[Jim_77]

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.

[derek west]

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

[davep]

Suprised you never did the back, I always make a point of doing the lot 

[Mike Osbourne]

Derek

You have come along way so quickly I think people forget you are a Newbie. (Take that as a complement not sarcasm)

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.

[Mike Halliday]

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.

[Shaun_Ashmore]

5/10 I've heard you do better!

Shaun

[derek west]

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

[clinton]

Derek

Think you will get to know the ones that are going to be shocked 

I used that sit down method the other day