The Number One Upholstery Cleaning Problem Today is…Texture Distortion!

For several years, cleaners have focused their efforts in both testing and cleaning to find ways to prevent color bleeding and browning, (which are still both concerns for fine fabric specialists), but have long been resolved by cleaners who understand the chemistry of cleaning.

In a recent discussion that I had with leading furniture manufacturers, the individuals with whom I spoke did not complain about cleaners damaging dyes or causing browning, they instead spoke about the incredible amount of texture damage done during the cleaning process!

Today’s fine fabric specialist must recognize that delicate textures are not just velvet, which was for years the fabric most concentrated on in cleaning classes, but now also include such varied products as chenille and microfibers. While the difference between a rayon chenille and a polyester microfiber may see to be worlds apart, both can be easily (and perhaps irreparably) damaged by a careless cleaner.

Use this quick checklist to help to prevent damaging the furniture your customer has entrusted you to care for:

1. PreInspect and PreQualify your work: Many of these fabrics have already been damaged by abuse from your customer, their children and/or their pets. Make sure you discuss pre-existing problems before you clean.
   
   Qualify your work: Many of these fabrics have already been damaged by abuse from your customer, their children and/or their pets. Make sure you discuss pre-existing problems before you clean.


2. Precondition using a soft brush, and only brush in the direction of the lay of the tap, if any.


3. Extract using the “Upholstery Pro” upholstery cleaning tool. There are plenty of good “cleaning tools”, but there is no tool I have ever used that creates as little distortion during the cleaning process as this tool. The “Upholstery Pro” cleans and extracts as well as any tool you can use, but most importantly will not leave jet streaks, and creates only an occasional easy to remove “slight edge distortion” at the edges of the tool. Post grooming of fabric is far easier and less time consuming when you use the Upholstery Pro.


4. Use as little cleaning or rinsing agent as possible to prevent stiffness from residues. Never use carpet cleaning detergent in your “rinse”, and even many acid rinses may leave sticky residues. Sapphire Scientific Upholstery Rinse is unique for its very low level of surfactant content, and is my preferred rinsing agent for all soft textured fabrics.


5. Groom the fabric. Grooming techniques for velvet, chenille, and microfibers are all somewhat different, but all should be groomed immediately after extraction, then again after drying with fans.

Follow these steps and you’ll have better results and happier customers who will appreciate your efforts as a fine fabric specialist who cares.

FAQs - Tile, Grout & Stone

Q --
Jim,

A customer of mine just asked me to clean some grout for her on her marble floor where her dogs had their way while she was away. I checked my supplies and found that I only have a little Viper Venom.

Did I hear once that Viper Venom is just a glorified stripper?? I have stripper and was wondering if I could use that as well.

Anticipating your response,
Dan

A --
Dan,

I would be careful identifying Viper Venom with stripper, as floor stripper as a pH range that can make it very damaging to many surfaces in the home that Viper Venom does not. However, regardless of that, I wouldn't even want you to get Viper Venom on marble.

Viper Venom (and stripper, and most degreasers) have agents in them that help them attack minerals in the water that interfere with their performance. That also means those agents attack minerals called calcium carbonate, which is the mineral that makes what we call marble.

The grout used in marble is unsanded, and the grout lines should be very narrow. You can't use a grout brush on them, nor should you as marble also scratches easily.

For your customer's sake, and obviously for yours, I'd recommend you wait and get some Stone Perfect, which is the best product I've ever used for cleaning marble and other natural stone.

Dan, I also need to caution you that what sometimes looks like "dirty marble" is really scratched marble. Those small scratches are not always evident as scratches, but when you are done cleaning the marble may look just as dirty.

That said, the Stone Perfect, applied with a clean (not a bit of grit in it) soft brush will clean the grout lines beautifully. Dan, we have some new sales help for you also! Stone Care Solutions from Bridgepoint is has created two short sales videos to help you sell your stone cleaning and polishing services. You can get this DVD for FREE free with the purchase of any set of the Stone Care pads. 5,7,17, or 20”.

Click here to see a short video for some super information you will like!

Jim

Holiday Spots, Spills and Stains

Starting with Thanksgiving, and through the late December holiday observances, your customers will be engaging in that riskiest of activities when it comes to carpet and upholstery textiles:

They will be serving food and drinks with bright red colors, and having their homes overcrowded with guests consuming those items.

While red stains are common throughout the year, there are two that you are more likely to encounter from now until January 2nd:

Cranberry Sauce and Red Wine.

The reason that both of these might create confusion is the uncertainty as to whether the stain is from “natural red colors” or from artificial dyes. The distinction is important to you, as the types of products you use, the order in which you use them, and the time you should predict in their use may vary widely depending on what is in the item spilled.

You should, of course, attempt to learn exactly what was spilled. If the customer still has the bottle or can, you can look right on the label and often determine if there is an artificial dye involved.

In today’s world, the assumption should be that there is a dye unless you know for sure otherwise. Unless your customer made their cranberry sauce from cranberries themselves (a more involved process), the sauce likely has an artificial dye. Even wine, which throughout history has only had natural colors, lately has become another source of artificial dye staining to carpet.

Once you have this information, first clean the carpet. With the amount of “polys” out there (polyester, polypropylene, and triexta…which is essentially polyester) as well as nylon with some of the latest advanced stain resistant treatments, many of these red stains will simply clean out of the carpet, with no further need of specialty stain removal techniques.

If any stain remains, you will then need to decide if the stain has a natural red color or an artificial one. Natural red colors come out most readily with the application of an oxidizing agent, such as Stain Zone or Stain Magic. Artificial red colors should be treated with specialty red dye removal products than contain reducing agents, such as Red Zone, Red Relief, or Red One.

Use each product by following each manufacturer’s direction carefully.

Worrying about red stains should be the last thing that should concern your valued customers. Be sure to approach the treatment of these stains with confidence and concern for their needs, and make such stains a minor inconvenience during these happy times for them.

Allow me to take this occasion to thank all of you for your support and feedback to us over the years.

Triexta, Part 3

It is only appropriate (for now) to conclude this discussion on “triexta” (better known as “SMARTSTRAND tm”) with some thoughts on how it will and is affecting you as a professional carpet cleaner. We can do this by first looking back to a another new fiber development in the 1980’s - stain resistant nylon carpet………

While many of you reading this message weren’t even in our industry in the 1980’s, stain resistant nylon carpet has had a profound effect on the way our customers and prospects perceive carpet cleaning, as well as the way we actually clean carpet today. The advent of stain resistant carpet has encouraged consumers to choose lighter colored carpets because they mistakenly expected them to stay clean longer because of their stain resistant treatment.

This increased use of lighter colors has placed carpets into a more regular cleaning cycle, which in turn has created more work for our industry, and with more regular cleaning cycles, more customer contact as well as long term loyalty with deserving cleaning firms.

Carpet cleaning chemistry has changed as well, in some ways for the better, in some not so much for the better.

To simplify my point, and for the sake of brevity: stain resistant nylon carpet caused our industry to pay more attention to the pH of presprays and detergents, and created some of the initial interest around using lower pH rinses, or for some, clear water rinses.

Now we have this new “triexta” fiber, along with its very similarity to its “older brother” “polyester”, beginning to
dominate the market. .......keep reading

Regardless of the debates about resiliency and the need for after market carpet protection, it is clear that both “triexta” and “polyester” are more oil loving than nylon, and will require products and procedures that more readily can break the oil bonds that inevitably will occur if this carpet is neglected and/or subjected to abuse.

There appears also to be some concerns about difficulty in removing detergent residues from this fiber as well, but this information has not yet been documented well enough to discuss in detail. As I have more feedback from the field, I will share it with you.

Please feel free to contact me here, or by email, if you have feedback regarding your experience with this fiber, or would like more information on how to care for “triexta” and “polyester” carpet.

Call: 1-800-342-2297
Local: 412-751-3700
e-mail – jimpem2@comcast.net

Triexta Update

I received a call today from a well informed and customer service oriented carpet cleaner I know, and the story he related spoke to both technical and marketing issues we must all be aware of.

This gentleman sends a newsletter to all of his customers, including the carpet retailers who refer him. In it, he made a point of warning his customers that the new Triexta fiber that is being so heavily promoted today may not live up to the expectations the retailers are creating.

It seems that at least one of the retailers he sent this newsletter to became very upset at his sharing this information, and confronted him about it when he met with her. While his initial reaction was irritation at her support for what he (and likely you) consider to be an inferior fiber, his “business head” thought about it a bit longer.

In our discussion, we both had to agree that Triexta does solve two problems that nylon (the cleaner’s favorite fiber) does not:

1. The Triexta fiber is inherently resistant to red dyes. Unlike Stain Resistant Nylon, which loses its stain resistance over time from abrasive soil and most cleaning processes, Triexta does not.


2. Triexta fibers also resist color loss from urine stains. Since most homes in the US today have more than one cat and/or dog, this issue is powerful, and should not be overlooked.

There remains little doubt that Triexta will continue to have the “oil loving” characteristics of its better known cousin, Polyester, but that’s why professional cleaning is needed, isnt’ it?

The cleaner is going to visit his referring stores and discuss his more balanced view of Triexta, which he should. He mentioned how annoyed he gets when retailers make comments about carpet cleaning that don’t really address the “whole story”, and he recognized that perhaps he did the same.

The lesson for you (and for me)? There are several:

1. Triexta is here to stay. Go to most carpet stores, and its “everywhere”. Its surely better than Olefin, and likely better than Polyester. The fact that we don’t like it as much as Nylon is more our issue than it is our customers, after all.


2. We might not like “oil loving fibers”, but our customers aren’t as worried about Oily soils as they are bleach and dye stains.


3. Let’s keep our dialog with those stores that gladly refer us, and make sure that while we need to serve our customer’s needs, we also need to make sure we understand the whole story.
   
   Having an open minded attitude that listens to the views and needs of all parties will keep your business not just the one your customers wish to use, but that retailers will gladly recommend!

For more information on Triexta, see my article at
http://tinyurl.com/cleantip6

Is it Wicking or is it Sticking?

What do you do when you get called about a spot that has been discovered by your customer after you have cleaned their carpet?

Before you show up with an arsenal of products, you need (and your customer needs) an answer to these three questions:

1. Did the stain remain after cleaning?
2. Did the spot come back when it dried?
3. Did the spot show up over time?

The reason that these questions are so important is that they speak to three different types of problems.

1. "Did the stain remain after cleaning?"
   If you've done everything you could to clean the carpet and a stain remains, you might need to use reducing or oxidizing agents with some of your advanced skills to remove this stain. And, in some cases, there are stains that cannot be removed regardless of your skills and available stain removal chemistry arsenal.


2. "Did the spot come back when it dried?"
   If spots disappear during cleaning, but reappear after the carpet dries, the problem is probably wicking. This needs to be treated with an absorbent powder or sprayed with an anti wicking agent


3. "Did the spot show up over time?"
   This is more likely a sticky residue than a wicking problem. When adhesive residues (such as from tape) or clear sugary drinks spills, the soil that was attracted to the sticky residue comes up easily, leading the cleaner to believe the spot is gone. If it comes back, you need to follow more extensive spotting procedures to remove the sticky residue that in the case of a spill is likely deep within the carpet yarns, and will require extensive flushing to remove.

Each of these three different circumstances requires cleaning, spotting, and stain removal skills to correct. But those products and skills are not of much use, and can sometimes even work against you, if you don't know the difference between the three.

Freeze Warning!

As we move toward the end of October, temperatures in the the northern part of the US and all of Canada will begin to drop below freezing at night, and in the next couple of months perhaps during the day. Cleaners are aware of the need to protect their equipment during this season, but often overlook the damage that freezing might do to their cleaning products.

While most products will work as well after freezing if they are thawed out, there are a few categories that may be permanently damaged if left out in the cold overnight. These includes:

• Carpet Protector
• Liquid Enzyme products
• Floor Finishes

Some of these products, especially protectors, are sold as "freeze/thaw stable", but most are not. Leaving such products in an unheated vehicle overnight when temperatures go below freezing risks a loss of the product's performance.

Even though most other cleaning and spotting products do not lose effectiveness when frozen, the fact that you'd start your day trying to pour a frozen bottle of prespray (as an example) into a measuring cup is not likely going to be pleasant or productive for you.

If you cannot store your vehicle in a heated garage overnight, remove all of your cleaning agents and other treatments and bring them inside for the night. It will protect those very important (and expensive) protectors, deodorizers and floor finishes. It will also make the use of all of your other products easier and less annoying while you cope with the unavoidable annoyances cold weather brings to us all.

21st Century "Fine Fabric Care" Procedures

Cleaning Today's Challenging Fabrics

I've spent nearly three quarters of my lifetime working with upholstery cleaning products, tools, and procedures. Over that period of time, the largest single obstacle to a cleaner's confidence in becoming a fine fabric specialist was the fear caused by the perceived complexities of fabrics, testing, as well as the cleaning chemistry and procedures.

The following procedures and products are the simplest, the safest, and the most effective means of cleaning and restoring everything from the most durable synthetic fiber fabrics to the trickiest, hypersensitive natural fiber fabrics available to anyone today!

Why the SIMPLEST?
Because most of the cleaning is done by one of two preconditioners: “Upholstery Pre-spray” for synthetic fiber fabrics, or “Natural Fiber Cleaner” for natural fiber fabrics and blends. Other than the occasional need of an additive or a specialty spot and stain remover, these two products really “do it all”.

Why the SAFEST?
“Upholstery Pre-spray”, while designed primarily for colorfast synthetic fibers, self neutralizes rapidly and easily rinses away. This prespray has the power needed to break down oils, fats, and grease that has bonded to oil loving synthetic fibers, but few of the risks associated with other alkaline prespray products.

“Natural Fiber Cleaner” starts with an acidic pH, which makes it ideal for all natural fibers and blends, and especially safe to use on white and potentially non colorfast fabrics. The acidic pH of this product means that no additional acidic rinsing agents are needed, unless severe color bleeding sensitivity exists.

Why the most EFFECTIVE?
Using this unique system; you have a self neutralizing alkaline cleaner, Upholstery Pre-spray, for synthetics, with which you can attack the most troublesome oily soils that otherwise make the cleaning of such abused upholstery fabrics a time consuming and fatiguing task. Plus, in addition you have the unique Natural Fiber Cleaner, an acidic cleaner for natural fibers which is absolutely the best acid based cleaner I have ever used! It has a surfactant system specifically designed to attack oily soils, as well as built in solvent boosters to assist the surfactants so that fabrics that might be otherwise seen as beyond cleaning, can often be restored to a nearly new condition.

For complete article, please visit...
http://www.ecleanadvisor.com/public/765.cfm

Bedbugs & Lice on Upholstery and Bedding

The most common insect control issues associated with upholstery and bedding include: BEDBUGS, FLEAS AND LICE.

Each of these parasitic insects create discomfort for your customers, and may be difficult to eliminate.

Here are some of the serious questions that are heard frequently, along with a link to an article I have published in the eCleanAdvisor.com where you can find some additional links to an excellent resource you might wish to share with your customers!

Q - How can you tell if the residence or building is infested?
Q - What should you know about insecticides and other methods for treating bed bugs?
Q - What might you do when returning from a visit to an infested residence?
Q - Do bed bugs cause harm or spread pathogens?

For answers to these questions and MORE, please visit:
http://tinyurl.com/25bxjq2

How To Safely Clean Upholstered Furniture Using Your Truck Mount

The primary drawback in using a truck mount upholstery cleaning attachment is also its greatest advantage: Convenience!

A cleaning technician who might hesitate to suggest the "add on" of some upholstered furniture cleaning while on a carpet cleaning job is not as likely to hesitate when he just has to connect an upholstery cleaning tool and "go to work".

Unfortunately, this ease of quickly switching tools also makes it easy to overlook such important steps as:

• Testing
• Inspection
• Dry soil removal
• Preconditioning
• The use of a properly designed upholstery tool
• The use of proper cleaning chemicals

Regardless of the cleaning equipment or system used, the neglect of these important considerations will result in unsatisfactory results, displeased customers, as well as the probability of expensive damage claims.

For the most important considerations in using truck mount equipment to safely clean upholstered furniture areas follows: http://www.ecleanadvisor.com/members/139.cfm