[Derek_Walker]

Simon, my own personal experience tells me that HWE will remove far more soil than LM, especially when the carpets are fully laden with soil. I believe LM is far better suited to commercial, low profile carpets where the benefits of using such a system are superior to HWE. I would not use LM in a domestic situation, unless the carpets were in a very good condition, or the customer specifically wanted a quick drying system. This would still be at my discretion as to whether or not it was the right choice.
What are you intending to use the LM system for?

[Simon Gerrard]

Derek,

That sounds like the perfect approach.
I can't say that I am thinking of introducing the LM as a service, but like you say if the circumstances point towards the use of an LM method, then I would use it, as I believe that all professional carpet cleaners should be equipped to deal with all kinds of carpets in all kinds of conditions and not just some carpets, or the carpets that suit their chosen method.

Which chemicals do you use? Is there any difference between one type of pad to another. What about Encap, do you use that and if so in what circumstances?
We've got some large commercials coming up, some with filthy areas which LM may be able to deal with. Just out of interest how would you deal with these areas?

Simon

[jasonl]

Surely saying that a professional carpet cleaner should offer all types of cleaning , is like saying that a professional car dealer should offer all makes of car, I do LM it works, it works for me, it works for my customers. You decide to invest 40k or whatever on a set up , I do not . Everyone is happy.

[derek west]

heres what i'd do for what its worth.

not sure if those dark marks are oil based but lets say they are.

prespray hot with powerburst, then citra boost neat sprayed onto the oil marks, agitate with enviro then rinse off with clearwater rinse.

then spray a bonnet with split-x and bonnet over the traffic areas till no more transfer, then dry bonnet again til no transfer,

then wait for the owner to say "WOW" get paid go maccies.

[garry22]

We've got some large commercials coming up, some with filthy areas which LM may be able to deal with. Just out of interest how would you deal with these areas?

This was done with Dry Fusion recently...

Before and after photo's ...

[Simon Gerrard]

Jason,
what I don't get about your business model is that you have turned your back on the most popular carpet cleaning system on the planet, bar none.
What happens when you get to a job or quote that is too dirty for LM?
To my mind any professional carpet cleaner should be equipped to clean any carpet regardless of colour, condition or age and yet you only offer LM, which seems utterly bonkers to me, but obviously it works for you and I'll lay odds your competitors aren't too miffed about it either.

Derek,

that's pretty much what I had in mind for it. Crikey, we must stop agreeing

Garry,

That looks good. Talk me through the process.

Simon

[jasonl]

I have passed over 1 job in the past year that the customer wanted a TM on, and another where the blacktop was bad so I suggested they call a TM operator.

[jasonl]

Amd in reality , few customers, know or care how we clean carpets,  yes  somebody built the website , not knowing how I clean

[Derek_Walker]

Although I think LM would be able to deal with this, I would use HWE for this job. These look like very high traffic area's, probably with compacted dry soil in the pile. My first objective would be to remove as much of that soil first, your Flexi 5 would be ideal for that. Then prespray with Powerburst and a booster, like energiser from Chemspec. Agitate in, allow a dwell time, then acid rinse. Follow up with a bonnet.
Derek beat me to it, I would forget the maccies, gotta watch my figure, and you are probably more into pies up where you are.

For low moisture cleaning I use a heated dry fusion machine, and my chemical of choice at the moment is Fusion Clean from Solutions. It smells nice and is very effective and economical.

As far as bonnets are concerned, I have always found my Dry Fusion bonnets to be pretty absorbant with just the right amount of agitation. I have tried the Charley pads but could not get on with them. I also have some microfibre pads which I find are very absorbant.

I have tried encap, and have used these with my Cimex machine, to be honest, although I think it has potential, I would much prefer to remove soil with a bonnet rather than leave the soil to be vacuumed later.

[Neil Williams]

Can I butt in here please
We've already seen impressive pics of a LM clean that most would say should be HWE only.
No one is saying LM does it all and Jason has already admitted off loading to a TM when it was needed, so why not advertise everything, and in the event it's too much then sub it out, or like I do with  Jason and a few others pass on jobs. Afterall (and in my case) I would rather build up a relationship with other carpet cleaners other than take anything and everything, and no one to call for help when its needed.

[Simon Gerrard]

Derek,

I think you're spot on there and pretty much on track as to how we were planning to do the job.
The bonneting part of it fits in where I though LM might come in useful. There are also some less dirty areas on these jobs where we could use LM on it's own which is why I've been so interested in how other people deal with these situations and the answer seems to be through a combination of different techniques.

Thanks

Simon

[garry22]

Simon,

Re; the pictures.

It was an end of tenancy clean and every carpet in the house looked like that.

The landlord said " I don't think the deposit will cover the damage to this house. Anything you can do to save any carpet here will be a bonus".

Stages.

1/ Thorough dry vac with Sebo upright (on larger office jobs we use a holloway pile lifter).

2/ Pre spray with DF "Restore" (Dry Fusion's HD prespray that is still pretty much neutral PH)

3/ Agititate with shampoo brush.

4/ Clean using wrung out DF pad and DF "Activator" (the standard chemical with a citris / vanilla perfume that the landlord insists on because "it smells like it's been cleaned").

5/ Put turbo dryer on to get it dry very quickly (not part of the official DF process but I do it to get the areas dry ASAP).

I have to say the result shocked me on this one as I thought the carpets would have to be scrapped.

Probably the only difference to normal DF cleaning was step 3, the agitation. Normally the DF pads are good enough on their own but this case needed a little bit more.

Hope that helps.

Garry

[premiermaids]

Great post Garry - very useful.

Can I ask how you did the stairs?

Regards

Jim

[derek west]

and following up premiers question, can i ask why you did the hall before the stairs?

the thing i question about LM (and no doubt i'll get some sheeheight for this) is, surely, allthough it looks clean on top, you haven't got all the lower soiling out and therefore the carpet will, fill up quicker so to speak, and also i'm sceptical of all the chems you put into the carpet, surely the two points ive made are a recipe for rapid resoiling.

don't get me wrong i do value bonnetting and i know for a fact that it can get certain stuff out that a truckmount can't. but as a stand alone solution to the perfect clean, surely not.

[wynne jones]

There are loads of situations carpet cleaners come up against week in week out that if you use LM on you are using the wrong tool for the job.

If it's the only tool in the draw you either have to pass on it or end up not doing a proper job. To not have the equipment to HWE (even a portible) that's not good sense to me at all.

[idealrob]

Jason,

You always seem to start you contribution by making some statement that is irrelevant, as if no one will believe you unless you state that first. Because of LM, you've flown around the world, put your kids through school, got exams on three continents, all of which is very good but has nothing to do with the subject matter.
But while you mention it, of course there is some dirt and debris left in a carpet after it has been cleaned, even with a Titan, but surely a lot less after a Titan, or any HWE system than with an LM method?
You are also quite fond of making grand statements like, 'padding will often remove stains that a TM cannot,' can you explain that? It's not that I disbelieve you, Jason, it's just that you don't back up your grand statements and just expect people to believe them on face value.

I find that customers want a carpet that looks and smells clean ,and dries very quickly ,and hold those 3 factors higher in thier priority list than the carpet actually being clean.
So customer ringing up to get their carpet cleaned aren't really looking for it to be clean, just look and smell clean?
My experience of former LM customers, Chem-dry being the most prominent of them was that the customers says that although the carpet looked clean when it was first done, but within a few days it looked dirty again.

I know you must think I am being argumentative but I'm not. I am trying to see where LM fits in as a cleaning system and what it can offer a customer, that other systems can't and hence my questioning on the subject.

Simon

The whole point of Jason, putting his kids through school, got exams on 3 continents, and made lots of money is the point, you say it has nothing to do with cleaning carpets, it has everything to do with cleaning carpets, it prove he has made money and is succesful, a point that some people miss, we are business men after all. My father who is now 85 , made a million through carpet cleaning, using then the buffer/scrubber wit a brush fitted and using a dry foam detergent, this was in the 60 & 70`s. there are 2 other carpet cleaners, I know of from that time, who know the science and have so called qualification in cleaning, but still live in a council house. Thats the point, does a good job, but not enough to buy a house.
As for Jason turning down a couple of jobs a year, my dad has a saying "we only clean clean things"

i will leave it at that

idealrob

[derek west]

so the idea is to make money regardless?

just not my style. but thanks anyway.

[idealrob]

No, the idea is not to make money regardless, but it proves success. Why do people respect Sir Alan Sugar, Richard branson etc, I run my business of a little rug cleaning, but mostly dry cleaning, like johnsons on the high street, it not about money, just enjoy my job and the business, even after being the only ever winner of drycleaner of the year, in the north, and i mean north of Rugby, well respected as the best cleaner in the tees valley, but money is not my motive, hapiness & quality of life, 15 years ago walked away from a £4k a week job to enjoy familly life, so proves money not motive, my father was more succesful, but thats another story

idealrob

[wynne jones]

You will never be happy if you chase money. I seen that film wallstreet. I said to me self hope I never end up greedy and a snob. Do what you love and give people more than they expect and you will do OK