[benny d]

Hi all,
Im new here, and this is my first post. I have been viewing the forum messages for a few months since I started my business about 5 months ago. I am in the Worthing area, and use a Steamway 9100 and Alltec Advantage (as there are alot of problems in parking our big van where we want to for the Truckmount),all bought from that lovely??? bloke in Fowlmere called Robert Saunders. Or as he likes to be known by the Nickname............. God 
I was trained by the one and only Paul Pearce,.......... but never mind!
As you probably realise, I am on a steep learning curve atm so these questions might be totally daft, but I dont know the answers, so bear with me, tnx

1. A person just called about what he said was furniture called, or made of Bison? He said it looks like Elephant skin. Could be a Microfibre? Confused!!Its in none of my books, and I have just done a search on this site and came up with nothing about how to claen it. Does anyone know if is wet cleanable or not? I wondered if it could be cleaned like leather but he said he didnt think so. Any help on that one ??

2. I am cleaning a few rooms on Monday with a 100% wool Berber carpet. The lady is a bit worried as the last time she had a wool bereber (not this one), cleaned it Fuzzed up and she is worried that the same thing might happen again. I presume that it is OK to wet clean with the TM, or is there any advise that I need to know in advance, or anything that is special to this type of carpet?

Many thanks in advance

Ben ( and Sam , The old boy 

PS: Hi malc 

[Karl Wildey]

Berber go fuzzy if you agitate a lot, you should use a cylinder vac, not an upright and so should the customer.
TM cleaning no problems and the same for a portable.

You need to look at the upholstery, 99.9% chance it is manmade. look at the back of the fabric. You should be able to tell whether this is a manufacture piece, or animal skin attached to some form of backing. You can always ask to take a cushion off-site to have it checked, either by a more experience cleaner, or clean it yourself.

Its the 0.01% that may be a problem.

Robert, Alltec, chemicals and machines, a good start, keep at it you will go far. Hope to see you posting on here more

[Ian Rochester]

Benny

Good morning and welcome. 

The "bison" material is more than likely "buffalo hide" which is a manmade material made to look like suede or animal hide, a lot of cleaners will not touch it but in actual fact it is quite easy to clean, with some care notes. 

Do a search on buffalo and you should get the information you require

Old joke:

"What's the difference between a bison and a buffalo?"

"You can't wash your face in a buffalo"

[Karl Wildey]

The main thing to beware of with this type of material, is if it is the manmade fabric and you can wet clean it, You must not over wet it, or it may delaminate, (speed up drying using towels or a blower, both is best). And BEWARE with solvents, some will leave a bald patch in the fabric and you are then in big trouble.

[Martin S]

Hi Ben & Sam,

If you are who I think you are, (Father & son) We were on the same course at Royston last Nov'.  You still on Fast track?

Regards

Martin

[benny d]

Hi again guys,
Many thanks for the responses.
I dont have a cylinder vac, but I use a Sebo 36, so I will have to set it at the highest level so that it doesnt dig in too much to the carpet. I hope that this will be ok. I wont agitage too much and see what happens from there. The lady has some makeup on the floor, but I will tread carefully!

As for the Bison. I found some info on another forum, and the info here is a big help as well, so thanks again.

Martin:- Yes that was Sam and me at Alltec last Oct/Nov. I think we were doing an IICRC exam. The less said about that the better ;-) .We had been to Alltec alot over the course of last Summer. We did all the schools at least twice, to try and soak up as much info as possible from Mr Pearce. Its the only time I have ever been to "school" and enjoyed it! So thanks again Paul. Sam sends his luv !!
We are still on the "Fast Track". The info is excellent, but I am not sure it is worth the full outlay. Just my POV.
Hope things are going well for you.
Bye for now
Ben