[Joe W Brown]

Following advice from people on here I thought I'd have a go at speeding things up on the job.


1 small room (maybe 3.5m by 3m) - synthetic, 1 small hall (3.5 by 2m) - wool mix and 2 small polyester rugs to be cleaned

Both rooms where very heavy traffic marked, not been cleaned in years if ever. Rugs where good condish though.

I arrived at 10.15

- Hoovered all rooms. North south east west where I could. Took maybe 5-7 minutes.

- Mixed up some power burst. Normally I would use split-x with orange-x, but I thought I'd follow people's advice and try Powerburst.

- Sprayed all carpets, focussing on traffic lanes.

- Agitated with sebo. At this point I sprayed some Eco-x (solvent spotter) on some of the traffic lanes and agitated some more.

- Rinsed all rooms with my air flex storm at 500psi.

Well all rooms rinsed. Time taken so far 1 hour, from arrriving at house.

The synthetic carpet looked a good few shades cleaner, although the traffic lanes still looked brown on the cream carpet.

The wool mix didnt appear to have changed much at all. Traffic lanes very visible, the red pile looking a very dirty brown colour. I have pics that I'll post up later.


Rugs looked clean. But then again they looked clean when I got there!


I then went on to spent 45 mins testing out Spot-x and warm mpower (mixed at maybe 1:20) on the traffic lanes. Didn't seem to be making much difference so at 12pm I packed up. Client said when prompted for oppinion "yeh, they look much better", but something about the robotic tone of her voice suggested that she was dissapointed. Normally at this stage I would waste about half a bottle of spot-x trying to improve the traffic lanes and the grotty wool carpet. I would have spent another 1 hour maybe 2. But no - I packed up.

At 12.15 I said goodbye to client and left. Job took 2 hours.


Ill post up photos of finished clean later. I'm certainly not walking with a spring of pride at the moment.

[Ferenc G.]

Both rooms where very heavy traffic marked, not been cleaned in years if ever. Rugs where good condish though.

Don't expect miracles on a neglected carpet, you are a carpet cleaner not a magician. The one important thing in this situatuion to prepare the customers for the limited results. 2 hours sounds reasonable.

[*Hector*]

M power at 1:20 mix is far far too strong...

It needs water mixed in with it to work.... The lowest ratio should be 1:80...

1:100 is usually right with hot water and dwell time of 10 mins (this includes agitation) before extraction...

[Joe W Brown]

Both rooms where very heavy traffic marked, not been cleaned in years if ever. Rugs where good condish though.

Don't expect miracles on a neglected carpet, you are a carpet cleaner not a magician. The one important thing in this situatuion to prepare the customers for the limited results. 2 hours sounds reasonable.

Unfortunatly I'm competing with many companies in Norwich who promise "carpets like new"

I wish I knew what their secret was. Maybe I should have used some oxi-brite today?

Also, would enzall have helped?

[Joe W Brown]

M power at 1:20 mix is far far too strong...

It needs water mixed in with it to work.... The lowest ratio should be 1:80...

1:100 is usually right with hot water and dwell time of 10 mins (this includes agitation) before extraction...

Oh ok Thanks Hector.

[Ferenc G.]

Both rooms where very heavy traffic marked, not been cleaned in years if ever. Rugs where good condish though.

Don't expect miracles on a neglected carpet, you are a carpet cleaner not a magician. The one important thing in this situatuion to prepare the customers for the limited results. 2 hours sounds reasonable.

Unfortunatly I'm competing with many companies in Norwich who promise "carpets like new"

I wish I knew what their secret was. Maybe I should have used some oxi-brite today?

Also, would enzall have helped?

Don't get frustated by your competitors claims. Same rule applies... they are not magicians either.
IMHO, what you need is more experience, not a list of cleaning products. We've all been in the same situation when we started. 
Spend a day or two with a more experienced ccleaner as suggested on the other thread.

[JandS]

When they're fairly grotty I always ask them
what their expectations are then tell them what's
possible.

John

[Ian Gourlay]

Both rooms where very heavy traffic marked, not been cleaned in years if ever. Rugs where good condish though.

Don't expect miracles on a neglected carpet, you are a carpet cleaner not a magician. The one important thing in this situatuion to prepare the customers for the limited results. 2 hours sounds reasonable.

Unfortunatly I'm competing with many companies in Norwich who promise "carpets like new"

I wish I knew what their secret was. Maybe I should have used some oxi-brite today?

Also, would enzall have helped?

They lie or do not take on dodgy carpets . You decide who you work for, not the customer

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Joe

Have you tried hot water yet?

Cheers

Doug

[Joe W Brown]

Not yet Sweet Doug.

I'm planning on investing in a Lava for my storm soon.

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Joe

It will make a big difference.

Cheers

Doug

[Carpet Dawg]

Why you call him "sweet Doug"? Something you not telling us you's two??!    

Anyway, how long did you leave the powerburst down for? should be atleast 10 minutes dwell time before you extract. Longer if a minger. Also, make a stronger mix if its a minger (double the dosage) and be more heavy handed in the traffic lanes.

Like sweet doug said, heat also helps.

Sometimes its worth going over the carpet again i.e. pre-spray, quick agiate and extract. But only experance will tell you if its worth it.

Do you rinse with an acid rinse? Maybe worth trying Formula 90. Really does make a differance on smelly carpets.

[Paul Moss]

Joe are you cleaning with cold water and expecting to get good results?

[richie]

I know some bang on about cold water rinsing (we all know where that came from) , also these people say that by applying a warm / hot prespray is what does all the work and that the rinsing / extracting is merely just picking up the crap that the pre-spray has loosened.......well thats B******s.  Rinsing / extracting with hot water is far more effective than using cold water.  If the carpet is light medium soil the Prochem Pure Clean is what id choose.  Apply and allow 5 minutes dwell.  If a real minger then Prochem PowerBurst would be my choice, apply and allow 5 minutes dwell.

[Jamie Pearson]

I cant get on with fresh water rinsing let alone cold water rinsing.

In tank and hot water all the way for me. (when I aint encapping the other 95% of the building)

[Billy Russell]

Totally agree! I've tried all this cold water rinsing lark!!! hot rinse all the way!!!

[davep]

Make sure powdered pre sprays are thoroughly dissolved too

[Neil Jones]

I don't think I've ever rinsed at 500 psi, do many of you do that? You must be forever filling your portable.

[jim mca]

Joe

Cut your pressure down to 200psi and get a heater the magma is good on mingers use formula 90 liquid at half dilution
in the tank and let the powerburst work dwell dwell dwell stop wasting spotters as there expensive the best advice I can give
you is dont keep buying chems hoping to find the holy grail its not been invented read the info on products and learn what to
use and when to use it cleansmarts hd microsplitter is a great product for the type of work you had never boosted it if light
coloured I use spm from solutions   
   

[Joe W Brown]

Why you call him "sweet Doug"? Something you not telling us you's two??!    

Anyway, how long did you leave the powerburst down for? should be atleast 10 minutes dwell time before you extract. Longer if a minger. Also, make a stronger mix if its a minger (double the dosage) and be more heavy handed in the traffic lanes.

Like sweet doug said, heat also helps.

Sometimes its worth going over the carpet again i.e. pre-spray, quick agiate and extract. But only experance will tell you if its worth it.

Do you rinse with an acid rinse? Maybe worth trying Formula 90. Really does make a differance on smelly carpets.

   Re: Just classic
« Reply #4 on: Yesterday at 03:37:04 pm »   

Hi Guys

reminds me of some years ago cleaning a suite for a friend.

I noticed on his wall planner he had put Doug - sweet( he is dyslexic)

I said to him at the end that I didn't realise he felt this way about me!

Cheers

Doug

Thanks everso much for you replies, everyone. Very much appreciated.


Jim - do you think boosting cleansmart hd is too much? Up until now Ive tended to use microsplitters where I can (splitx or woolx) and always boost with orange-x when there are traffic lanes involved. Is this a bad idea?


Im gonna give Mpower and powerburst (later for dirty carpets especially) a play round i think, but i understand what u are saying about no magic solution.

I will certainly look into hot water extraction asap.