Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: derek west on October 12, 2008, 06:16:09 pm
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ok, finally doing my first suite.
whats the best chemical for a general clean all though the arms and front of the seats are quite dirty. was thinking of using one step with lots of agitation then extract with water or clearwater rinse, not sure what the rinsing procedure is for microsplitter as ive never used it. any help will be appreciated and taken on board.
derek
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Derek
They usually scrub up well. I would use Pure Clean and water rinse.
Most suites I will use Fabric restorer and acid rinse.
Mike
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mike
so whats the diff beween the two, why pure clean (what is that) over restorer for this job?
derek
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Same as mike, i would use Pureclean pre-spray agitate then fresh water rinse also.
If its really trashed use fabric restorer and rinse with Fabric / fibre rinse.
Mark
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It's ok using Pure clean but it's practically the same Ph as Fabric Restorer,
www.chemspecdirect.co.uk/#6614X6885
This is ph7 and does what it says on the tin, nice and simple for your first suite.
Shaun
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fabric restorer with asid rinse
dont ask so many questions ;D
just do it ;D
good luck
Daryl
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Derek play it safe and then move onto what Daryl says after that you'll be using Craftex champion ::)
www.restormate.co.uk/epages/15094.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/15094/Products/0033/SubProducts/0033
Shaun
PS I am only kidding
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well its either a m/s which ive never used before or natural orange, can't decide which, ive got fab rest but thought that was for the mingers.
so much choice, i'm confused dot com.
but daryl says im not allowed to ask questions so pretend i'm talking to myself ;D
derek
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Fabric restorer will be fine if thats what you already have on board the van.
Mark
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fabric restorer, clearwater rinse and it came up a treat, and even better it was pretty much dry before i left, customer was well happy and my confidense in cleaning suites was given a massive boost, got another quote tomoz so fingers crossed.
ps, took 2 of us one hour and like i said it was a cracking job.
pps, we cleaned a carpet while the blowers were drying the suite so it wouldn't of been as dry if we didn't have that to do. total job £120 3+1+puff+small carpet, 1 and half hours.
ppps, wasn't that hard work and quite enjoyed it, but i did have help so i'll wait till i do one on my own before i judge if its hard or not.
derek
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Sounds like it went ok for you derek
Well done mate its always a bit tricky doing your first one in a clients house.
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cheers clinton.
roll on the next one, got a quote on one tomoz so fingers crossed.
derek
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Glad all went well, i still remember my first suite.
What did you use to clean the cushions on, did you use some sort of table?
Saves the back!
Mark
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drop sheet on the floor, my mate sprayed and agitated and i extracted, simple realy, i extracted with water flow then went over slowly with water off, well effective for drying times, snail blower on and it was practically dry in 20 mins,
backs not to bad but like i said, there was 2 of us and it only took an hour, on me own i might be better with a table like ya said. didn't clean the back, is that standard practice or do you guys do that as well?
derek
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I very rarely extract the backs of suites, and not always the sides, only if there's a specific reason to, i.e. pets rubbing along them or airborne soiling.
However, the very least they'll get is vacuumed, spray with solution and towelled over. My own personal view is that if someone had come to clean my suite I'd expect them to do all of it, not part, so I work to the same standard.
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The table idea is a good one, what you use a decorators fold up.
Sometimes do the back depends on the situation.
Doesn't take 2 mins to run hand tool over it.
John
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I tip one of the arm chairs onto its front against the suite then use the back of the chair as a platform to clean the cushions, works a treat. A tip i picked up years ago on a Prochem training course.
Mark
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I hope you have a testing method in place Derek, otherwise you are going to come a cropper eventually.
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testing method???
not sure what you mean mike?
derek
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Testing means if you tip it up and hear a money it's yours!
Shaun
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What Mike's getting at Derek is that you'll clean 20 suites in a row that are resilient to pretty much anything you chuck at them, then the next one you might end up owning.
As time goes on, more and more upholstery fabrics are made to be very suitable to clean with HWE, 10 or 20 years ago it was a much bigger problem, the unwary cleaner would have been caught out.
My advice would be to get a bit more training on upholstery cleaning but don't end up being scared of it. There's countless times I've been convinced I'm going to trash a suite if I extract it, spend an hour testing and drying off only to find it's perfectly fine.
Unless it's a fabric you absolutely know is fine for HWE, do a little test area first on the part that turn up onto the bench under the cushions. Put a few spotters on it, spray it, agitate aggressively to check for pilling problems, then give it a good blast through... and most importantly dry it off to see the final result.
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so jim.
what mike is saying is that i don't know what i'm doing and eventually i'll fck a suite up, because i don't do fibre testing using the burn test and i don't check for colour run using the cleaning solutions ive okayed for the job.
maybe i should go on one of them course thingy's that teach you how to do all them things i don't know how to do,
derek
ps was that sarcy enough or could i have done better?
marks out of 10 please
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Suprised you never did the back, I always make a point of doing the lot :D
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Derek
You have come along way so quickly I think people forget you are a Newbie. (Take that as a complement not sarcasm) ;D
I test every suite from prespray to dry with a hairdyer, I'm paranoid about wear, dyes, lurking indelible pen, the lot. But for the sake of 10 minutes I sleep easy.
The other thing is if you test you are not limited to what is 'deemed safe', you can use something quicker on poope sofas.
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the only way to test a fabric is too set up your machinery and clean a sample of the fabric with the exact same procedure you will use to clean the rest of the suite, dabbing it with solution & spotter won't tell you enough ( what if the fabric is sensitive to heat, how will a spotter tell you this? )
I often tell the client I will clean the full pouffe as a test, then we can see if its safe to continue.
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5/10 I've heard you do better!
Shaun
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thats how you spell pouffe, bin buggin me for ages, or is it???
mike h
what if you fork the pouffe up.
seems a bit drastic for a test.
i'll stick with testing the good old ncca way,
not messed up a carpet so far and yes, i have turned a couple down.
ozzy
good sound advice, sorry bout the sarcasm, just letting you know i've got some knowledge on the subject and am not a total cowboy.
ps whats a hairdryer, think i remember them from the 80's when they actually came in handy, not anymore unfortunately, good job the wifes a slapper, i mean good job the wife likes a slaphead. hope shes not reading my posts.
shaun, its been a long day but 5/10 is a bit harsh. and i didnt get the suite i qouted on. she'd had it cleaned before, i asked how much, she said £35 quid, i laughed, and i mean laughed, she said he didn't do a good job, i laughed even more, she said and it was soaking wet through, by this time so was i. told her the price but not before i told her to sit down, she said go on then and i said, no seriously! sit down. anyway i didnt get it, all though she asked for my card so she could think about it. so i nearly sold it to her, i think if the cowboy had charged around £55 to £65 i could of swung the difference, oh well nevermind.
derek
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Derek
Think you will get to know the ones that are going to be shocked ;D
I used that sit down method the other day :D