Pressure washing rugs

[CleanEvo]

I just got a rug from a customer with some dog urine problems. It was a really thick olefin shag (like 4" thick), ugly, but she paid $1,100 for the plastic rug, 6'x8'.

Anyways, it was so thick and I don't have a wash pit so I laid it out on a tarp and pressure washed it with the pressure at 800 psi, using my chem feed with Axiom powdered detergent laced with Prochems citrus deodorizer. blasted the snot out of it, let it sit for a while and then extracted and dried with a fan. Turned out nice.

Does that make me a hack?

 

[sweendogg]

Sounds like you made some money to me. :mrgreen:

 

[CleanEvo]

She paid $1,100 for an ugly olefin rug, I guess my point was that I couldn't believe someone paid that much for plastic. I wish I would have gotten paid $1,100! She paid me $230.

 

[TimP]

Actually the last rug I did, I sorta did it like that. I rinse off my drive way. layed the rug out and hosed it down with prespray. It was a 5x7 and probably put like 4-5 gallons in the sucker. I let it sit and I lightly scrubbed it with a brush. Then I flooded it with an emulsifier rinse from my TM solution line hose and scrubed it and pushed brown water out of it with my brush. I flushed it 3-4 times like that then I flushed it a few times with clear water rinse and extracted with a wand then dried it. I probably did way too much but it got all the dirt out of it better than any in place surface only extraction for sure. I hung it to dry on my pvc fence too. I almost felt like a rug snob.

 

[CleanEvo]

I almost felt like a rug snob.

Yah, me too!

I'd heard of pressure washing rugs before, but never actually tried it. It worked great and I'm thinking that if you don't have a wash pit, it's the closest thing to it. It really does flush the rug out really well. I'm going to try it on a wool rug with fine carpet shampoo to see how it works out. I'm just worried about the drying, I don't have a drying room.

 

[TimP]

If you suck the water out with your TM I don't think you'll have much trouble drying. You can always rig something up as a stand if you're worried about it. All you need is something to hold them up. It shouldn't be too hard to figure it out with some wood.

 

[CleanEvo]

I'm OK with figuring out how to dry it... what I meant was, I'm concerened about browning due to the fact i'm flushing the rug. In the past I've always used low pressure and really used as little moisture as possible. I've also bonneted or encapped wool rugs.

This would be a new way of doing it. If I add a good acid rinse with that and try to dry as quick as possible, I'm hoping that'll do the trick.

I'm not thinking about doing really high end rugs this way.

 

[Harry Myers]

You need to post a picture of this rug . The only time olefin is good and does last is in a flat weave. Why ! it has no pile so it will not mat down. To much money for what youre describing . It almost sounds like a felted wool product.

 

[CleanEvo]

I don't have a picture.

I know the rug is from Belgium.

It was a multi color, biege/brown shag, very thick.

The fibers had different textures, some were really tight twist, some loose. Some looked like wool, some like olefin (didn't feel like nylon). I did a burn test and it was definately synthetic. it did have an interesting looking backing, did not have a cheap action back like low end carpets, it did have a woven look on the back. The top just looked like an every day thick frieze or shag.

It was a rug that would be real nice to some people, I just personally can't see why someone would spend over a G for plastic. I'd buy wool, but that's just me.

 

[Harry Myers]

If it is from Belgium it is most likely wool.

 

[CleanEvo]

It's not wool, I'm not a ruggy... but I know how to do a burn test.

 

[ACE]

I never, never thought I would say this, but I want to move to Canada where people value their piss soaked rugs and have too much money.

 

[The Great Oz]

You have to be very careful with pressure. Cut pile carpet can lose a lot of yarn twist by being blasted with anything over 3-400 psi, particularly if you used hot water. FLOW is more important than pressure.

 

[sweendogg]

q]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHQTPZXA_agq]

This what you mean Oz?

 

[GRHeacock]

A long time ago, 1958 or so, I worked for a rug cleaning company in Reno, whose process was to pressure wash all rugs- of all kinds on the wash floor.

The pressure was set at 400 psi.

The cleaning product was Orvus WA Paste.

A lotta foam, we wore knee high rubber boots, and the foam sometimes topped them.

A lot of rinsing, then soure rinse, run through rubber rollers, then hung to dry.

Since then, I have pressure washed many rugs of all kinds that were pretty dirty or full of urine, etc.

Hold the gun at an angle of about 45 degrees, work from the centerline to the edge, then opposite side, then end to end.

This is a very thorough system.

For newbies though, I would only recommend this procedure on synthetics.

Do the rug back first, turn over and do the face.

If you are using a alkaline cleaner, rinse with an acid rinse.

I watched the video, and that's the way it was done back in the olden days.

If something works- do it.

Gary

 

[The Great Oz]

In the video, the distance from the rug lets the water stream lose some zip. A few inches from the rug with that pressure would do some damage.

 

[GRHeacock]

Which reminds me- there is SOME upholstery that can also be done the pressure wash way.

Knowing what and how is important, but it is something to consider when you have a really bad piece.

Drying these very wet rugs can be a problem.

E-mail me if you want my idea on a simple portable way to dry rugs.

dfrif@juno.com

Gary