[*paul_moss]

How would you clean this type of upholstery and what is your chosen chemical ?

[Jason Hedges]

Hi mate,

I've cleaned a few used m/s and plain water rinse and fabric restorer/fibre and fabrc. Similar good results with both methods.

Always test for colour fastness and towel dry and use air movers to get dry asap or can get water marks appear and possible shrinkage.

All the best,
Jas.

[Mike Roper]

Shampoo in a bucket ,sponge foam onto suite panel at a time , rinse extract with acid rinse or neutral detergent if added cleaning power needed. Oxi agents can be used in the shampoo on lighter colours to improve appearance.
Mike

[carpet guy]

The only fabric that ever caused me serious trouble.................the last one I did split, but I' d warned the customer that it might happen, as it looked suspect.

That was about 15 years ago when there were still a fair number around. A hint of water and the foam seemed to explode.

[colin fitch]

Colour test first[ mostly floral pattens]
Pre-spray with one step[fine line p.h. 6.5]
Agitate[with tampico brush] not to hard on heavily soiled contact areas.
Acid Rinse extract[ with cfr hand tool]

ABOVE METHOD WOULD CHANGE ALONG WITH CONDITION.

COLIN.

[Mike Osbourne]

Well I must have manky customers, but to date I have never had a cotton suite that I could clean with MS only.

Fab Rest. HOT water and acid rinse. And then maybe need a second go.

Dirty beggers my clients.

[Jason Hedges]

Hi Mike,

Cleaning with m/s was hard work. Prespray, agitate, towel off, prespray, agitate, towel off, extract. Long winded but results were ok/good.

Havent used that procedure fo a while now. Prefer fab restorer / fibre & fabric.

Cotton prints are a nightmare, hate doing them and will walk if over dirty and customer wont accept predicted moderate results.

Luckily not too many around now as mentioned above.

Will do if custy insists and is prepared to a pay more for what will be a longer job to get even nearly acceptable result.

All the best,
Jason.

[Joe H]

and I thought it was only me that did'nt like cotton prints.
As already said - too much hard work for unpredicatable result - although its predictable it may not be all that good!

[Mike Osbourne]

My heart sinks when you have a carpet job in the bag with a great hourly rate and then she asks, oh and can you do my suite as well? 9 times out of 10 it will be a manky cotton you tell her how much and she goes, oh will it really cost that much?

You also have other issues like threadbear arms which are hidden by human body fat and permanent yellowing from their acrid sweat.

[carpet guy]

I havn't actually come across a cotton print for about 7 or 8 years, I hope the ones being discussed are  bit tougher than the old ones.

Are modern cotton prints nor removable for machine cleaning ?

[*paul_moss]

I dont like cotton printed fabric either thats why I put the post up. I have one to do Fri and tried my best to talk the customer out of it.
Yes it is the old style with the pattern printed on top of the cotton.
Yes its manky.
Yes its got big exposed white areas that are shaded.
Yes the pattern has lost some colour.
Do I hate doing these YES YES and Yes

I normally start of with m/s on cotton and  get good results, dont like to use fab restore as it has solvents in and does sometimes remove some of the colour.
Mike Ropers post with the Prochem mix is usually the way I go after the m/s.

[davep]

What micro splitters do you lads like to use?

[Derek_Walker]

I find that cotton can take just about anything that you can throw at it provided the colours are ok. I have even used blitz to good effect on the really manky ones, just make sure you bring it back down with an acid rinse. I was told many years ago that cotton actually becomes stronger when it is wet and that alkaline detergents won't hurt it.
If it has a yellowing problem you can use the Prochem oxibright with fibrebuff and shampoo it. Alternatively I have used Chemspecs powdered haitian cotton rinse to extract with, works really well although you won't see the results till it is dry. Also Chemspecs Haitian cotton shampoo does the same thing. Be warned, they do not smell nice so have plenty of ventilation.

[Mike Osbourne]

I'm going to put my prices up for these jobs and get a bumper sticker, I'd rather be doing leather.

May get some strange calls though.

[*paul_moss]

Derek I think you may find it the opposite way around mate.Cotton becomes weaker when wet and if the cotton is old or highly used it can break and disintergrate with just prespray and aggitation. Some cotton suites ive done have been so weak that I have had to put a tight or curtain mesh over it before using the hand tool. On using Blitz on cotton it is a similar thing to using it on wool, usually a no no but if cercumstances dictate. I personally would not use it on cotton as the ph is above 13 and the likely affect will be browning, the other thing im careful of as well is the old way of cleaning using a high ph then rinsing with a low ph, in some cases thats ok but in others the damage will have been done when the 13 ph chem has hit the fabric/yarn and sometimes the acidic rinse wont rectifiy that.

[Mike Osbourne]

I think the textbooks say cotton gets stronger, but in the real world thats certainly not been my experience with suites held together by people grease.

Paul

Thanks for your time earlier 

[Ken Wainwright]

Mike and Derek are right Paul.

Cotton becomes stronger when wet.
It's Rayon/Viscose that becomes weaker when wet.
On the burn test, it's difficult to differntiate between the two.

For trashed cotton I prefer the M/s prespray (I don't agitate seperately) followed by Prochem's Oxystuff blend with shampoo and occasionally boost the rinse with oxybrite too (at your own peril, esp on bolder colours). You don't have the same odour problems as with Chemspec's Haitian Cotton (but I do like this product)

Just a note. If you work with a reducer and an oxydiser on the same job, it is possible for one to neutralise the other or even change to a different colour! (One adds oxygen, one removes oxygen)

Safe and happy cleaning
Ken

[carpet guy]

If it's as you describe it Paul, I would be very suprised if it did not split very quickly when the water goes straight thrugh to the foam which of course expands and the fabric SPLITS.

Problem is.................you can't demonstrate this to a client, as it's only the area on top of the arms which gets affected by human oils.

Even with the CFR handtool, I had trouble with these.

rob

[Derek_Walker]

Paul,
that tip came courtesy of an ancient Prochem upholstery course, the other important tip regarding cotton is that it will deteriorate rapidly if left in direct sunlight, hence inform customers to keep their curtains shut or become cave dwellers, also wear head gear and gloves so as not to get grease on suite, also don't wear clothes that impart die to the fabric. Cotton really does not have much going for it 

[Dave_Lee]

Citrus prespray on bad greasy areas, MS prespray on the rest and rinse extract with UM, great results every time. Important to evenly wet to avoid water marking. Colours are almost bombroof safe if its a print, but suffer badly from fading done thousands, although not many in the last 5 or so years.
Dave.