CLEANING

THE WHOLE TRUTH ABOUT CARPET CLEANING...MYTHS ...SCAMS
THE RIGHT & WRONG WAY TO CLEAN ...EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW
Carpet cleaning has many misconceptions, myths, bad methodology like
bait and switch and I will tell you about many of them. Then I will teach
you the right way to go about cleaning your carpets and why.

First Misconception: Cleaning your carpet can ruin it and you should only do
it if you absolutely have to.......False. As with anything there is some truth to
the saying. The key is to do it regularly but use as little force or chemicals as
you can and still get it clean...Some carpet products have a delaminating effect on
carpets only if used improperly....Somebody somewhere used gum remover to
clean a large area because they noticed how easy it removed the dirt and took
the adhesive from the carpets backing made it weak or even shed the carpet
fibers making the backing loose....or they scrubbed way to hard and
physically stretched the carpet ....or put a chemical not meant for carpets on and
bleached some or all of the color away ...or a chemical reaction to whatever
the homeowner put on the carpet ( one or many different chemicals in combination ).
Or all of the above in combination. Its easy to do.
The public mentality is: if one ounce of soap is good,
ten ounces must be ten times as good.
Wrong. I will explain in my next misconceived topic, Portable Carpet cleaning machines.

I clean it myself I don't need a carpet cleaner:
There are several components to cleaning carpets Soap, Water, Vacuum, Water
Temperature , Water Pressure (what your pump is capable of doing), Vacuum
Capacity (What your Blower is capable of doing) . Ideally High Temp water,
High vacuum motor, High pressure water distribution (through a fitting called
a jet) at a LOW volume, and Soap are used. The only thing you can adjust
is the soap on a machine that lacks all of the other components. The soap is
meant to be applied at a Ratio. All soaps are different.
Scenario...not enough heat add soap. Not enough High pressure low volume
water jetting the carpet....more soap....not enough vacuum to remove the
dirt from the carpet....more soap (not from adding it but from the ten extra
strokes you take in the same spot to do the same job leaves more soap.
It works though and you think you've got it solved. The problem doesn't appear
right away, and when it does you can imagine the justified scenarios that
come out of peoples mouths. "The spots keep coming back!"
Yes ..the migratory pizza stain comes back for the winter. Here is the
problem. Soap and water together are very slippery by design (that is how
they do their job so well lifting the dirt with ease). The water however
doesn't stay in the carpet it evaporates and the soaps stays.

Soap without water....STICKY !....
Even bigger is the problem of the ratio at which you put the soap on to
get it clean will require five fresh water cleanings to remove the residue.
Do you do this? No...because it looks clean now. All of the dust dirt and
superficial dirt which could normally be vacuumed up sticks like glue (and
you blame the dog). Also once dry you would think that just adding water next
time is all you need since you have all of that leftover soap. "Wrong."
When it dries it adheres to the carpet in a way that I can only describe as
Nightmarish. The only way to rectify the situation is with a complete
stripping of the soap with a high concentration Acid Rinse.
$$$$$$$$$$. How much did you save doing it yourself ?
Is your Equipment going to survive a high
concentrated acid running through its moving parts? Sure...Once.
When you spill a drink on your carpet or your pet gets sick late at night
that machine will save you. Keep it for emergencies and call a pro for
maintenance. If you don't have a portable machine and you want
something for just such an emergency get a wet dry vacuum. A small
one will run you $60. at Sears. Vacuum up the spill add water to the stain
vacuum up again and again until the stain is gone. No soap is necessary if
so add carpet soap from the drugstore and rinse well until there is no suds.
Vinegar rinse if you don't mind the smell and it will neutralize the soap faster
(Vinegar=Acid... Soap= Alkaline, one neutralizes the other).

•CARPETS STRETCH IF YOU CLEAN THEM•
Carpets Stretch if you clean them: Yes and No. Properly cleaned no.
Carpets Medium to good quality are made like Iron. Wait ten years to clean
your carpet and it will take a lot of chemicals to clean your carpet and
they still may be just fine but they stand a chance to get over worked in
the process. The real problem is that when carpet is new the installer can
get away without properly Power stretching (tensioning) and the carpet is so
stiff that the homeowner would never know the difference for 1-3 Yrs. Then
they can say what they will if you remember who they are and can still find
them. It may have been done before you lived in the house. A power
stretcher has many metal tube extensions that reach across a room when
attached together, with one end that rests as a "T" shape against the flat
wall (usually the longest wall without a doorway), and the other end has a
Rectangular head with spikes that can be dialed to a depth that grabs
the carpet, with a handle that points upward. When the handle is lowered
the spiked head goes toward the opposite way as the "T" and grips
the carpet and moves it in the opposite direction, thus creating a taut
carpet and the excess that gathers on the handle end is attached to the
tack strip to maintain this tension and the excess is cut away with a razor
knife. Sometimes nails are used to maintain this tension, pounded only half
in and then the carpet is adjusted to the tack strip and then the nails are
removed last. Both methods work (the nail method is rough when you have
a concrete floor (oak is tough too).

•ANYBODY HAVE A GUN•
CHEM DRY : Anybody have a gun? Good. Chem Dry was developed for
places like Hospitals which can never close their doors 24-7.
You rope off an area and make the public walk around when the
chemicals are dry. The carpet is supposedly clean. The method is to
spray a quick drying chemical soap on the carpet (also flammable and
highly toxic Most not all), then work into carpet blending the chemical
and dirt. When dry chemical is supposed to separate from the carpet
with a light vacuuming. If that was the case, Great!...Not the case.
Even though it was developed for hospitals people thought HEY! what
a great way to clean carpets in the home!....the kids won't mess it up
because it will be dry before they get home. It will, but the process
was developed for dirt only (not Dog Mess or French fries and
Ketchup, etc.). The process was also developed to be done by a
janitorial service at six week intervals because of the high return of
dirt due to the very chemicals that make it so great. I have personally
cleaned up after Chem Dry jobs and it has been my experience that
the cleaning tool does not want to glide along the floor and my shoes
when I slide them on the carpet don't slide they grip. Just like too much
soap residue Chem Dry makes my job very difficult. I liken it to mowing
the lawn. With Chem Dry its like mowing after it has grown for three weeks.
Its not the same job and very difficult on the technician. Its more like
renovation than maintenance, and I have found it takes as many
as three cleanings to reverse the damage, sometimes it does not come
out. Old people who think that wet carpet is going to pull them into a
neumonia-like coma think Chem Dry is great stuff, and they are usually
clean enough not to notice the high residue build up of dirt. One more
point. Look in the phone book under carpet cleaners and count the
ratio of Chem Dry to Steam Cleaners 200 to 1. HMMMM.

•THE BAIT & SWITCH•
$6.99 A ROOM? Did someone say deep scrub? This is the inevitable
catch phrase that will come out of a bait and switch carpet cleaner
There are not too many of these guys are still around but their pitch will
make your head swim if you are of the target mind set. Let me tell you
what these guys pitch and where they come from. First they target the
people who are afraid and people who will believe anything. They
weed these people out by placing an add that says $6.99 a room any
room all rooms etc. This targets people who if they believe that they
will believe anything they have them on the hook right from the start.
The only other person who responds to those are the diehard
Penny pinchers who think its a scam from the beginning but are determined
to tough out the hard sell and make the guy do it anyway for $6.99.
Here is the pitch. This carpet needs more than a surface cleaning
(are you ready )? This carpet needs a deep scrub and that will
cost you more. With this process we will have to do these necessary
extra steps which they tell you only after completing one step and
telling you "you cant just leave it that way" You know its a scam by now
but are afraid to leave the carpet that way so you continue on to the
next phase of their scam until one room cost $200. Whole houses $700-900.
The only thing that got a good cleaning is your Bank account and it
doesn't matter if you call back because there is a sucker born every
minute. These Guys are almost 100% subcontracted by other guys who
simply place the ads. They run you around and say you have to talk to
the other guy until you get sick of trying.
Like I said before there are not too many of these operations around
but occasionally I will get a call asking if I do deep scrub and then
usually I will need to talk them down from the Ledge once they find
out I charge 1/3 less than those sharks.

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