[Amberleyandmick]

hi... i have just looked at a suite. a existing customer has been given a suite that has been stored in a garage for a few yrs and it smells. she called me to come and have a look at it to see if i can clean it.. the person that sold it to her said it must be dry cleaned.. there are no labels on it . the nap is so tight i cant find a fibre for a burn test(i have looked inside cushion covers) i am 99%  sure it is synthetic.. feels like a high polyester content similar to other suites i have cleaned that did have a label.. have done a colour run test,shrink test and if i hadnt been told it must be dry cleaned i would have no hesitation in cleaning it( i use m/s by the way)  the dry cleaning specialist she has contacted has said he dosent want to touch it... should i say the samething ? i dont like turning work down but i have not ruined anything in the 8 months i have been cleaning and i would like to keep it that way.....mick

[Tony_Browning]

Put the risk with the customer....
Tell her that you have reservations about cleaning and agree to clean 1 cushion and dry it to see results, but get customer to sign disclaimer first...chances are it will clean up perfectly well...Then you can proceed with caution.

Rgds
Tony.

[Doug Holloway]

Mick,

Lots of suites have a mixture of fibres , sometimes various synthetics and sometimes natural and sythetics.

If you do a colour bleed and its o.k then provided you do not use too hot water or get it really wet you should get a good result.

I've wet cleaned hundreds of 'dry clean only'suites and never had a problem.

Cheers

Doug

[Kinver_Clean]

The problem may not go away with a straight clean. A 'fusty ' smell may well be activated with a vengeance. It was suggested to me that an ozone generator would cure the same problem I had. The customer never went ahead with it and scrapped the suite instead so I dont know if it would have worked.

Trevor