Hey guys, Want to get some of your opinions on this. I'm going to attempt to remember to actually attach the pic I've got, but we have some issues with our fringe, and may need to change our processes, perhaps. Any input is appreciated... When done cleaning, we toss rug up on the rack, and let it dry. It seems as if any remaining soil may be going with gravity down to the fringe, and making it dirty again. The fringe also never seems to look quite as good as it did when it came in, as demonstrated by the pic. The ends will get frizzy our rough looking, and we're not sure what to do, so....any advice? Respectfully, Joseph L. Rogers
Use some cotton shampoo and simply clean the fringe again after you've washed the rug. Use an upholstery tool. Sometimes cotton just needs some good shampoo and some elbow grease. Lisa
If the fringe looks worse then when it came in I doubt your rugs are clean, a clean rug will drip clean water a dirty rug will drip........ Usually IF we have to clean fringe we just use water. I'd say you are not dusting well enough. Just my opinion.
Looks like a little browning maybe. Some fringe bleach from Master Blend. Both Lisa and Rug washer hit it also. Rugs may not be quite clean when hanging to dry. Make sure you have a fan blowing across the fringes. Some companies will trim the edges to even them out.
Ok, can you guys talk to me some about the pit washing process? We've got a 16x20 pit, and originally had grates in it that the rug would sit on. The pit was not sloped properly, we think, and so soiling would just sit below the grates when we cleaned a rug, and we couldn't figure out how to get around the problem. What they've done since is to take the grates out, which are now being used to place the rug on when we extract water afterwards. Rug itself is placed in pit, backside cleaned, rinsed with wand (blue rug wand only, not carpet cleaning wand), flipped, and top side cleaned same way. My concerns with the process are as follows: - Pit not sloped properly is HUGE problem. This makes it very difficult to get rinse/dirty water out of pit, and we're unsure as to the best way to get water out of the pit. They've got a little sump pump that doesn't work very well, in my opinion. Gets clogged up by rug fuzz really quickly, and have to keep cleaning it out, during the rug cleaning process. I've actually found that a water claw hooked up to a portable or a truckmount seems to work best...how do you guys do it? Also, how much is your pit sloped? - With the grates removed, if I understand correctly, the rug wand does not flush soil through the rug as it's intended, and allow it to wash out through the grates where it's removed by the pump. Instead, it seems to me as if it would be flushing it to the bottom side of the rug, where it meets with resistance from the rubber tarp we have laid down, most likely staying in the rug. Rug Washer, you mentioned dusting. Not a term I'm familiar with, is that the same as vibrating/beating the rug prior to the cleaning process?
Dusting is performed by a Badger here in pic and video; LINK--> http://i.imgur.com/K0Wu9.jpg [video=youtube;z6rqLxsMHvU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6rqLxsMHvU[/video]
Mr. Allen, great video. If you don't mind, I'd like to use that in some in house training that I'll be doing for my company. However, couple questions: - Your rotary that you are using to agitate the rug with...we worry about felting the rug when we do that kind of thing. What steps do you take to avoid this? Particular attachments on the bottom of the rotary, or what? We have an encapsulation cleaner that we use to agitate the BAD ones, but otherwise, we've been using a brush to agitate by hand. - The hot water vacuum process is just another term for the same clean that you provide a carpet, correct? Wand, hot water extraction, etc...? - We've had some go-rounds recently, trying to improve our process. As we are a profit oriented business, one of the owners feels that we should be using as little water as possible to clean. You completely covered the rug in the video, so I ask this...is there a certain amount of water/cleaning agent you put in with each rug for the agitation process, or do you just spray with a hose until the rug is underwater completely? Thank you very much, again. Great video.
Rug cleaning is VERY labor intensive. And if you do not love rugs - I mean that you are interested and fascinated by them - then this is NOT the field to get into. Anyone doing rug cleaning solely to make more bucks only will not have the attention to detail that is required for being high-priced and building the reputation as the best... so, then other service such as hard surface cleaning would be a better add-on service. Not saying that is easy mind you, but it is less labor and good margins as well. That said - a wash pit is a transitionary step for a cleaning operation - the ideal set up will be to pour a floor and have a dedicated rug cleaning plant. For the time being you DO need a slanted floor, as you are finding the drawbacks of the rubber pit without a grate already. Someone will need to build you a slanting platform for your pit - and it does not need to be too high. For extraction - I prefer the Rover to the water claw, because the bigger rugs take forever with a claw. The owner is wrong about using less water IF he really wants the rug to be CLEAN. Washing is the best result. It's not the easiest though, so that's why I go back to WHY someone is in the niche. If it is only to make some more money, then pick an easier specialty. If it's because you truly want to be the rug specialists in your area - then you are going to have to do what you are doing now, and make each piece better as you go. If you go to my blog you can download my Rug Disasters article - this will help: CLICK HERE ==> Rug Disasters And How To Avoid Them Lisa
If you can't swing a Rug badger yet – flip rug over and vac from the back on your grates – you will shake a ton of dirt out. Keep doing it until dirt stops coming out then wash. I use my Cimex with soft brushes to agitate rugs when they are wet. I also have a swing machine with an old - soft worn out brush. When the rugs are wet and have soap in them you should be fine. You can build a pit - build a raised platform with a trough at the end - squeegee the water into the trough and pump it out from there. You can run clean water through the rug as the pumps do their thing at the other end. This gives a good rinse. Use a water claw to get as much water out of the rug as possible.
It's easy to build a sloped pit. And you can make it as large as you like. If you are going to clean under water, I don't think you will want much slope. If you are going to soak and rinse with a hose, you probably want more fall. Why would your boss rather pay for labor than for water? Lisa, I'd like to hear more about why a poured floor is better than a well designed pit. Both can be as large as desired, and have whatever fall is wanted. I can see that if you are in a location that you consider permanent, concrete would be best, but what are the other advantages? It seems to me that a high volume water supply and quick drainage is more important to efficiency as far as the wash floor goes.
Lisa - First off, a bit about me and my company. I'm lead tech for a company with 5 vans (they don't all roll except during college turnover in the summer, but still), and two owners. The business was built by two guys based upon college turnover, and they now seek to turn it into a real cleaning business. We've done rugs for years, but not on this level, and while I've not had the opportunity to take the rug class, the two owners have. The pit is an addition that came after they traveled to Connections in 09, and we're building a real rug cleaning operation. One of the owners is a very management oriented type, it's all about the numbers for him, and it's a constant struggle back and forth, streamlining costs vs. doing it correctly. The switch from turn mentality (in and out) to proper residential cleaning has been extremely difficult for them, but they do listen if I say something needs to be done differently. That doesn't mean we're not going to go back and forth, and try to find ways to do it that are a compromise, but you get the idea. We're actually preparing to purchase a lot next door to the current shop and build additional facilities. If I could discuss with you further shop layout, things of that nature, perhaps even get a few photos of your own shop for ideas, I'd greatly appreciate it. We've got the Rug Badger, it works very well, but we also have multiple techs, and they don't all necessarily work to the same standards. When you guys do the dusting on a particularly bad rug, for instance, at first you're gonna get a ton of stuff out, of course. Do you continue dusting until you're honestly not getting ANY more soil out, or until it's only a miniscule amount? Guys, I really appreciate all the input. Thanks again.
I don't have a Badger but dusting a rug is very important(I use a vac with a beater bar). You have to get as much dirt out as possible while dusting. I can't give you a % but eventually the dirt will "almost" stop coming out - you will have to play around a bit. I would put 1 tech in charge of rugs. If you have downtime and techs get back early you could have them do the dusting so they are ready to be washed. Where are located? You may be able to take a look at some other shops - you just might have to travel a little. Lisa has a sloped floor with a drain at one end. If they need to soak a rug for extended periods the drain can be plugged. I would suggest taking Lisas rug secrets classs. If you are building a new shop you have a chance to do it right so do some research.
Thanks, Rugman. We're located in Virginia, about 15 minutes away from Virginia Tech Campus in a town called Christiansburg. How about you guys? I'd love the opportunity to come meet some of you guys and check out your operations. I've been trying to help get the company up to speed on some of the high end stuff since I came on board a couple years ago, and it's been one of those "Baby Steps" things.
