[Paul Heath]

Had someone ask if i could clean curtains in situ !
So daft question could it be done with an upholstery tool or is there a special tool available.
Obvious make sure the windows are shut 
Any advise most welcome

[Thackley Cleaning Services]

first thing check the care instructions.  If it says dry clean only then you might be better taking it to a dry cleaners and sticking a bit on top.  If it says theyre washable either wet clean them on site or take then home and wash them.  Pressing them will be an issue if you take them away for washing, but a quick tumble dry (from wet) will remove most creases.

However, if you're of the im gonna do it myself mindset then as follows:

- if they're majority polyester you should be ok but always test for shrinkage and colour bleed anyway

- If theyre predominatly cotton then they may shrink by up to 5% (especially if the cotton isnt pre-shrunk) which doesnt sound like a lot but for every 1 metre of curtain length you will may lose up to 5cm which trust me will give your customer kittens and cost you a new set of curtains.  Again look at the care instructions (normally stiched at the top near the hook band / thick white nylon strip) and if its a minimum of 45% polyester with 55% cotton you should be ok. 

As a person who owns a dry cleaning business, i would always say if they're not washable i wouldnt mess with them especially if theyre made of pile fabric like viscose or cotton velvet.  I wouldnt advise wet cleaning silk curtains either - Unless you really know what you're doing and have all the right hand tools and chems as wet cleaning 'dry clean only' stuff will only create more issues for you.

daniel

[Paul Heath]

Thanks for reply....i think i will be walking from this one, as its a high end hotel with over 30 rooms....not been to see the material but i can see this being a nightmare

[Thackley Cleaning Services]

actually Paul, hotel curtains are for the most part polyester so you can wet clean them.  One of the ways we check fabric construction is with the twang test.

When you snap the fabric (hold two ends together and then pull them apart quickly - this isnt scientific but it works) if it goes twang its synthetic or part synthetic.  however, if it stretches even a little and you dont get the twang its more than likely cellulosic.

BUT - after wet cleaning you may have to fire-proof them afterwards because in places like these fire-proofing of curtains is a legal requirement to specific British Standards, and the previous fire retardant may come off during the cleaning process.  They will assume you have taken care of it unless you mention it to them.

We can help you out but i dont know where you are.  you can always PM me and I can see if I can point you in the right direction.
thanks

daniel

[Ian Gourlay]

Paul

Do you mean using a steamer, or HWE

[Paul Heath]

i was going to use HWE, but i have got a steamer, that i could use..

[jim mca]

Paul

Yes you can use a steamer but if the curtains have a linning dont think it would cut it

Jim

[Neil Williams]

Not trying to hijack the thread but an interesting piece on Radio 2 this morning in which the WHICH magizine tested dry cleaners out, as in those who do it not the machines.
They found something like 42 out of 48 businesses in which they took items to, failed to meet the minimum standard required. There were problems with shrinkage, stretching, dirtier than when it was taken in, basic stains not removed etc.
Interesting from the point of view of how we sell cleaning to customers.

[Thackley Cleaning Services]

Not surprised at all.

its like anything, there are good dry cleaners and there are tons of rubbish ones.  Same as carpet cleaners or any other type of industry.

some people will invest money in training, recruitment and research and development with a view to being the best.  others see it as a cash cow and just milk it for what its worth.

i know a guy who has 4 shops and he drives a porsche, but his customers walk around in dirty clothes !

[Thackley Cleaning Services]

Paul

Yes you can use a steamer but if the curtains have a linning dont think it would cut it

Jim

also if the curtains have a thermal or 'blackout' lining which is normal lining with a bonded synthetic backing to stop light coming into the room, then the heat from the steamer may in some cases weaken the adhesive which bonds the cotton lining to the blackout bit.

you will then see the bubbling, shredding, tearing of the blackout lining only.

its a bit of a minefield.

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Some good answers from Thackley we too have a dry cleaners, t'up north they seem to be few far and between but in our glorious capital there's loads of them and being that Which magazine won't veture out of our fare first city then I would hazzard a guess that with so many dry cleaners congregated together that there will be a price war and something has to give ie quality!

Shaun

PS Dry cleaning chemical manufacturers have some interesting stain removers as well as techniques also.

[Thackley Cleaning Services]

our group incorporates a dry cleaning business and a carpet cleaning business.

we started off as dry cleaners and so we have a decent understanding of fabrics, stain types and treatments etc...  we added the carpet cleaning side afterwards.

unfortunately, during the recession everyone has to cut their cloth accordingly and lower prices due to increased competition from multiples, supermarkets and rogue traders means that even decent cleaners have to make cut backs somewhere.  cutbacks in purchasing means cheaper solvents, stripped or light packaging, items not being re-cleaned and being sent out with stain tickets, experienced staff being replaced with younger inexperienced and cheaper staff.

But customers cant have their cake and eat it.  if theyre paying £8.00 for suit, you cant expect the bells and whistles you get with a £20 clean.

youre right about the interesting stain removers and other chems too. 

[Paul Heath]

Thanks for all your replies....intresting subject.....will not be taking this on, as i have found out the price of fire retardant chemicals....and i know they would not pay the price to have all of them cleaned etc, but thanks chaps

[Neil Williams]

http://www.which.co.uk/home-and-garden/laundry-and-cleaning/reviews-ns/dry-cleaners/

This is it

[Thackley Cleaning Services]

i have to say that most of these stains would be classed as fresh stains and therefore should flush straight out without too many problems.  I cant see which magazine staining a load of jackets and leaving them there for a month before sending them out for cleaning.

im not surprised to see johnsons down there because their marketing department came up with a brilliant new concept called Green Earth which looked and sounded great in the magazines, press and whatever POS propaganda they were peddling.

However, in the real world the solvent was so passive it just wouldnt remove any stains.  Hence, they swapped all their previous solvent machines for this new fancy solvent that wasnt a very good cleaner and couldnt shift stains - but at least its environentally friendly.

The onus was then on the staff at the stores to try and get the stains out and from the last I heard Johnsons only used 6 stains removers.  We have at least twenty.

[Neil Williams]

What wa really interesting was hearing the guy on the radio saying that although it might say Dry Clean only on the label that does not mean it can't be Wet Cleaned
I've always known that anyway, it's all about finding out what the material actually is.
It's a bit like seeing the label on upholstery saying contact CD or SM for cleaning of this item, why? are they the only people capable?

[Jim_77]

You don't even mention WHY they want eh curtains cleaning

They look dirty?
They have an odour problem?
They are dusty?

Unless they are visibly soiled they can be done in situ using a turbo vac, spray of something like m-power and then towelled off.  You should be able to knock out at least 5 pairs per hour of your average hotel room curtains using that method.

Why walk from a profitable job and the potential of selling many more services to them ?!?!!?!

Carpets, upholstery, mattresses!!!!

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Johnsons have the big name and therefore try and act 'responsibly' and also look different to the rest of the trade that's why moved away from regal blue shop frontage to a more Eco friendly green, the engineer that we use was telling us the same story about Johnsons also.

Who's spotting products do you use? we're on to Cole and Wilson atm.

Shaun

[Ian Gourlay]

Perhaps a Dry Cleaners Forum should be added.

How much to equip a shop?

[gwrightson]

have a word with Derick Bolten,

 he does a great demo of cleaning curtains on his stain removal courses ,

 i have a full hse to do next week allthe curtains
  some i will use drimaster other towel and steam

 never a problem if ur carful

geoff

[John Kelly]

What wa really interesting was hearing the guy on the radio saying that although it might say Dry Clean only on the label that does not mean it can't be Wet Cleaned
I've always known that anyway, it's all about finding out what the material actually is.
It's a bit like seeing the label on upholstery saying contact CD or SM for cleaning of this item, why? are they the only people capable?

Neil, its simply because they paid them to do that.

[Thackley Cleaning Services]

You don't even mention WHY they want eh curtains cleaning

They look dirty?
They have an odour problem?
They are dusty?

Unless they are visibly soiled they can be done in situ using a turbo vac, spray of something like m-power and then towelled off.  You should be able to knock out at least 5 pairs per hour of your average hotel room curtains using that method.

Why walk from a profitable job and the potential of selling many more services to them ?!?!!?!

Carpets, upholstery, mattresses!!!!

fire retardant may come off during this wet cleaning process and its up to you to then put it back on.  its not a straight forward process and the cost of the chems alone is crazy money.

Shaun..... sshhhh..... they're a trade secret.

[Thackley Cleaning Services]

Perhaps a Dry Cleaners Forum should be added.

How much to equip a shop?

for second hand recon stuff you should be looking to allocate approx £20k for equipment only (dry cleaning machine, and a flatbed with a rotor cabinet) .  If you factor in the installations etc you would struggle to get any change out of £35k

For a top notch operation including new equipment, shop refitting, anywhere from an minimum of £50k.

pound for pound carpet cleaning is much more profitable because you can invest a couple of grand and be up and running.  Yes, as above to do it really well you need to be looking at upgrading your equipment (as no doubt all the TM'ers will agree) and invest time in training and knowledge.  But if you work hard and then you can grow organically from the profits you make.

[Thackley Cleaning Services]

Johnsons have the big name and therefore try and act 'responsibly' and also look different to the rest of the trade that's why moved away from regal blue shop frontage to a more Eco friendly green, the engineer that we use was telling us the same story about Johnsons also.

Who's spotting products do you use? we're on to Cole and Wilson atm.

Shaun

Hi Shaun,

dont let the bullpoop fool anyone.  Johnsons did this purely as a marketing exercise so that they could charge a premium for offering an environmentally friendly service whilst 99% of other independent cleaners were still using the deadly & dangerous perc.  Unfortunately, for them the recession started and more customers are going for 4 items for £15 offers.  No one gives a hoot about the environment when they've been told that they may have to take a 5% pay cut.

[fenman]

We clean lots of curtains in situ.
The biggest part is the vaccing. I would estimate the split to be 75% time taken in vaccing to 25% actual cleaning.

[Paul Heath]

must admit the fire retardant chemical put me off....nearly £300 for 25 ltr,
I'm going to view all 38 rooms plus lounge,bar etc, it would be a good money earner, but i doubt they will pay.
I don't really understand its only been open 14 months and the its all wooden floors.

[Jim_77]

But plenty of upholstery to clean

What flame retardant are you looking at??!!  Stapro do a very good one and it's really not very expensive, product cost would be something like (from memory) £20 to treat 100m² or even bigger amount maybe, can't remember but it isn't much

Fenman... I'm curious, do you not count dry soil removal as "cleaning" ?!!!  

[John Kelly]

I would imagine hotel curtains won't be that badly soiled. As mentioned a really good vacuum will remove most of the dirt which will be dust. You can clean curtains with a dry cleaning fluid and sponge or by misting a microsplitter and sponge. A plasterers hawk behind the curtain gives you a firm base to press the sponge against. This way you are only cleaning the surface and should not disturb the fire proofing which is basically a salt left behind in the fabric after the carrier fluid has evaporated off.

[Paul Heath]

Just to let you know, popped in to hotel and have a look at the curtains. It looks like they are going to be dry clean only.
However they close in Jan for refurb and want the tiles, wooden floors all cleaned.
Just goes to prove it is always best to go along and have a look at any job.

[Shaun_Ashmore]

John curtains in hotel bedrooms usually smell of nicotine guests take the batteries out of the smoke alarms and slowly choke themselves over 50 years!!!

Shaun

[Thackley Cleaning Services]

Just to let you know, popped in to hotel and have a look at the curtains. It looks like they are going to be dry clean only.
However they close in Jan for refurb and want the tiles, wooden floors all cleaned.
Just goes to prove it is always best to go along and have a look at any job.

why dont you take a pair down and take it to a cleaner who can handle this sort of stuff.  get him to give you a price, put a bit on for handling and give the hotel a quote for dry cleaning only and another one for the fire retardent. then leave it to them to choose. 

if its 100 bedrooms thats a shed load of curtains and even at 10% markup it will be worth you while. Lets put it another way, if another 'one stop shop' cleaning contractor comes in and says yeah we can do the curtains but we can also do a deal for the tiles etc... then you might be out of a bit of business.

thats the way i would look at things mate.  if theres a rainbow international near you they do that sort of stuff, try and do a deal with them.

[Paul Heath]

yeah already there with that one.....we are waiting for the "houskeeping director" to get hold of the swatch's, we will then now which way we are going.
We are going to launder the vouls and then fire retard them.
Thanks for all your help and advice.

[homenclean]

craftex do a flame retardant very economical.

Also why not use craftex dry clene smells nice and all you have to do is give the curtains a good vac front and back mist with solution and then towel.

You`ll  be supprised how much dirt comes off and how much freshher they smell.
Not great though if hevily soiled or stained but does a great job at refreshhing and brightening them.

John