Usually there is to much suction for me unless the rug is large thick and heavy. Most of the time I bring out the porty for area rugs. Saves on gas too.
The most thorough cleaning will be done in a rug plant or even a mini-plant set-up in your garage or shop area. A surface cleaning can be done with either portable or truckmount, but this method will not clean deep into the foundation of most rugs. It may be all that is required for some flat weave styles. The surface cleaning can make a rug look better, but not remove soils that are held deep in the pile knots and foundation. I think cleaning with a portable or truckmount is acceptable for synthetic area rugs. There value doesn't always call for the most thorough cleaning at a top dollar price. Many cleaners who don't have a rug plant or don't have sufficient volume to consider setting up a mini-plant, will work with a company that does have in-plant cleaning. They usually offer a "wholesale to the trade" discount that will allow a cleaner to pick-up the rug, take it to the plant for cleaning at a discounted price, return the rug to the client and make a nice profit.
So people that don't have thousand dollar rugs don't deserve the best cleaning. Have you ever even washed a Rug Scott? Where? How? If you did you would know that some synthetics are harder to get Clean then Wool rugs. They can be harder to dust. They can be matted down from foot traffic and poorly cleaned for years with truckmounts and portables and other surface cleanings that only make them look better, not be cleaner.
I've been cleaning some of our area rugs with the cimex and getting better results than steam cleaning.
Sometimes I think someone is looking for an argument. I never said anyone did not deserve the best cleaning. But in practical terms I don't think a $200 or $300 rug is worth a $200 cleaning. If the rug can not be cleaned and restored to acceptable appearance by surface cleaning then maybe the best plan is to buy a new rug. Maybe they want a change of scenery anyway.
we will clean synthetic rugs on location using truckmount, we have 1 person stand on one edge while the other cleans + extract it usualy works perfect. I agree with scott, although we give the client the option, most people dont want to spend $200 to have a $150 rug thoroughly cleaned in a wash plant so they opt for quick surface clean or replacment. I dont know how you can argue with that....
I clean all types of rugs in the persons home. I charge about the same as a carpet cleaning. I am honest and inform people I am just getting the surface dirt off and that if they want a true cleaning I will take it to my friend who has a plant. My butler has a low vacuum setting, I turn the water temp down, apply a ph netural cleaner and do alot of dry passes. The truth is most people have cheap rugs in there home and the posts about a 200 cleaning for a 150 dollar rug are correct.
In Iraq they wash hand knotted carpets in the Euphrates River, so a little surface cleaning with hand detail to any fringe with a truck mount won't hurt. I might suggest that TM cleaning is gentler on the carpet. Pit washers wrangling soaking wet wool rugs into the wringer and pulling and tugging them during drying sometimes leaves the door open for damage and shrinkage. Some in plant rug cleaners dry rugs in the sun which can cause fading of colors. All my custys that have valuable wool carpets never subject them to abuse and only want to freshen them. We will not service them on wood flooring or laminate,duh.
The bigger question here is - are you getting the rug clean? And if you are doing it in the home, with a truckmount, you are not. And down the road there will be damage to that rug directly the result of how you are cleaning it now. "Freshening" them up is not what should be done to wool rugs. And anyone who feels that washing rugs is worse than steam cleaning them has never been in a professional rug plant. Or at least not in the right one. A compression rubber roller wringer does not pull/tug knots on a rug like an extractor does - especially when having to go over and over it again. I've seen more misshapen rugs due to extraction than to washing a rug - but I get a lot of damaged goods sent to me for evaluation, so I probably happen to see the worst of what's happening out in the field. And just an FYI Jay - we have rugs, nylon and olefin, from clients who pay to wash them just as we do their wool rugs. They pay because they want a rug without soil and residue left behind, even though they know they can have it steam surface cleaned for less. They are focused on the "clean" not the price. And attracting the clients who are focused on quality instead of price is a function of marketing to attract the right clients. Lisa
Let me ask you a question Lisa, because I have always found this argument to frustrating. When you do wall to wall carpet cleaning, do you use a rug beater, a pit washer, and a drying rack? So would you say that we are not getting the wall to wall carpets clean since we aren’t using the above listed steps? I myself use agitation, pre-spray, heat, and a TM to clean. The customer is well aware that my surface cleaning is just that at a fair price. For people who wants the total cleaning package, and those with wool, or more disposable income, I take it to someone with a large warehouse and 100K plant equipment. 90% of customers are buying throw rugs at home depot and want just a surface cleaning. The question wasn’t can you get a rug cleaning using a TM, it was do any of us use a TM to clean. Working with someone’s budget is important.
I'm with Jay. If customer wants washed I refer them to local in plant rug washers. However most rug owners are elderly or elite and live in condos, can't move furniture and can't transport heavy ass rugs in the back of their Lincolns. We charge $65 take up and deliver and $65 pick up and relay if they want subcontracted rug washing.
I agree with Scott and Jay... I give the option and suggest if you really want a good cleaning then take it to a rug cleaning plant and i will sugguest one for them... I will push them in this direction if this is a rug of value ($500 and up) and may even decide not to clean a rug of value.. but most of the ones i get ask to clean are cheep and if i screw it up i srcew it up... ... i do think the people who have nice rugs should take them to the plant... but like i said most of my customers are the ones from lowes and not going to pay more to clean it than they pay to buy new one...
Jay, here's the difference. With wall-to-wall you can use high heat, high alkalinity, your RX-20, and rinse/extract to your heart's content. Hopefully they get the home dry to walk around in a few hours if you did it right. With rugs - wool rugs - you are not going to dust the rugs before cleaning in the home (and wool hides a lot of soil). You aren't using high heat or high alkaline solutions (unless you want to bleed them) - you aren't using your RX-20 (unless you want to scar the fibers) - you are not rinsing thoroughly because of two reasons: 1) you are worried about it being too wet when you are done, and 2) usually moreso, you are worried about the flooring underneath - the rug bleeding onto it, or there being a moisture problem with the floor. You are not leaving air movers behind to dry the rugs in the home. You are not leaving a dehu. You are not washing the fringe. It's not that truck mounts don't get carpet clean - they do. But you are not using your truck mount on rugs in the same way - it's your truck mount with one arm tied behind its back. So... what you are doing is leaving soil in the foundation (that you did not dust out) with your solution residue behind. The tips of the fibers may be clean, but not the rest of the rug. It's like a sponge bath. Very different than taking a real bath or shower. You may be using a truck mount on the rugs in the homes... but what you are NOT doing is "cleaning" them. And that's true whether the rug is wool or nylon (which by the way, most cleaners don't know the difference these days - and neither do their customers). One more point on this... it is usually the cheaper rugs that create the most problems because corners have been cut to make them. We especially see this with rayon and viscose rugs right now. I guess because we use education-based marketing to reach the right markets this is not an issue for us. We wash olefins same as wool - our customers just want clean, without the residue. And in our roles as "professional cleaners" it's our job to advise on the best choice. I just would not choose an option I knew to be below my own standards. If our cleaning is more than they paid for the rug, then they got a fantastic deal. Just because I get a silk blouse half off does not mean I get mad the dry cleaners won't give me a "deal" on cleaning it. This is simply a matter of education. And people pay for what they value. It's your job to make them see it's worth it. You are the professional cleaner - not them. At least that's what I think... Lisa
I "CLEANED" 4 area rugs today that were heavily soiled ..BOTH SIDES ..With my TM .It wasn't easy but it was clean.I disagree , That a TM won't clean a rug thoroughly..They came out spotless..The customer said they never came that cleaned before .Prespray Agitate and Extract..I guess we gotta tell the customers to roll up there carpet and ship it 2 the factory to...Besides it'a a revolving cycle ..clean it ,put it on the floor , it gets dirty and we clean it again ..That's why we are in business.Whats the big deal ?
I agree with you 100% Lisa, and I dont think a single person on this board would disagree with you. Its only unethical if you are charging plant cleaning prices but cleaning with your truck mount, and not informing a customer of the difference in cleaning. When I do in home TM cleaning, I turn my water temp to 140, my PSI to 250, and increase my engine speed to 2000 RPM on my Butler system which greatly increases my vacuums power, this combo with a good prespray and a rinse has worked well for me. I use fans(sometimes 3 per rug if large) and if it is an unfinished wood I will put down plastic. Would you have any tips that might increase cleaning results in home? I also vacuum extremely well using a quality vacuum. I went to a rug cleaning company in Allentown, PA, they had hundreds of thousands of dollars in rugs hanging on the walls for sale, serviced all types, and used a porty and hand sprayer to clean them on a concrete floor, no real point other then to say how one company cleaned and charged plant cleaning prices for less then I do in home. If possible, I would enjoy seeing your marketing material, my email is Jason@serviceknight.net
Well as a rule; Treat all rugs as bleeding, shrinking, and unraveiling nightmares. I have a 3 foot silk thrusthold silk runner; Bought it at a rug factory in Turkey outside Marmaris during port call on the USS Harry S Truman. It cost $1200.00; I still have it preserved from when I bought it. Last appraisal it was worth $5,000.00. I think to the average cleaner this would financially burden them if ruined. A detailed rug it is; more like a work of art; took a lady 11 months 9 hours a day to make it. "Tag on it says hang and beat clean till dust clears when struck". Walmart or Carpets are Us rugs clean away with T/M's or Porties; 50-50 % chance you profit. But quality hand made rugs you are better to refer them to PROFESSIONAL RUG CLEANERS. Just my 2 cents.
If you use your truckmount and it is a heat exchanger type be very careful in watching temps 140 degrees is enough to release dyes in even a stabilized wool. Right Lisa?
Maybe 110 at the wand once the water actually hits the rug, with only 250 PSI and my vacuum screaming it is barely touching the carpet and is vacuumed up. But dirtmonger you are right I will test my temp using a laser temp to make sure it isnt to high But to date I havnt an issue with bleeding.
