carpet cleaning tips??

Can anyone tell me an easy way to clean the floor carpets in cars? Is there one extractor that is better than another? I have a durrmaid 1600, but I never seem to have enough room to use it and pull it across the floor. It's so frustrating.Do I need a different attachment? Please, any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks

Hi

I have been cleaning carpets in cars for years. I like using a 5 gallon wet/dry vac.The 5 hp Sears model is the one I use myself.<br>

I use a degreaser called Greased Lighting. If the carpet is really dirty, then I
spray it over the whole area. Then I take a garden hose and wet the area with water.
Follow it up with a nylon brush to work it into the carpet.<br>

I then use the wet vac to remove the water and dirt from the carpet. I roll the windows down and leave it out in the sun. It will dry in about 4or5 hours. I use a house fan also to speed that time up. It really does a great job. I hope it helps.

Not only do you need the right equipment(I use the worlds # 1 portable heated extractor the ninja,dual 3 stage motors with 185 lift compared to 60 lift from a wet vac) as bud and gina have said in the past you need to identify the stains first and use the right products and procedure. I also use 3 differnt attachments a dripless crevice tool, a dripless fabric tool and a low profile carpet tool.Bill do you not use a carpet and fabric cleaner or an enzyme prespot for protein based stains? A degreaser isn,,t going to get out 100% of all stains.

Pro Mobile Detail

I admit there are some stains I cannot get out, but they are few. I have used heat
extractors, but they lightly spray the carpet with hot water. IMO suction is not that important because unless you loosen what's under the nap of the carpet, then
you are only cleaning the top part of the carpet. For example, someone spills a cup of coffee on the carpet. It will go deep into the carpet, and shooting a light
spray of hot water on top will not remove what has dried in the lower part.<br>

When you soak the carpet, the water and the degreaser will loosen it up and the
wet vac can pull it out. Extractors are bulky and very expensive. IMO they are
fine for clean carpets, but real dirty ones, not so much.<br>

What you must understand is that 85% of the soil in carpets is dry and 15% oily, in addition to particular stains that might be on the fibers.

Therefore the process you should follow is that recommended by the Rug Cleaning Institute:

a. Thoroughly vacuum all dry soil from carpet
b. Spot stains with appropriate stain remover and remove by hand. (a vapor
steamer works wonders in stain removing).
c. Pre-spray with a low pH carpet shampoo that is formulated with brighteners
and softeners in the formula. Not a degreaser or all purpose cleaner. These
are not formulated for carpets anymore than a laundry detergent is formu-
lated to wash your hair. The pre-spray will emulsify (soften) the oily soil
on fibers.
d. Friction scrub with hand brush or better yet, a rotary shampooer tool. This
allows the foaming agents in the shampoo to pickup the oily soil and suspend
it in the foam.
e. Extract the shampoo and oily soil residue along with stain remover chemical
residue for a clean carpet.
As someone said the hotter the heater in the extractor and the more powerful
the lift the cleaner carpet you will get, faster. A DurrMaid offers only a
tank heater which does not heat the solution that hot and uses only a single
2 stage motor. Kind of like a car with a 4 cylinder motor vs a V-8, both
work but a if you want real performance the V-8 is the way to go.

PS: Using only a shop vacuum is like jumping in the shower, wetting down, putting shampoo in your hair and soap and your body and then getting out of the shower and wiping the shampoo out of your hair and the soap off your body with a towel. YOU MUST RINSE THE CLEANING AGENTS OFF YOUR BODY or YOU WILL LEAVE A STICKY RESIDUE IN YOUR HAIR AND ON YOUR BODY.

Regards
Bud Abraham

I am not in agreement with putting water in an automobile with a hose as it can/will saturate the carpeting and cause water to wet either jute or sponge backing under the carpeting causing microbial growth. The wet vacuum does not have enough lift to remove all the water and without proper air circulation air passing under carpeting it will remain damp and smelly. I know this because every single day I am resolving this very same problem.

Anyway there are still many ways to clean carpeting and it does not always have to include extraction rinsing. Alternate methods can include dry foam, bonnet by hand,soapless soaps, steam, dry absorbent powders, encapsulation or combination extraction. Your method of cleaning carpeting will be determined by problem at hand, degree of soiling, time, results you wish to achieve and price you are charging. There is not right or wrong way as we are not cleaning house/commercial carpeting where warranties must be protected...even so cleaners have modified cleaning techniques to achieve a desired result

For example if you were cleaning a soiled minivan in a very limited time with stains and customer was not interested in perfection.. vacuuming, stain pre treat, degreaser or traffic lane, air brush agitation and hand bonnet would give you excellent results without re appearing stains and a long dry time and customer could be out the door in record time.. If you scrub and pressure wash mats since they are covering 90% of floor... sticky residue is almost a moot point.

Anyway having a good shampoo extraction machine with moisture control wand technology and steamer is a must for any detailer engaged in the business of carpet cleaning. At present I use CFR carpet extractors



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/22/2010 12:57PM by concoursgarage.

Would completely agree with Gina about putting water on the carpets. This is the "old, very old method" of cleaning carpets before the invention of soil extractors.

In fact, it was a carry-over from the 40's and 50's when most of the flooring in cars were rubber mats and detailers would use a pressure washer to clean the interior of the vehicle.

There are some detailers today, far too many I am afraid, that still use a pressure washer inside of cars, having been taught that method and never changing because, "that's the way we have always done it," mentality reins.

As well, Gina points out other methods of cleaning carpets that are used in the commerical and residential carpet cleaning industry. But one has to keep in mind that carpets in houses, offices, airports rarely, if ever, get as dirty as carpets in a motor vehicle and are they rarely ignored when getting severly soiled, they are cleaned immediately.

Other than homes, commercial office and airport carpets are often cleaned several times a week due to heavy traffic.

Regards
Bud Abraham

Bud: What is your method for express carpet/upholstery shampoo in a car wash environment?

Do you pre qualify the service?
How do you sell the service?
Do you define the customer expectation?
How long does it take to do small, medium or large size vehicles?
Does the service include stain removal?
Do you dry out before delivery? if yes how?
If vehicle is not dry.. how do you control odors and stains migrating to surface?
What if any are some things you would exclude from this service?

Gina

Thank you for the posting and opportunity to present my approach to express carpet cleaning:

a. Yes, we do "maintenance" cleaning not "restoration."
b. Have a big sign over the bays on the carwash lot that says, Express Carpet
Shampoo $39.95 and we pass out a service menu to car wash customers.
c. Define customer expectation? Do you mean we discuss with customers what we
can achieve with our service? Yes, of course.
d. Our standard for cars is 30 minutes one person, 15 minutes two people. A van
or SUV is probaby 5 to 7 minutes more per person
e. It can but not usually since it is "maintenance" not "restoration."
f. No! Put in a plastic mat and tell the customer to remove to dry, crack win-
dows and not put floormats back in for a day or so.
g. Has not been a problem. Plus we do not use much liquid in the first place.
h. Nothing if it is maintenance.

Interesting questions, knowing you, there is a reason, please enlighten me to the leading questions.

Bud Abraham

Gina and Bud
Do you do real dirty carpets? I mean filthy ones.Trust me, a carpet extractor will
not clean them. Stains and dirt have been forced deep into the carpet. <br>

I do not use a pressure washer for the inside, nor do I leave the water on the carpet very long.If the carpet is clean then there is no need to soak the carpet
with water.Although if it is filthy, the water lifts the dirty solution out of the carpet so the wet vac can remove it.<br>.

Bud, your last statement makes about as much sense as putting a screen door on a submarine.You make the statement that 85% of the stain is dry, and 15% is oily.Although, you did not mention that a carpet can hold eight times it's weight in sand and dirt also. Shampooing,and high suction will not remove it all.<br.

Greased Lightning, is a Multi- Purpose Cleaner& Degreaser which is safe for carpets.You say:YOU MUST RINSE THE CLEANING AGENTS OFF YOUR BODY or YOU WILL LEAVE A STICKY RESIDUE IN YOUR HAIR AND ON YOUR BODY.IMO a shampoo brush will not
completely remove the stain, but only clean the top part of the carpet, and the
stains will come back because the carpet was not completely clean.I have used
extractors before, so I know from experience. <br>

The wet vac has more than enough suction to pull the dirty solution out of the
carpet.If you are running a mobile business, these machines are way to bulky to
move around, and spending thousand's of dollars on them are a complete waste of money IMO.<br>

I believe the question asked here was:Can anyone tell me an easy way to clean the floor carpets in cars? I believe I have answered it without having to spending a couple of grand on an extraction machine.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/22/2010 03:49PM by billd55.

Bud: If you do not continuously ask questions how are you going to learn and grow. Since express service is an area you have more expertise in.. who better to ask that question but you>

Based on the condition of the vehicles we clean.. I wonder how express shampoo services are successful in a car wash environment and satisfactory to consumers. Typically consumers want shampoo services to resolve a problem.. either a nasty spill, or odors associated with cigarette, vomit , milk etc, severe stains in sport fabric coffee stains or water in the vehicle carpeting etc. To compound matters how do you deal with microbial growth when delivered damp/wet and after odors.. What happens when you shampoo and the entire seat and carpets turn brown once the seats and carpet dry.

Anyway how many express carpet cleaning services do you provision daily at your new center... ?

Gina

As always you have an insightful and most intelligent reply. I commend your tenacity to seek more knowledge and to improve yourself in the auto detailing industry. Although I do not know if I am the most appropriate person to ask about the express detailing services.

Again, the key word is maintenance not restoration and the other is express fast.

But the problem may be maintenance and not restoration.

You are confronted with these problems, in our case we are dealing with just dirt and a few stains. People that go to car washes regularly typically maintain their vehicles better than those who do not. And, the vehicles that patronize car washes are typically newer and not in bad condition as you describe.

Why do you assume that their is resultant "microbial growth?" If you follow the process that I described, which is, by the way what is done in houses, offices, airports, etc you do not leave the kind of moisture as indicated by our old friend Buffer Bill who still details as though he was working on 40's and 50's model cars.

The pre-spray is a very light coating to emulsify the oily soil. The extraction is only done to remove the residue of shampoo and oily soil. As a result the moisture is not that much and if the vehicle carpets are not cover and the windows cracked or left open the car dries without the resultant problems that you infer.

The "browning" you refer to happens o white or very, very light carpets or upholstery which you hardly find in auto interiors. This is cause by the alkaline shampoo left to dry. It will brown the whites as in white shirts, panties, briefs, tee-shirts, white residential carpets and white sofas, etc.

The solution is simple, "use an acidic rinse," You can purchase from carpet and upholstery cleaning distributors products called: No-Brown; Brown-Out, etc.

Or simply use a mixture of white vinegar and water to neutralize the alkaline shampoo.

We introduce Acid Rinses to the detail industry more than 15 years ago and they were not at all accepted by detailers who either did not feel they had enough "white" carpets and fabric upholstery to deal with or that it simply was not needed. As a result we sold off the product we had on the shelf and ceased to produce it.

Kind of like GLASS POLISH. Introduced this about 15 years ago and today I still have one gallon of the original 220 gallons we produced. No market again.

But this was a great product to remove water spots.

Seems like we had products before their time in the industry

DETAILERS - how many of you use acidic rinses on carpets and upholstery? How many use glass polish to remove water spots.

Regards
Bud Abraham

Bud

Personally, I do not have a clue what you mean when you say:Why do you assume that their is resultant "microbial growth?" If you follow the process that I described, which is, by the way what is done in houses, offices, airports, etc you do not leave the kind of moisture as indicated by our old friend Buffer Bill who still details as though he was working on 40's and 50's model cars. <br>

First of all Bud, if you could read and understand what I said more closely. I do not soak every carpet with water. Some carpets I use very little water, and others more. It depends how dirty the carpet is.I have done cars that went thru a flooded street and stalled, and flooded the inside with water when the car door was opened. The water was in the car for three day when I got it.<br>

I used the wet vac to remove the standing water,and pulled the carpet back so the air could get under the carpet. I used commercial blowers to help the drying time
which took about a day and a half. The carpet looked awesome ,and there was no mold.<br>

I cannot believe that you can clean a carpet properly using your method when you have a dirty carpet. IMO stains comeback because the carpet was not completely
clean.<br>

Bud, to be very honest with you. It seems you sell a lot of products nobody wants.
If it takes you 15 years to sell off 220 gallons of your Glass Polish, well, that
is only 15 gallons a year. It must be a great product in your opinion.The other
product you mentioned (Brown Out) you state:We introduce Acid Rinses to the detail industry more than 15 years ago and they were not at all accepted by detailers who either did not feel they had enough "white" carpets and fabric upholstery to deal with or that it simply was not needed. As a result we sold off the product we had on the shelf and ceased to produce it.<br>

I am just trying to answer this person's question the way I feel it should be
done. It really seems the only reason you are here is to push your products.
Every time you answer a question the solution centers around something you sell.Here is perfect example:Being that most posters on this forum are professional detailers who make a living detailing cars I suspect that is why you are not receiving any replies.

If you want some professional knowledge on all aspects of detailing including:

Paint Finishes
Paint Finish Problems
How to Correct the Problems
Tools and Technology of the Detail Trade
Professional Supplies
Generic Discussion of Chemicals
How to Properly Clean Carpet and Fabric Upholstery
Identifying Leathers
Identifying and Cleaning Wheels
And Much More

Our company sells a DVD set on "The Technical Aspects of Detailing" for $119.95 and these will provide you all the information you need to professionally car for a car in and out, top to bottom, front to back and all the different materials you are working with.

Regards
Bud Abraham


That is fine, but I am not here to promote a company or product for my profit. The products and methods I suggest are proven over many years.I am sick of you
trying to suggest to this forum that I do not know what I am talking about.
I am not the one pushing correction and wax that was used for cars from the 40's
and 50's.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/22/2010 09:12PM by billd55.

Bud: Not to be argumentative here ... but not sure you are on the front line actively carpet shampooing or perhaps it is regional... that is not my experience. There is a huge industry problem with sport fabric seats and spotting and often requires more than express to resolve these problems. The majority of people requesting shampoo is from soiling, spills, vomit, dogs, odors or the vehicle has gotten so bad some serious cleaning needs to take place

The browning I refer to is from gallons of coffee/coke tannin spills in carpets and seats..unfortunately the public dumps most of their liquid in them as though they were receptacles. The browning you refer to hardly exists in automobiles and typically is in Haitian cotton and carpets with Jute backing and not found in automobiles. The browning I refer to is tannin and no amount of acid rinse is going to stop the capilliary action of tannin wicking up the fibers unless you have immediate intense air movement to accelerate drying.

You cannot compare carpet cleaning in building and houses with cars... less confined space more air movement and generally the carpet cleaner has an air blower going after each area or room in cars to assist in faster in drying would recommend an enzyme in the machine to help kill bacteria.. The carpet cleaner in residential/commercial also likes to up sell deodorizer to help knock down that after smell while the carpet is damp or wet, Many automobiles have an odor when left damp even while we are drying out we can smell that it is not fresh...this problem is more amplified in humid weather or in colder months.

Gina:

With all due respect, it appears to me that you are, in fact, being argumentative here and not necessarily with what I say....

Having been in this business probably before you were born I have seen every kind of carpet cleaning/shampooing challenge a detailer could encounter. Not only in the USA, but all over the world, I know what it takes to clean carpets.

You seem to be missing the point of express maintenance carpet shampoos in wanting to make your point, to wit:

1. You are speaking of RESTORATION carpet shampoos. What car washes offer in their express MAINTENANCE program is just that, a carpet shampoo on a carpet that is surface dirty that might have a stain or two that comes out with carpet shampoo.

Or, let me say it this way to you: the car wash express operations are performing engine tune-ups, not rebuilding the engine. There are many auto repair shops that limit their service to tune-ups and brake jobs, while other shops do that plus engine, tranmission, differential, etc rebuilds.

What we have here is the same thing. I am not questioning your commentary on the the need for restoration carpet shampoos that have vomit, cups of coffee, tea and cola all over them. Dog urine and feces, etc. That is what they come to you they want RESTORATION services.

The car washes promote only MAINTENANCE service.

2. Also in challenging me you are challenging a proven and consumer accepted service all over the USA and Canada and some part of the world. Car washes have been performing hundreds of thousand express maintenance carpet shampoos a month for more than 20 years, and making millions of dollars doing it in spite of what you want to think about carpet shampoos. Let the facts speak for themselves on a viability of the maintenance carpet shampoo concept.

Again you miss my point, I was only using the example of carpet cleaning in homes, offices and airports to point out the level of dirt that these carpets experience which is much less severe than what you find in automobiles that come to a shop like yours.

However, the customers who come to the car wash express service have carpets with a level of soil about what you would find in a home, office or airport carpet.

I hope that this clarifies what I have been trying to say. If you are not grasping this then please contact me direct, you have my email, let's not take this two-way conversation any further since express carpet shampoo is not particularly interesting to fixed and mobile detailers I am sure.

Regards
Bud Abraham

Bill it was Gina that speaks of microbial growth, not me.

Address your commentary to her on this one.

All the best and good detailing

sometimes I think I am wasting time having a discussion... I am not questioning/challenging express carpet shampooing over the country nor your expertise or how long or where you have been shampooing... I am simply trying to figure out how they cope successfully with cleaning most of these vehicles as in my experience the types of fabric in automobiles today are soiled easily and the majority of them need more than maintenance..

I do offer express shampoo in addition to remediation work.. but qualify the vehicles and i still have to overcome the issues I have been discussing. Since our washes do not offer shampoo service the majority of carpet shampoo comes to the detail department and customers are coming for express shampoo and I am finding these cars so bad... which led me to wondering how car washes offering these services were coping.

FYI we are familiar with residential/commercial shampooing since we provided building/janitorial maintenance service for many years. In addition I am IICRC certified odor control, fabric upholstery cleaning, carpet cleaning, water damage, fire and smoke.. CMP Certified Mold Control, Leather etc

Gina it is very simple for the Carwash:

1. If the carpet needs more than maintenance they refer to a full service detail operationor,

2. If they operate full restoration detail services as well they refer the Car there or simply sell a restoration carpet shampoo.

Regards

thanks everyone for your replies. I think I may have jumped the gun with buying this hot water extractor.

For anyone who is working to be a true professional and do what is right, not as stated earlier, "that's the way I have done it and that's all I need to know" sort, you did the right thing.
Don't let all the technical get in your way.
Learn to at least try the excellent advice being provided by long, long time experts in the field such at Gina and Bud, keep working to improve your techniques, and each job you do, will get easier and you will experience better and better results.
In short, just do the "right thing", not what just anyone says for you to do.
Trust those who have been there, and in this case, these two have "been there".
Ketcj

As Ketch has so ably stated, you did the "right thing" by purchasing an extractor. Bottomline the professional way to clean carpets today is with a soil extractor, not a bucket of water with some chemical "glugged in" and a scrub brush and shop vacuum.

Regards

As Ketch has so ably stated, you did the "right thing" by purchasing an extractor. Bottomline the professional way to clean carpets today is with a soil extractor, not a bucket of water with some chemical "glugged in" and a scrub brush and shop vacuum.

Regards

Bud

I am sure that you have one for sale that someone can buy from you.Right?

When I retired, I sold my personal Mytee to the company.
It was a first production the company made of the model, which I had done some developement work on.

Didn't feel I needed it, didn't wish to move it 500 miles to my new home, now regret doing so.

I have a home carpet unit that I can use somewhat for interior cleaning of my vehicles, but it just doesn't have as good a heater, suction, etc.plus the convient long hoses, the blow dryer option, etc.

Ahh, live and learn.

Quote
buda
Gina

As always you have an insightful and most intelligent reply. I commend your tenacity to seek more knowledge and to improve yourself in the auto detailing industry. Although I do not know if I am the most appropriate person to ask about the express detailing services.

Again, the key word is maintenance not restoration and the other is express fast.

But the problem may be maintenance and not restoration.

You are confronted with these problems, in our case we are dealing with just dirt and a few stains. People that go to car washes regularly typically maintain their vehicles better than those who do not. And, the vehicles that patronize car washes are typically newer and not in bad condition as you describe.

Why do you assume that their is resultant "microbial growth?" If you follow the process that I described, which is, by the way what is done in houses, offices, airports, etc you do not leave the kind of moisture as indicated by our old friend Buffer Bill who still details as though he was working on 40's and 50's model cars.

The pre-spray is a very light coating to emulsify the oily soil. The extraction is only done to remove the residue of shampoo and oily soil. As a result the moisture is not that much and if the vehicle carpets are not cover and the windows cracked or left open the car dries without the resultant problems that you infer.

The "browning" you refer to happens o white or very, very light carpets or upholstery which you hardly find in auto interiors. This is cause by the alkaline shampoo left to dry. It will brown the whites as in white shirts, panties, briefs, tee-shirts, white residential carpets and white sofas, etc.

The solution is simple, "use an acidic rinse," You can purchase from carpet and upholstery cleaning distributors products called: No-Brown; Brown-Out, etc.

Or simply use a mixture of white vinegar and water to neutralize the alkaline shampoo.

We introduce Acid Rinses to the detail industry more than 15 years ago and they were not at all accepted by detailers who either did not feel they had enough "white" carpets and fabric upholstery to deal with or that it simply was not needed. As a result we sold off the product we had on the shelf and ceased to produce it.

Kind of like GLASS POLISH. Introduced this about 15 years ago and today I still have one gallon of the original 220 gallons we produced. No market again.

But this was a great product to remove water spots.

Seems like we had products before their time in the industry

DETAILERS - how many of you use acidic rinses on carpets and upholstery? How many use glass polish to remove water spots.

Regards
Bud Abraham

glass polish is always in my shops equipment room. from the basic liquid one just to smooth out the glass and restore the clarity and another light acid one to remove even the harshest water spots
I also seal glass with a polymer or titanium oxide based sealant

extractors are great tools for carpet cleaning but so are steamers (we have both)
of course we always clean by hand first with a pre spray (my self made organic enzyme and lightly alkaline cleaner, then extractor and steam or vice versa

then its carefully neutralised

Bud - whats your opinion on DRY FUSION
[www.dryfusion.research-products.com.au]

is there any chance you would share your self made cleaner??

thanks

we dont share info these days regarding our custom blends and made from scratch raw ingredient products

heres a really good enzyme product
[www.naturalginesis.com]

I understand. Im just looking for good stain removers that arent too expensive. I will look into that website you gave, thanks

KK:

Don't be confused with enzymes and stain removers. They are different.

If you are looking to get rid of stains you want to have removers for these catagories of stains:

Protein Stains - organic elements such as blood, food, mustard, etc

Oil/Grease Stains - inorgnic stains from oil, tar, grease

Red Dye Stains - wine, juice, soda

Tannin Stains - coffee and tea by stains

Rust Stains - rust from metal

Pet Stains -

So happens as Buffer Bill accuses me, we have such a stain removal kit, all 6 stain removers in 16oz bottles for $47.95 About as cheap as you will find anywhere.

Also if you want to be a stain removal expert get yourself a Vapor Steamer, they work wonders on stains. We have a inexpensive one for stains, $99.95

Will be posting a write up on enezymes in a little while.

Bud Abraham