your_good_sons
Member
I've been at this just a few weeks. I was going to start several years ago, but had an OK job. When the OK job disappeared, this made total sense. I hope cleaning carpets was the right career path... wish me luck!
Anyhow, my first problem. A customer had me do the living room, foyer, hall and the only bedroom with wall-to-wall. The other two rooms had area rugs. One was a nice wool Safavieh. I'm actually giving that to someone who knows what they are doing and charging me $60 (1.50 per sf) and I'm only making $20 on that. They have done 2 rugs for me before and everything has gone well.
The other rug was a cheap 5x7 Olefin berber remnant. When I quoted $25, they kind of laughed and said they only paid $30 for it.
If I trash it, what the heck, it was a learning experience. The rug was stiff as can be. A lot of dust came off the backing. Is this normal? I'm going to do it in my basement on some plastic sheeting. I don't think this dust was dirt. I think it was in the backing. While no big deal if it happens, is this rug going to disintegrate once it gets wet? If I run into this sort of cheap stuff wall-to-wall in say an office setting, am I going to have trouble?
Something inside me says give them $30 for the rug to experiment and learn. How does it hold up to my 12" Sanitaire floor machine with Adjust-A-Glide brush? How will it hold up against Betco TLC, which is a 13.0pH traffic lane prespray. While on the harsh side, does clean very well. California says it has to be diluted 1:50, but the rest of the planet 1:10, 1:20 (always works for me), or 1:40. I have less aggressive presprays by Betco and Spartan, I know they are janitorial products, but that's what's available locally and cheap.
I don't want to come across as having a destructive nature, because I don't, but I'm really as total newb and need to learn. Thanks.
Pete
Anyhow, my first problem. A customer had me do the living room, foyer, hall and the only bedroom with wall-to-wall. The other two rooms had area rugs. One was a nice wool Safavieh. I'm actually giving that to someone who knows what they are doing and charging me $60 (1.50 per sf) and I'm only making $20 on that. They have done 2 rugs for me before and everything has gone well.
The other rug was a cheap 5x7 Olefin berber remnant. When I quoted $25, they kind of laughed and said they only paid $30 for it.
If I trash it, what the heck, it was a learning experience. The rug was stiff as can be. A lot of dust came off the backing. Is this normal? I'm going to do it in my basement on some plastic sheeting. I don't think this dust was dirt. I think it was in the backing. While no big deal if it happens, is this rug going to disintegrate once it gets wet? If I run into this sort of cheap stuff wall-to-wall in say an office setting, am I going to have trouble?
Something inside me says give them $30 for the rug to experiment and learn. How does it hold up to my 12" Sanitaire floor machine with Adjust-A-Glide brush? How will it hold up against Betco TLC, which is a 13.0pH traffic lane prespray. While on the harsh side, does clean very well. California says it has to be diluted 1:50, but the rest of the planet 1:10, 1:20 (always works for me), or 1:40. I have less aggressive presprays by Betco and Spartan, I know they are janitorial products, but that's what's available locally and cheap.
I don't want to come across as having a destructive nature, because I don't, but I'm really as total newb and need to learn. Thanks.
Pete
