Love them interior designers..

[Mikey P]

a local biggie had us out to apply fabric protector to a house full of exotic pieces..


She asked us to run the home owners steamer over a Chenille cushion that got wrinkled in storage..

My son who was on the job, had no experience using a steamer (can't say I have much either).. When he went to give it a shot a few drops of water dripped out and in his words, melted the fabric on impact..

The designer isn't sure what the content is but thinks Rayon...

This all happened late today while we were on with Laura so I was a bit distracted..

The designer and I spoke a bit...$200 a yard fabric and it's on us is what I gathered...

Chavez thinks if we let it dry up then re steam it and hit with a carding brush it may fluff out...



@Jim Pemberton ?


The whole area looks funky and bleached in the pics but the designer and my son sounded only worried about the drips...



more info to come..

 

[Nate The Great]

I would have asked the designer to show me how it's done......

I'd also do what @Desk Jockey said.....

 

[Jim Pemberton]

Chavez thinks if we let it dry up then re steam it and hit with a carding brush it may fluff out...

Richard is right. He knows his stuff, and his father before him was one of the smartest fine fabric people there was out there. His father impressed my father, which is damned hard to do, take it from me.

The biggest issue you have to deal with is PATIENCE. If you try to hurry it along, it will make the problem worse, perhaps irreparable.

Take your time grasshopper.

"The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it"

This rayon fabric is an egg, Mikey. A very, VERY delicate egg.

 

[Desk Jockey]

 

[Desk Jockey]

If dry steaming doesn't look like its doing the trick you might need to clean that panel so it looks even. Then dry steam to restore the texture. Good luck.

 

[hogjowl]

Tell your son he needs to learn how to say no.

I had a customer ask, well she pretty much TOLD, me to move her TV off the stand and into the DR yesterday. I told her we don't move or handle electronic items. She tried to persuade me in every way possible, but I stood firm. My son was looking at me like I was being crabby, but I held my ground. You see, moving TV's in not in our business plan. Neither is emptying china cabinets or walking their dog. Using the home owners equipment isn't either. If I was really being crabby I would have asked her "what was it you didn't understand when I told you 'we don't move electronic items' when we scheduduled this appointment?" But I didn't say that. All I said was "we can't move your TV. My insurance will not cover it if we drop it and break it." (Yes, I actually have care, custody and control insurance. That's not the point.)

It's always when you get outside of your business plan that things go crazy.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Go take a nap and let your son run the show.

 

[hogjowl]

He would have moved the TV for her. I would have too, way back in the day.

That was before I met Mr. Murphy.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Seriously I agree.

ANYTHING goes wrong with the TV, cable, satellite and its your problem. You always have to look out for yourself because the client is only concerned with their problems.

 

[Jim Pemberton]

My son who was on the job, had no experience using a steamer (can't say I have much either).. When he went to give it a shot a few drops of water dripped out and in his words, melted the fabric on impact..

Marty is right; Davis shouldn't have used someone else's equipment, even more so he shouldn't have attempted something with which he was not familiar.

Not that such advice helps you with this problem.

I am hopeful that it will prevent the next one though.

 

[Mikey P]

No he hasnt Jim


Neither have I.

 

[Jim Pemberton]

When I was young I had customers talk me into doing all sorts of things that our cleaning company didn't do and shouldn't have done.

I moved a refrigerator in a carpeted kitchen (yes, they used to do that in the dinosaur era when I cleaned for a paycheck). Ripped the carpet, we replaced it.

I moved a marble top coffee table that the sales person clearly told the customer we would not move. I cracked it. We replaced it.

I dry cleaned a chair on a rainy day and mixed in thermal fog deodorizer for free to be nice. It stank for weeks and we replaced it.

Why my father didn't put me in a sack full of rocks and throw me in the river, I don't know.

 

[Mikey P]

notice the finger prints from the movers....Davis got the soil out but the fiber distortion would'nt budge....

 

[Jim Pemberton]

Who is the closest fabric expert to you who has experience with steaming out distortion? It would probably be worth paying him/her to do it and have Davis work with that individual and learn how to do it himself in the future.

 

[Mikey P]

None that I'm aware of.

 

[Jim Pemberton]

Ofer?

 

[hogjowl]

danny says he's an upholstery specialist.

 

[Old Coastie]

Mikey, using vapor on rayon (!) is a risky move, but so is anything fuzzy, like microfiber.

I've corrected it before by taking my steamer and using a microfiber towel over the mop head, lightly stroking the fibers in the proper direction. Lightly! It is a process, not an event, you sort of coax the fibers to warm up and move, then leave it the heck alone so it can set.

If the fibers actually shrivelled, there is no fix that I know. I hope that isn't the case here.

 

[Danny Strickland]

danny says he's an upholstery specialist.

I've done my fair share Pig Shit. Like that old commercial said, "you could learn a lot from a dummy"

 

[Desk Jockey]

None that I'm aware of.

You can be, just play around with some samples and you'll get a feel for it.

The main thing is keep it vapor and don't touch the fabric if it has a pile or get the fabric to hot.

Davis got the soil out but the fiber distortion would'nt budge....

That one is an easy 5-minute job with a carding brush. You'll need both the carding and the gold bristled velvet brush.

 

[Mikey P]

Fabric content on the red seat cushion is 57% Rayon, 12% Polyester and 31% Cotton..

 

[Carbonated Carpet Woman]

That was before I met Mr. Murphy.

I know Mr. Murphy! In fact, I earned a degree from his School!

 

[Desk Jockey]

57% Rayon, 12% Polyester and 31% Cotton..

Don't use it on synthetics or blends. Natural fibers only.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

I have a little Scunci steamer in my spotting bag.

Although Jiffy is made near me, Union City TN, I always felt it was overkill for anything less than a full dry cleaning plant. My brother Bill has one in his upholstery shop.

 

[Mark Saiger]

When I was young I had customers talk me into doing all sorts of things that our cleaning company didn't do and shouldn't have done.

I moved a refrigerator in a carpeted kitchen (yes, they used to do that in the dinosaur era when I cleaned for a paycheck). Ripped the carpet, we replaced it.

I moved a marble top coffee table that the sales person clearly told the customer we would not move. I cracked it. We replaced it.

I dry cleaned a chair on a rainy day and mixed in thermal fog deodorizer for free to be nice. It stank for weeks and we replaced it.

Why my father didn't put me in a sack full of rocks and throw me in the river, I don't know.

Yep..."education isn't free" I always say....

"One way or another....it still costs you something...."

Just can't even blame my son in law if I forget to warn him of something....that I have already done

 

[Desk Jockey]

I have a little Scunci steamer in my spotting bag.

Although Jiffy is made near me, Union City TN, I always felt it was overkill for anything less than a full dry cleaning plant. My brother Bill has one in his upholstery shop.

We have three of them.

Back in the day we kept them busy, not they sit. I pressed a skirt on a linen divan last week but I think that is the first time one has been used in years.

 

[cu]

When I was a kid 13-14 year old . My father had 2 clothing factories , he was a tailor all his life. And so all 5 of his kids worked in the factories at one time or another ...anyhow I was in there a 13 year old kid and my job was working on the pressing line doing shity work . Working on big Hoffman pressing machines. ( you,ll see them in any big dry cleaners) On the production lines where men's suit,s and jackets. And one day along came these blue velvet mans jackets ...navy blue.

So Benny the head presser ( worked for my father for 30 years) thought it would be fun to let me press one of the velvet jackets.

So I set the body of the jacket on the presser, I stood on the vacuum pedal , I rolled the lapel into shape pulled the head cover down as I used the assist pedal to close the 100 lb cover and hit the STEAM .

That jacket came out shining like a brand new silver coin and flat as a pancake. My ol man was making a bee line for me his eyes bulging ,veins popping ..shouting at me what the fook are you doing ...etc etc ...

Benny had disappeared laughing his ballox off .

So Davis if your in Vegas I,ll buy you a beer. Every time I see designer bullshit built to look at not to live on .and a custy wants me to clean it . i always remember the nightmare days in the clothing factory .and see Benny laughing his ballox off at me.

 

[Desk Jockey]

my father spent 25-years in the dry cleaning industry. I spent lots of time in the plant goofing around. I eventually learned how to work the spotting board. Some of it I was able to carry over intocarpet cleaning.

 

[Mrice]

I've got a different vapor steamer, but many gather water in the hose when they first charge or if they sit charged unused of a while. I take a bucket with me to discharge the steamer into first, before putting the steamer on/over the fabric, to discharge any latent water in the line. I had to do a sample piece for an interior designer ($85 a yard) chenille rayon and got the best results from the same procedure old coastie posted (post 18) except with the addition of a little OMS to the towel. High end client had custom chairs that a sweaty person set in and left a mark :-).

 

[ruff]

Don't use it on synthetics or blends. Natural fibers only.

Don't use what, Richard? (Steamer, brushes? Cleaning tool?).

I hate all these designer stuff. Absolutely not for the living.
Funny part is, I've seen some of the same upholstery (in mike's picture) at some of my clients. So. they are not getting something that unique after all.

The hardest is the curves, where you can't get the brush in without leaving a mark. Also blending in if doing part of an area, can be a challenge.
I do a lot of praying when dealing with these things, as you never (at least I don't) know with certainty how it is going to turn out. At times when I was too concerned about the brushing I'd do it very gently and it wouldn't budge and then a little more aggressively seemed to do it. But you got to start gentle. Always a heart- freaking throbber.

Hate it. Particularly if I caused it.
When correcting others, it is a lot more fun, as I have them sign a release and I'm paid regardless of success.