Wash Pits for Dummies (not YOU of course, you are SMART!) :)

Okay - I wrote this over on ICS - and it's too late to rewrite it in a "fresh" way - so please forgive me. I'm going to go deeper on this topic but someone asked over there if he should spend a lot on a "fancy" wash pit that one of the non-rug cleaner instructors is selling ... and I simply wanted to provide some simpler - and cheaper - options if spending a few grand is not in your rug wash budget right now.

Hope this is helpful to you.

============================


What you need to know about rug pits ...
Posted By Lisa Wagner on 9/16/2009 at 12:57 AM

1) You can construct one for a fraction of the currently sold versions IF money is an issue.

2) Using a wash pit is a transitionary option on your way to pouring a wash floor (which will give you more production) ... or is a good option if you have high volume in a plant and want a way to soak a particularly nasty rug off to the side while you "real wash floor" is getting the rugs washed and completed.

Just about everyone who came through my Rug Secrets program who was using a wash pit (some very elaborate - and pricey) ended up switching to pouring a cement floor for cleaning because it saved in the time doing the cleaning itself - and simply allowed them to get more rugs done in a day.

That said ... if you are spending more than $1,500 on a wash pit - you are out of your mind because if you are creative you can find the sources of the pits and the tiles - no one in this industry is creating these items, they are reselling them.

So ... if you wanted to create a good pit - on your way to a larger nicer pit (once you have made money to spend freely) - and then on to a large cement floor (when you are doing dozens and more of rugs a week) - then here are some tips:

Here is the simple budget wash pit - alluded to by Bob Martin:



What's great about this - as he mentions - it's cheap, it's temporary, so you can make it the size you need when you need it, and if SPACE is an issue - that helps.

If you want a more sturdy set-up - here's another option an existing rug plant used for a pit when they want to do a urine decontamintion soak and still use the rest of their floor for cleaning: (3 photos)







Wood planks, heavy pondliner. The wood you can get anywhere, the pondliner you want heavy and you can look for it at this pondliner site - or some mobile car washing sites have these type of "pool" setups.

If you want tiles in the wash pit - to keep it flat, to allow water flow UNDER the rug, and to keep you from slipping and falling on your arse - then you can look for some on a site like this one:

Plastic perforated interlocking Tiles

They run about $3 a sq ft. If you want ones of less thickness (they have 1/2 inch thick ones) you can find them for even less through sites like McMaster-Carr and I've found boxes of these patio tiles at Home Depot - you just put them together when you need them.

As far as the "fancy" tools for washing ... that's another area where if money is not flowing because you are only washing a rug or two a week - then you can use a weighted linoleum roller to help push out water and allow fresh water in. Some tools have a flushing side to spray water on the rug while rolling it - which you can jerry rig by clamping a hose on to the roller.

Phil Auserehl came up with the coolest tools for doing large pit washing - everyone else is a knock-off ... but not everyone can afford Phil's system. If you are in that spot of "can't afford it yet" - then these are just some of the options for you.

With our plant, we feed the hoses underneath the rug, the water flows to the top side, and we use a chemical resistant two bladed squeegee to push the top layer of water off, and allow the water to flow up through again - we squeegee until the water runs clear. With a pit, you really need to have it at an incline to help the water flow toward one side otherwise you are pushing dirty water back on to the rug. You need to pump out the dirty water and replace it with fresh - and this is the step that adds to the time required for the cleaning.

There are many excellent wash pit set-ups. But the large operations I know all have floors, and do much more than the pit operations. To do more volume with pits you require MORE pits - so of course, if I were selling pits, I'd tell you to buy a few of them. More money for me! But if there is only ONE of you - this makes no sense.

Not that I'm against making money ... I'm not. I'm against some people overcomplicating a craft that is actually much simpler than some make it out to be.

So if you are just starting - these are some options for you. When you get more education, and more volume, then save to buy the bigger pieces of equipment. The equipment does not necessarily mean you will clean it better (a knowledgeable cleaner can clean with simple suds and a driveway somewhere and get a rug really clean..) - but it will help you BOOST productivity which means more rugs done in less time.

Hope this helps.

Lisa

www.TheRugChick.com

John,

If you are skilled in these pre-inspection steps you have a great deal of protection:

1) Fiber test
2) Dye stability
3) Construction type
4) Pre-existing conditions

If you are good in those areas you will know if you CAN/SHOULD wet WASH the rug, or if you should SURFACE clean it with a drimaster tool or comparable wand.

Though ten years ago I would say I agree with Scott on the 1 out of 100 reference if we were talking about WOVEN rugs, semi-antique or older ... but today with tufted rugs, rayon rugs, and all of the short cuts with pieces being sold by Pier One, Crate and Barrel, eBay, and on-line - we find that one in ten are an issue of concern, and one out of 5 are "bleeders" for us.

When people cut corners to get rugs to market cheaper - they use inferior fibers, dye quality, and construction quality.

If you are detailed with your surface cleaning though - and that Drimaster tool - you can clean most of the "trouble" rugs without issues even if you cannot safely wash them.

So the key is getting educated on what to AVOID, and when to make adjustments to your cleaning process.

That said, WASHING rugs will outclean any surface cleaning method - and you will see this when you do a few ... but there are some rugs that cannot be washed - so you need to know what to do in that case. And I personally charge the same for both methods, because many times thoroughly surface cleaning as well as you can will take more time/labor.

Regarding insurance - this varies state to state. Some states will sell you workmanship (care, custody, control) for cleaning IN THE HOME only, but won't cover you in the plant - which is weird because cleaning in the plant is safer for the rug.

Some states offer no coverage for damage occurring DURING the wash no matter where you are ... but will cover if there is an accident (broken hose) that creates the damage.

Insurance companies like to deem things "POOR workmanship" and deny claims - so it is EXTREMELY important that you have inspection checklists and tests that you do on EVERY rug cleaning and document it. And to take photos of preexisting problems. The more time you spend on the front end to protect yourself - the less time you will spend correcting problems. Plus it shows the adjuster you have procedures you follow, and it is not poor workmanship.

All states offer Bailee coverage for transport and rugs while in your possession.

I would ask you agent - if I clean a rug in plant, is it covered? If I clean it in the home, am I covered? If it is stolen, am I covered? If there is a flood in my shop, is it covered? A fire? Do I pay a deductible per incident, or per claim (if you have 20 clients' rugs affected, you would pay 20 different deductibles if it is the second scenario.)

Ask all questions you have, have them reply to you IN WRITING (or recorded) - and keep it handy. If anything comes up that turns out to be different, then you have documented communication that you were told differently. All agents carry Errors and Omissions Insurance - and so if this type of scenario happens, you can make a claim on THEIR insurance if something happens and a rug is not covered.

If you are SELF-insured, write this on your invoice clearly, that you are self-insured up to (some amount - like $1,500) per rug. That if their rug is much more valuable that this amount, to be sure that their textiles are on their home-owners policy addendum for items that leave their home. (This is done for jewelry in case it is stolen - and for rugs and art). If they are telling you the rug is $50K and they don't have it insured - you simply need to have them acknowledge that you will do your best trained cleaning, but you want to disclose that this IS your limit of coverage, and get their okay to proceed.

We have handled rugs as valuable as $600,000 (that gets you 2 homes now in San Diego....) - you don't want to be in a situation where you lose your business over a rug.

I can tell you 99% of the time - the damage done to rugs is because the cleaners failed to test fibers, dyes, or address construction or pre-existing conditions. The other 1% are freak manufacturing flaws - which if you thoroughly test, would be able to likely be shown as flaws and not the result of your cleaning.

This does NOT mean that 99% of rugs are safe to clean - it means with THOROUGH and EDUCATED testing, 99% of the rugs will not give you problems, as long as you are making the adjustments you need to in your cleaning techniques.

I hope that addresses your questions,
Lisa

www.TheRugChick.com

Thanks Jeff.