I'm in the process of starting my humblest beginnings of a rug cleaning "shop". One thing I learned a long time ago is not to try to re-invent the wheel. Would anyone be willing to share some thoughts (and/or pictures!) on the methods they use to hang rugs to dry? I've got some 4" PVC and some pulleys, but realize now that I'll need a winch of some sort. That sucker must be 300 lbs.!!! Thanks in advance for your help! BTW, I did my first pit wash of urine contaminated wool rugs today. Wow, what a difference! Thanks to all that have shared their thoughts and advice on this process. I couldn't have done this without TMF!
Bump.... great question, Im looking to install a pulley system in my warehouse using the steel beams and hoisting the rugs 25ft into the dead space of air. if anyone has some info on how to properly set something like this up. correct type of pulleys and possible diagram would be helpful. I was thinking about hiring a professional, and still thinking I should, just a little intimidated.
Sarrik and Ctech A block and pulley system can work very good and this is exactly what I had for many years in my rug cleaning studio. Here is some advice for you. 1. Get at LEAST 3/8" yacht braid. Thinner rope you can not grab hold of and make sure it is not poly or you will burn your hands severly. 2. Get the BEST quality blocks and pulleys you can. I advise you to go to a yacht supplier as they have the best ones. 3. Don't cheep out on the quality of the materials or it will be very unsafe and you will just have to replace and it will cost you more. Just message me if you want a diagram for how to set this up and I will dig through and send you picture of this.
Great advice Dusty! When I set up the hoists I had a buddy help out. He was a weekend sailor and we grabbed all the supplies that we needed at our local boat yard (SW/DC). One mistake we made was to use a sheathed heavy duty rope. We did not need 8000 pound test and it was stiff and awkward through the pulleys. I used it because it was left over from my mountain climbing days. A yacht store will have better rope. I used to hoist 50 room size carpets a day on a busy day without trouble. Best wishes, Barry O’Connell www.SpongoBongo.com
Re: pulleys and winch This topic has been talked about on the rughub extensively with pics etc. I even put up a simple threading plan on page 3 of this thread. I hope you don't mind me linking to the rughub Rob. http://therughub.com/cgi-bin/forum/Blah.pl?m-1132371968/s-30/ FYI, by the time you purchase the needed materials to do this safely, I'm gonna bet it cost you more then an EZ tower and the EZ towers will hang and dry more rugs to boot. Oh yeah, its even easier to hang up large and heavy rugs!
Good advertising Dusty, I wondered how long it would be before you got a Plug in for an EZ tower :AddEmoticons0423: Cant wain for the next rug coarse down under. early next year in Melbourne.
I agree... the EZ Tower is a much simpler and convenience choice in this case... I like that you can roll it around to where you need it. Lisa
Thanks for the thumbs up Lisa, we are super proud of the EZ and up till we had our rug plant fire 3 years ago I was convinced that a rug cleaning company had to have high ceilings and blocks, pulleys winches etc. Amazing how getting backed into a corner, and in our case a 2 car garage with only 7' ceilings, gets you to use your noggin to figure out a better way. I was inspired by a little home made unit that Ken Snow in Detroit has put together for overload and fringe detailing, but the real genious was my engineer who came up with the ladder and leverage idea.. I gotta tell you I was super surpised when I first tried it out for the firs time and discovered that I could easily and quickly hang up even a very heavy rug!
I installed some trolley track I bought at Lowe's. 12' long and 12.5' across from one another. Mounted very heavey on garage ceilings with trolley wheels. Some single blocks (2 single blocks aside) and boards going across with black preforatted 4" pipe on them. If you hook 2 single pulleys up right you cut the weight in half, if you use double pulleys you half that weight again. Just with your bare hands and a couple of double blocks you would be surprise at what you can lift. I'm a commercial fisherman and have lifted "tons" on these pulley systems with a winch driving it. A man CAN lift hundreds by hand. I clean the rugs and slide trolley over above rugs and lower the racks, drape rug over rack and pull it up by hand. Then slide trolley back towards wall to keep area open for more work. If you was going to put house loads of wet carpets on a rack system I would go heavey steel with wire braid rope and winch. Call a local steel worker and he might be helpful on constucting a sytem for you. Or use your head and save big money! I've had a dozen wet rugs at a time on my racks with no worrys. actually I'm putting more racks up on it to handle more rugs.
I have never posted pics. I do not know how! I'll get my daughter to show me and see if I can get them on here. The best part about them is they take up NO floor space. I can drive van under the racks with no problems. The other type racks people are selling sit on the floor and take up space. I work out of my home (a 2 car garage) and do not have room for those type of racks. Another one of my tricks is to clean rugs on a tarp, you over hang the wand about 3" out over rug onto tarp and it gets the outer edges of rug really good . The tarp keeps the suction at wand head at full load so there is no loss of suction. Awesome results! Yeah it was exspensive to do this, I have a whole 300 bucks in mine that has 5 12' racks, and I can add more racks to my setup at about 35 bucks a rack at this time. I use to work for Steamatic in Phx. Az. and we had the BIG rack just like my little one. Thiers was with steel beams and cable driven by a winch.
Sarrik Here is the link to the diagram again, I hope it works for you now, but you may need to register to see it (sorry) http://therughub.com/cgi-bin/forum/B...32371968/s-30/
