[clive ware]

Does anyone clean curtains?
I have been asked more in the last 6 months than my entire 22 years cleaning carpets if I clean curtains in situ.
If you do, what machine/technique do you use?
Cheers.

[markpowell]

Depending on the material, i normally dry vac, then mist with PSG and wipe with terry towel until no more soil transfer.
Mark

[robert meldrum]

There was a dry solvent machine on here last week

[kerrpmiddleton]

i got a toto drycleaning machaine for sale its like brand new it works asi tryed it out not long ago i got when i bought a truck mount of some it came with it guy said he used it acouple of times , looking for £350, for it as am looking to buy mostice cleaner for my truck mount, u can give me phone 01968673084, if ur intrested

[edward coller]

I have an Alltec Sahara Machine for sale purpose built with Viton seals for dry cleaning curtains or upholstery £250. all in Tel 07717 580085 Simon

[Shaun_Ashmore]

I've been doing curtains regularly for about a year nice bit of add on work but a bit fussy I have a mix of solvent cleanables and MS which one of the 2 Alltec machines have you got?

Shaun

www.alltec.co.uk/page/1gfi/Portables/Saharas.html

[clinton]

Hi shaun

Was going to say ask shaun ashmore you beat me to it

[gwrightson]

Are people afraid to do curtains, its really not that difficult to get decent results.

as a general guide for most materials , vac, mist m/s, aggitate with micro fibre cloth then simply towel off if not to bad , or a terry towel over the head of a steam cleaner running along the curtain whilst supporting the back of curtain with a plasterers board, " the board was a tip from john kelly and works well"  or simply extract with a l/m tool again using board. My prefered method is the steam as it does dress the curtains as well.

Geoff.

ps The steam method was taught by Derick Bolton on one of his courses .

[Doctor Carpet (Ret'd)]

Hi Geoff

I would certainly be interested in watching/learning that method of cleaning.

When I started out the only way I knew was by vacing and then spraying dry cleaning solvent on before extracting.

I didn't like it for several reasons:
Using a handtool for spraying and extracting was heavy and I used to find solvent leaking all over the place.
But that wasn't the main reason. I really didn't like spraying solvents around in people's houses for their health as much as mine.
Also vacing the curtains both back and front was a pain. Most of the dirt accumulates in the top quarter of curtains where all the gathering is. This is difficult to get out. Often therefore you were working above head hight and was a drag on arms. Also standing between the window and the curtains often meant I gently fried if there was any warmth in the sun.
Finally I wasn't really pleased with the results. I also didn't feel that the price I wanted to charge for the time and equipment involved would be tolerated by customer (it is so much more labour intensive, which a client wouldn't see if they take curtains down , deliver and pick up from the cleaners and where the dry cleaners simply put into a large vat of solvent and then iron.) So unless the curtains had incredibly complicated tails and swags, or if the customer didn't want to be without curtains for a couple of days then advising them to take to a dry cleaners was always my preferred option. I did have a dry cleaner I recommended who would come to the property, remove .clean, return and hang and I would often get carpet cleaning referrals by return.

My carpet and upholstery cleaning is sufficiently developed to not need the income this would bring in but I freely acknowledge that your method might be a new trick this old dog would do well to learn.

Roger

[JandS]

Yes pain in the ass, I do the same, tell 'em to take 'em to dry cleaners.
Only tried it once and never again.

John

[gwrightson]

well , John to be honest I feel you are wasting an opportunity to earn decent money,
its not that difficult surly to stand on some step ladders to get to the height you want , ok can be a little tiring on the arms , but so can lots of other jobs.

geoff

[carpet_care]

I have posted a few times on here about this before ,the vast majority of curtains can be cleaned using hot water extraction at about 70 to100 psi and a cfr tool .

 I used to use hot solvent with the ninja until the solvent pump gave up about 9 years ago and have cleaned many many curtains this way ever since with no problem. 

 I did 3000.00 worth of cleaning in a convent this way last year no probs.


 The only time I did have a problem was when I first started cleaning them this way and stupid me pre sprayed a minging door curtain with a 10 litre gloria pressure sprayer at fully pumped up pressure and watched it shrink before my very eyes

  Other than that no problems and looks a lot better to the customer than just spraying and towelling off, if I had to resort to doing that I would rather not take the customers money off them

   Regards Andy Locke.

[gwrightson]

Andy,

I think you will find that a tiny amount of shrinking is going to occur on most materials, this is normaly minimal and is acceprted with in the industry allowing for a small percentage , not to sure what the figures are, sure somebody will tell.
I always qualify with the custy first.

geoff

[JandS]

If you can HWE them I would do them.
What solution you use? F and F Rinse do it?
Do you use a pre - spray?
Presume you take them down and clean on a sheet.

John

[gwrightson]

John ,
the whole idea of cleaning them ,is in situ , no need to take them down ,
m/s is what I use as you only need to mist.

Geoff

[JandS]

Best place for m/s??
Never used 'em before.
Going to give it a go on mother in laws.
What sort of price per sq m would be acceptable?
Getting interested now

John

[clinton]

John

Thought you said you were going to use m s on your mother in law

You could try mine first

[gwrightson]

John,

a number of companies supply m/s  , they vary slightly in price , and as far as I can see no difference between any of them. Having said that some may contradicte me but I have yet to see anyone put forward results from testing different m/s under the same conditions

Craftex m/s imo will do the trick and when I require them i get from john at restormate.

Geoff

[carpet_care]

I tend to use liquid formula 90 at woolsafe dilutions as a rinse with no pre spray and add a bitt over deodoriser in the tank makes all the difference to the custy if they smell fresh or spray a mist of ni17 room spray on them.


  Andy Locke.

[Shaun_Ashmore]

How long does it take you to clean curtains Andy? I charge by the sq ft and find that 40p per sq ft works well for me.

Shaun