fabrics for 43 years. It works very well for 10-15% of the furniture we clean that you cannot HWE as safely. You can minimize residues by misting an acid rinse after VSing and vacuum off. (We adapted a RX-20 glide to a vacuum tool that is great for vacuuming foam.) Dries fast, long lasting clean, no chance of shrinkage or browning. We've never had a damage claim using VS--and we've had several using HWE.

 

[hogjowl]

If he's a carpet padder, then nevermind.

 

[encapman]

Through the years I've done a fair amount of encapping on commercial upholstery.

1. Spray the piece with a good encap solution.
2. Brush the piece with the Rota-brush attached to a drill.
3. (Optional) Quickly wipe the piece with an upholstery mitt or towel.

It's a simple approach that makes easy work out of upholstery cleaning on light to moderately soiled commercial upholstery. I've successfully used this method on hundreds of commercial pieces.

 

[Cleanworks]

When I fisrt started in the business in Calgary, I purchased a new Von Schrader carpet machine and Upholstery machine as well. Back then and even today, Von Schrader makes the same claim that the encappers do. The residue will crystalize trapping the soil and you can vacuum it away. The upholstery machine was fantantastic with the foam coming out of the spinning brush. Good control and agitation. Vacuum is attached to the other end. Use to clean Haitian cotton with no issues.

 

[Jimmy L]

I much prefer to mist on a encapsulation SHAMPOO and either bonnet clean it or wipe it down with a towel.

You can use a twin head cyclo brush machine and buzz over a piece and wipe it down

 

[hogjowl]

Hey, that's just what Ricky said!

 

[Jimmy L]

Ricky's here as he always was on all the free boards to.......sell.......his......shit.

 

[Jim Pemberton]

I much prefer to mist on a encapsulation SHAMPOO and either bonnet clean it or wipe it down with a towel.
You can use a twin head cyclo brush machine and buzz over a piece and wipe it down

On the fabrics I tested with encap, then protection, this was exactly the method I used. Conventional dry foam (a bucket of suds and a sponge) works just fine, but its difficult to remove the residues.

The "mist and buff" method uses less product, the product you use goes on evenly (challenging to do with a sponge and mountain of suds), and its easy to "absorb/extract".

 

[Mikey P]

I'm just curious.... Because I am in the same boat (as I believe many here): do not like cleaning upholstery! No matter what kind of tool we buy...
So it'll be interesting to hear how someone gets "deliverance" into upholstery cleaning nirvana.

Mystery Foamer will you please contact Zee..

 

[Lance Golden]

Chemspec Fast drying upholstery shampoo...

@Mikey P , Do you remember "pete" from Coit way back when?
He liked to use Fast drying upholstery shampoo with towels... or dry vac...

The 1st 'Mentor' I had, dropped me off at a sofa, and loveseat clean, with a 5 gallon bucket, solution, and about 2 dozens white terry towels...

 

[Shorty]

I much prefer to mist on a encapsulation SHAMPOO and either bonnet clean it or wipe it down with a towel.

You can use a twin head cyclo brush machine and buzz over a piece and wipe it down

That's the way we do it Jimmy.

 

[Mikey P]

@Mikey P , Do you remember "pete" from Coit way back when?
He liked to use Fast drying upholstery shampoo with towels... or dry vac...

sample

 

[Mikey P]

@Dennis Bruders


You da man!

 

[Cleanworks]

I was just checking out Von Schraders web site and they are making the exact same claim the the encappers do. Have polymers in their solution and so on. Main difference is they recover some of the foam in their recovery tank where the encappers just let it lie.

 

[Desk Jockey]

We still deploy that method on old school upholstery. Old fabrics seem to respond better to old methods. Fewer drying issues to crop up. A clean white Terry towel aid in final soil removal. Prochem's Fine Fabric Shampoo does a nice job using a Sea Sponge or hand mitt.

Synthetics we prefer to HWE, I just have more confidence in soil removal with very limited risk of damage.

 

[Jimmy L]

Encap is just the new word for the shampoo method.

As HWE is the new term for steam cleaning.

 

[Shorty]

Encap is just the new word for the shampoo method.

As HWE is the new term for steam cleaning.

Stop making me agree with you Jimmy.

 

[Cleanworks]

maybe I should push my tm off a cliff and go buy a Von Schrader Lmx and be a dry foam encapper.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Hell Ron, if you're going to that far, just jump off the cliff with it and get it over with.

 

[Enge]

I'm just curious.... Because I am in the same boat (as I believe many here): do not like cleaning upholstery! No matter what kind of tool we buy...
So it'll be interesting to hear how someone gets "deliverance" into upholstery cleaning nirvana.

Agree.