[JS2]

Dear Colleagues

The prospect of the potentially shrinking Belgium Wilton has both fascinated and alarmed me for a very long time.  However I, and I'm sure others, would welcome comments regarding a 'reliable' wet clean of this carpet (which is assumably the deepest possible clean) and the merits of regularly delegating this cleaning task to the LM (bonnetting) or VLM (dry granule) methods.

Regards

Pete (JS2)

[Bob Robertson]

Pete

I have always hwe these without any ever shrinking. Pre spay, aggitate, turn the pressure down on my machine , extract, turbo dry.

Bob

[elliott cleaning]

How can you clean a carpet by turning the pressure down?
One of the fundamentals of HWE is high flushing to get the dirt out.  The secret is not so much reducing the rinse flow as to increasing the vacuum extraction

[Kev Loomes]

Using a wonderwand at normal (not low) pressure solves this problem.

Failing that, make sure there's a good fixing, dont over wet and it wont be an issue.

[Shaun_Ashmore]

I've shrunk 2 over the years and kicked them back, BW usually goes hand in hand with cheaper fitting and cheaper clients. A fitter I know has a letter in his van stating that BW has to have double gripper rods when fitting (this is an insurance policy for the supplier) but who's going to pay for that?

BW is fitted by cutting it to the shape of the room there's not much excess for stretching as it can rip, luckily for me approx 1/2 inch was an easy one, a guy in Manchester area has the record of 7" shrinkage so I've been told.

Shaun

[Neil Williams]

a guy in Manchester area has the record of 7" shrinkage so I've been told.

7"......what did he do pressure wash it

[Shaun_Ashmore]

I don't know it was years ago when I heard the story probably when BW were in their height popularity/infancy and just beginning to be cleaned.

Shaun

[clinton]

I have heard that storie shaun or one similar here in cheshire am thinkin it was about 12 years ago when the b w were v popular

Must say never liked doing them so do a l m clean on them now

[markpowell]

Make sure they are fixed down securely, if you are not 100% satisfied tack down every 12" or so with carpet tacks leaving the head proud for easy removal once dried. I have cleaned loads of these over the years without any problems at all.
Mark

[robert meldrum]

A guy who worked for me shrunk one and this is a word of warning for the less experienced.  It shrunk because of carelessness............the return tank lid had not been closed properly !!!!!!!!!!!!

[clinton]

There are v earlier b willtons around from the 90s that were prone to shrinkage did one myself before xmas that had already moved away from there wall

[will01]

Bw's are usually not a problem with hwe as long as it's well laid and you keep 3-4 inches away from the edges.

Doing this isn't a problem as usually carpet edges are quite clean.

The only time really the carpet edge is dirty is at doorways instead of at walls.

I would then spray some zip dry onto the dirty area, agitate, dry extract and finish with a good bonnet over the entire area.

[JS2]

I'm pleased to see that this rather old posting of mine has been brought back to the forefront.  I did a BW in November and tried a method which I think was suggested by Doug Holloway, re: final rinse-extract with raised wand spray-over.  No problems experienced and carpet dry fairly quick.  I just hope that this wasn't mere luck !

Keep 'em coming.

Regards

Pete (JS2)