What the whole Carpet Cleaning industry does not want you to know. Where did the Eduction go? This was written by a 20 year veteran of the industry and hopefully put into simpler terms for the public to understand. Please enjoy and feel free to leave some comments.
Common phrases to the carpet Industry: Its just carpet shampoos and a technician going through motions. This is a no brain job that anyone can do and cleaners are also a Dime a dozen. Why do I need to pay for this at any price? I can do it myself with my home cleaners. I can just replace this Carpet for about the same as you price! There is nothing special about carpet cleaning and its very useless to me. My carpet is under warranty for all of the elements of the world and I don’t need that or an” Upgrade. “ My warranty protects me at all times. You don’t know what you are talking about. I have tried all of the companies and they all do the same thing. Beat their price! I will always go with the cheapest price because this is not very important to me or my Renters { Tenants } I can rent a Rug Doctor and do it myself. My home steam machine does a better job. I can Get Don to do my whole house and Apartment for 29$ on Groupon.
The average cost of a 1 bedroom replacement is 500-900$, The average 2 bedroom apartment can range from 700-1200$. A 3 bedroom apartment can cost you from 1200-1800 dollars. Average house costs over $2000 -$6000.00 for cheap carpet! Lets just get that out in the open. What is it worth to save these carpets a instead of buying new carpet every year? The Average cost of a Home Clean is $200-$300.00, EVEN OFF OF A GROUPON! Average apartment clean is $55-$120 pending on condition. This is not restorative prices. Always set a cap with your company to get the bang for the buck! You know your home or apartments better then we do. Set the standard from the go! Unless your carpet is in Newer condition, it will never be a basic clean. Don’t be shocked as friendly advice. This write up should help in understanding the process.1-carpet_blogIt use to be that this industry was based on true Experience and Education. Every job we do is because we believe in our country and our gods. We have built this country on hard work and honesty and are those days gone forever? As the world turns, every industry is majorly changing with the fast pace of life. Everyone has demanded things to be cheaper, faster and the best. We have literally bottle necked our own selves to the devices that we have demanded. By Demand, we expect to see lower prices then the next company. Over the years of doing this for so long and fast, we have developed a Bait and switch economics. This is to the point and very honest statement to really start with. “ YOU CANNOT BE THE BEST AND THE CHEAPEST! YOU CANNOT BE THE CHEAPEST AND THE BEST! Its impossible but our society thinks it is. Look at any industry and tell me if you find this same denominator. Im sure you do and this statement alone has hit close to home.
EVERYTHING is a Bait and Switch these days. Lets use a Hamburger restaurant for Example. “ Come get a 29 cent hamburger for your lunch! SOUNDS LIKE A GREAT DEAL! The problem is, they did not say the lettuce comes with this. They Did not say the bacon or the cheese comes with this. By the time you really want what you thought was 29 cents, you ended up paying 2$ for the real enjoyments of the Hamburger stands food and your real fulfillment. Upgrades, Upgrades and more Upgrades. Everything is an Upgrade! This is now considered to be a Bait and switch by some standards or is it? We are a race that loves choices and we love the cheapest deals until we don’t get what we were really looking for and who’s at fault for this? The Business or the demand from the public? Where does the economic race and Business go from the bottom? Thats where we brought this as a whole society. To the bottom. I think its really comes to matter of re-educating ourselves and how these systems work. How do I get the best deals at a fair or even a cheap price? Who is going to be honest enough to say this is how it works? Obviously nobody has stepped forward and we feel its our responsibility to set the story and our industry correct. Don’t forget, This Blog is about carpet cleaning and restoration. Did you already forget that wondering about these sever problems we have in all industries?
Lets try and get back to some basics and some simple education to how this Carpet industry runs and some do’s and dont’s of the vast Cleaning Industry. Who governs the Education and safety of this industry? Institute of Inspection Cleaning and Restoration Certification, IICRC. { http://www.iicrc.org/ }This was made to ensure all technicians of this industry are trained to the highest levels in many fields of this area. There are so many different trades with in this industry that most don’t know there is a License mandated by the state and nation to ensure top quality and safety by using “ Chemicals “ or shampoos. If you are not using a Certified tech then you are not getting the full value of the clean nor the price to begin with. Not anyone can clean a carpet Im sorry to say and ESPECIALLY the correct way. You have already been duped before the job has even started by not asking if the companies or technician especially is certified. This is the #1 way to tell if you are on track to getting the real price and especially the real job done. There are many, many certifications to acquire There are schools for Carpet Cleaning, Upholstery cleaning, Spot Removal, Pet removal, smoke Damage and fire Damage, Water schools, area rug schools, stretching and carpet repair schools. There are more schools then you could imagine and these are certification as if you are going to college or a trade school. Oh yea, this is a trade. All of them and they require a professional at all times to ensure the safety and the to ensure the job is at its best. Anything less is just another person pushing a wand with some shampoo. Anyone can do this right? Do you really know the company or person doing your work now? Do you? Are you going to have a Brain Surgeon that has no certification do the work for you? I don’t think that takes a brain surgeon to answer this.
Lets talk about things the Industry and manufactures don’t want you to know.tuffedIt seems that Carpet cleaning is one of the most UNVALUED services out there. Most don’t think about it until its to late or to dirty or Unrepairable Lets go over some basic carpet 101 facts and myths. When carpet really came into a synthetic realm, we did not know what we were doing. As a Matter of fact, we we doing t to good. The first synthetic carpet to hit the market was called Nylon. We can remember the days of the shag carpets and for some, you still remember it because it may still be in your home looking like brand new. We had no Idea about unrefined carpets. We made a SOLID , GREAT product called nylon and it was built to last.
The Industry finally caught on to how good this was made and decided to make an UN REFINED product called Polyester. This product took more of the good polymer out and became cheaper to manufacture. It also made it to where you were going to change your carpets on average, 6 to 10 years at a time. The Industry did not want you to have a carpet that was going to last and now we can thank them for the headaches we have to this day. Polyester also had to be protected and so came a Carpet Protectant. This would fill in the tiny holes left over from the unrefined of the product and needed this extra boost because it was a weaker product. Nylon has only 5 generation of being made to this date where Polyester has over 30 and counting along with a TON of new fancy names to detour you from the fact its polyester.
Later down the road and newer more environmentally safe product came out called olefin. This is a Recycled Pop Bottle and literally is plastic. Sounds strong and seems amazing. The Catch to this is its bleach resistant and made a huge wave into this carpet market. What they did not tell you is, this requires a special cleaning solution to strip the oils from the filaments and if you use the wrong cleaning product, its notorious for browning out. Does not sound so great when you put it this way but Homes being flipped and apartments LOVE these products because they are cheap. So cheap, they need to be replaced generally after each move in. Who would have thought? Olefin in Latin means: “Oil Loving”. This carpet is notorious for Flattening out and shadowing. Unrepairable once damaged and also can be friction burned because its plastic.
There is also a hybrid Carpet Called P.E.T Polyester. This was made in the thoughts of combining Polyester along with olefin to make both products stronger. This carpet requires 2 different shampoos for 2 different carpets and is nearly impossible to clean. It keeps getting cheaper and cheaper to the point that it should not be made.
Recap of some basic Carpets in this industry: This does not cover them all. This is mostly what is in homes and Apartments.
Facts taken from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nylon
Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers, more specifically aliphatic or semi-aromatic polyamides. They can be melt processed into fibers, films or shapes.[1] The first example of nylon (nylon 66) was produced on February 28, 1935, by Wallace Carothers at DuPont’s research facility at the DuPont Experimental Station.[2][3] Nylon polymers have found significant commercial applications in fibers (apparel, flooring and rubber reinforcement), in shapes (moulded parts for cars, electrical equipment, etc.), and in films (mostly for food packaging
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyester
Polyester is a category of polymers that contain the ester functional group in their main chain. As a specific material, it most commonly refers to a type called polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Polyesters include naturally occurring chemicals, such as in the cutin of plant cuticles, as well as synthetics through step-growth polymerization such as polybutyrate. Natural polyesters and a few synthetic ones are biodegradable, but most synthetic polyesters are not.
Depending on the chemical structure, polyester can be a thermoplastic or thermoset. There are also polyester resins cured by hardeners; however, the most common polyesters are thermoplastics.[1]
Fabrics woven or knitted from polyester thread or yarn are used extensively in apparel and home furnishings, from shirts and pants to jackets and hats, bed sheets, blankets, upholstered furniture and computer mouse mats. Industrial polyester fibers, yarns and ropes are used in tyre reinforcements, fabrics for conveyor belts, safety belts, coated fabrics and plastic reinforcements with high-energy absorption. Polyester fiber is used as cushioning and insulating material in pillows, comforters and upholstery padding. Polyester fabrics are highly stain-resistant— in fact, the only class of dyes which can be used to alter the color of polyester fabric are what are known is disperse dyes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PET_bottle_recycling
PET bottle recycling
Bottles made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET, sometimes PETE) can be “recycled” to reuse the material out of which they are made and to reduce the amount of waste going into landfills. PET is semi porous and absorbs molecules of the food or beverage contained, and the residue is difficult to remove. Heating the plastic enough for sterilization would destroy it. Most recycled bottles are therefore used to make lower grade products, such as carpets. To make a food grade plastic, the bottles need to be hydrolyzed down to monomers, which are purified and then re-polymerized to make new PET. Beverage company Naked Juice switched their line to recycled PET (rPET) packaging in 2009.[1]
In many countries, PET plastics are coded with the resin identification code number “1” inside the universal recycling symbol, usually located on the bottom of the container.
NATURAL FIBERS:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wool
Wool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, angora from rabbits, and other types of wool from camelids.[1]
Wool has several qualities that distinguish it from hair or fur: it is crimped, it is elastic, and it grows in staples (clusters)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium in the family of Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. Under natural conditions, the cotton bolls will tend to increase the dispersal of the seeds.[clarification needed]
The plant is a shrub native to tropical and subtropical regions around the world, including the Americas, Africa, and India. The greatest diversity of wild cotton species is found in Mexico, followed by Australia and Africa.[1] Cotton was independently domesticated in the Old and New Worlds. The English name derives from the Arabic (al) quṭn قُطْن, which began to be used circa 1400 AD.[2]
The fiber is most often spun into yarn or thread and used to make a soft, breathable textile. The use of cotton for fabric is known to date to prehistoric times; fragments of cotton fabric dated from 5000 BC have been excavated in Mexico and the Indus Valley Civilization in Ancient India (modern-day Pakistan and some parts of India). Although cultivated since antiquity, it was the invention of the cotton gin that lowered the cost of production that led to its widespread use, and it is the most widely used natural fiber cloth in clothing today.Other Carpet Tips of Interest:
Nylon is Heat Treated at 500 degrees, basically when made. When you use 250 Degrees of steam by a truck mount, the carpet factually remembers how to stand up to its basic coil and shape! Nylon is a Smooth calendar and if factually more stain resistant than any other product on the market. The stains will slide off of the yarns easier.
Carpet face weight and Twists have a HUGE impact on wear and stain resistance. The more the twist and face weight, the more expensive it becomes.
All carpets are Made with a Carpet Protectant. This fills in any pours in the yarns and acts as a buffer to sharp rocks and soils that can cut into the pile and cause wear and shadowing. This MUST be reapplied once a year with a Truck mounted steam clean to uphold your warranty PERIOD!
All Carpets come with a Optical brightener This is a industry secret and once this wears off, its not worth reapplying because the carpet is already dull. This is what causes the look of grey and black carpets because the light cannot reflect off of this Optical illusion Its like having a crystal hanging in your window. When the sun hits it, it sparkles and shines, but when its dirty, or damaged you get shadowing that will never go away. Carpet protectants help keep this Optical Brightener working. If you go past a year, you will more then likely lose this over time and wear. This is the most common misconception of a carpet being dirty after a carpet clean.All carpets come with Latex to hold the primary backing and yarns in place. Once this is damaged, its very hard to replace and will cause what is refereed to as Delamination of the secondary backing to primary backing.
Secondary Backings are a rough grid like backing that is glued to the latex. This give extra support to the whole carpet and is also used for the installation of the tack strip. You cannot have one without the other.
Carpets claiming to be bleach resistant have not told you that once the latex is damaged from bleach, the carpet will literally fall apart. Anyone offering a Dye job is purely taking your money and obviously does not want you to know the full facts. Olefin is bleach resistant as a fiber BUT the rest of the carpet, latex and backings are not. Once bleach has penetrated this other parts of the construction, it will again fall apart and you have just lost double the money by doing a dye job. Always patch and replace for a longer life to money spent into fixing and repairing. Just friendly advice. 
Polyesters of all type and olefin have no sense of memory when designed. Once they flatten out, the residual CANNOT be brought back to these fibers. This results in bad shadowing and will be mistaken for dirt. There is no product on the market including a power scrub and heavy pretreats that can or will ever fix this problem. Its all about what the fibers can do and do do. They will flatten out sooner then later and these carpets must be cared for yearly to uphold your manufactures warranty
Carpets come in different shapes and sises. There are Lopped carpets, Sculpted loop berbers { With Speckles } Cut Pile Berbers { With Specials } Cut pile sculpted carpets, Commercial carpets which are usually very tiny loops. There are many, many types of carpets for your needs. Be sure to look for some of these tips when buying your carpet! PAD! Huge topic, but lets keep this short and simple. There is 2 basics to pad. Commercial pad 3/8th and Cut pile Pad which is ½ or now 5/16th. YOU SHOULD NEVER MIX PADS BETWEEN THE BASIC TWO INSTALLS! If you take a 3/8ths pad and put it with Cut pile, you automatically voided the warranty of the carpet and the carpet will wear 2 times if not 3 times as fast, vice versa. The only huge difference in these is what is called pad weight. The lower the weight, the weaker the pad in basics. Basic pad for Cut Pile Carpet is 6 pound, ½. If you decide to go up in weight, this becomes stiffer and helps the carpet move less over time. This alone can give your carpets a few added years with the right cleanings and Teflon every year. To step up from this pad is now a Foam Cushion pad or waffle pad. This is usually fire resistant and some now come with a built in Antimicrobial for added protection. This also comes with a hefty warranty and price but is well worth every penny when cleaned and used correctly.
Side Note and friendly advice: Pet proof pad or stain resistant pad is not worth a dime. This usually has a blue top plastic coat and most installers staple this down anyways and causes holes in the cushion. Thus making it not stain resistant. It is harder to get stains out of the carpet and also causes the carpet to stay wet longer from cleanings because there is no air under it. If pet staining gets UNDER this pad, its impossible to get out without removing. Contact your local carpet cleaning company for stain removal of pad. Its way easier and well worth the pennies. You can set stains in worst with over the counter products and home cleaners. Please leave it to the pros. All carpets should be installed with a Power Stretcher and if this is not done this way, your carpets will suffer greatly. The better the install, the longer the life. The tighter the stretch to start with, the longer the carpet will last. If you see a carpet installer only using a knee kicker, then your warranty has already failed and now its his responsibility to fix or pay for this carpet. There is a State Standard for carpet installs. The Cr 104 And cR 105 is the state mandate for installation. If you fell you have not had the right installs, you can demand a carpet Inspector to come out and determine if they used a power stretched and lated all of the seams. Yes you do have a standard of this industry and yes you do have some protection behind you. You just need to know the right professionals or blogs to help you. Your Carpet warranty is based on you Cleaning your carpet every single year and having a carpet protector added. If you miss one of these years and cannot prove you have done this, then you have automatically voided your warranty The Industry prays that you do not know this info and really, there is no warranty to the carpet industry because of the lack of real education to the system. Hopefully this will help many in the future. Get onto a carpet program with your local carpet cleaning certified companies.
THERE ARE 5 MAJOR STEPS TO PROPER CARPET AND UPHOLSTERY CLEANING!
Chemical
Agitation
Time
Temperature
Clean & Neutralize
Chemical: This is one of the most important parts to the carpet cleaning. Understanding your fibers is very important when deciding what cleaner to use. PH has a HUGE part into what and how a technician should go about the specific job. Basic Carpet Cleans are mild detergents with low a pH. These are basic to tide. Most carpet cleaners and Companies are using very old technologies and cleaning ways. Ask your technician how they clean. If they say they use a solution through their wand, then they are doing a very old school method that truly is frowned upon in 2015. This does not follow any of the 5 steps that is required and leaves a residue behind. Wonder why you carpet looks worst after a carpet cleaning? This is why! This can be very harmful to your children, pets and cause long term damage to a carpet in a short amount of time., This causes black traffic areas and usually needs a power scrubber or restorative cleaning tool to remove as much crud and wear as possible. This is a very common problem still in our industry and can cause excess cost because of bad education and cleanings. This is not a good technician trying to up sale you, its call Chemistry and PH balance. There is NO OTHER way to battle this without the proper pre sprays, tools, heat an cleaning.
90% of your soils inside are from the outside. These soils are extremely high in acidic’s and generally require an alkaline shampoo. A basic clean is between the ranges of 7-10 on the ph scale. Anything above this is a specialty pre spray and contains a higher PH Rate to neutralize a higher acidity rate. If done wrong or not enough PH, this can set acid stains in worse by not doing it right the first time. If you have shadowing or greyish black traffic areas, its going to need a PH of 10-13 as the highest on the market. Anything less will result in redo’s and a dissatisfied customer. These are not up sales, these are facts and worth every single penny spent if the technician mixes these right.
Agitation says it all. Pending on the degree of soils and staining, this can vary in styles. Using a Heavy Pre spray and a rake is the most common why to break up oils and soils. { As we say: Break the Oil down, Then comes the soil “ } The most effective way to do this is with a Power Scrubber such as a Roto Vac or a RX20. These machines spin at 3000 Revolutions per minute and can easily cut through the worst of dirt and oils. The weight alone can clean even to the topside of the pad and is a MUST for especially pet rinses. Old School method are Buffers with pads of many sorts. Do not be fool into these old devices due to the fact they are pushing the soil into the backing and pad instead of out. This is WELL worth every dollar spent because if done right, this can increase the years of life and possible rentals to these homes and units. This is not an up sale, this Is a fact and can save tons of money in long term use.
Time is a very important piece to this whole puzzle. If a technician and company is allowing a shampoo to run through the cleaning device then they are doing it wrong and causing damage to not only the carpets but pets and children as well. These are Acids and Alkaline’s that will cause skin damage. [ Pets have been known to chew their paws off because of these chemicals left by bad companies and technicians. Its a must to know how this process is being done at all times. It is a MUST to have a dwell time on these chemicals and shampoos or you are paying for damages to your own product. If there is no Dwell time, there is no real emulsification going on to the soil. Most of these chemicals and shampoos require 45 minutes dwell time. To break soils, oils and pet stains down. Who has 45 minutes these days? If there is no dwell time, there is no real cleaning period! So the guy using a shampoo through a wand is doing what again? Not cleaning your carpets right, thats for sure. You might not have ever heard it that way but again, ask your carpet cleaners to explain their process and now you just might be the carpet pro. 
Temperature is a HUGE key to this whole equation If your cleaning device does not get to 180 Degrees plus, then you are not activating the ingredients of the product and now its just been a waist of chemical and time. For every Degree Past 180 Degrees, this powers the chemical or shampoos by 10,000 times. If you can get this to 250 Degrees, imagine how effective the clean will be by chemistry standards. It is a National standard to have rentals and Homes sales truck mount cleaned. One huge reason for this is the fact of the heat. The heat opens the pours of the carpet for one. It activates the Chem’s for 2, It DISINFECTS VIRUSES and DISEASES! It can also kill unwanted guests and pests that carry kawasaki disease. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kawasaki_disease. Portables are commercial carpet cleaners only and cannot compete in any way shape or form with the power of a Truck mount. DO NOT BE FOOLED and do not accept this because its a cheaper price. You more then likely will have to have a pro come and re-clean this for you due to all of the facts above. This is not National Cleaning standards and always use a truck mount for your weapons of proper rental and home cleanings.
Clean and Neutralizing is the final step to all of this Process all though some will argue about carpet raking as the final step. If you are using high ph Alkaline chemicals and Shampoos, then its an absolute must to neutralize the carpet or Upholstery. This is the same Idea as balancing your body’s chemistry or balancing hair dye. This is extremely crucial to ensure top safety to the clean and this can also set up for a great carpet protectant bass. If there is shampoo residue left in the carpet during carpet protecting, the chemicals will eat the protectant. Just a heads up. By dropping the carpet even to an acidic level, the carpet protectants will accept this and apply better then ever and everyone goes home happy. A few extra dry strokes are suggested during this process and no residue means no dirt can attract back to your investment of the carpet cleaning. If Extra Dry strokes are done right, it is not a must to rake a carpet. We have found more complaints with a carpet rake,then pros. Once the carpet dries, the rake marks may never come out, even after 100 vacuums Some request a redo so the marks come out and even then, you might have to power scrub it to get the marks out. Raking can actually make a carpet look worst with shadowing and can be a soar subject with some customers. Ask always before raking as some friendly advice. You might be surprised how far this tip gets you.
OTHER TIPS!
Pre vacuuming will give you a better chance of a better result. Pre vacuuming can be an extra charge because it is extra work for the technicians. Its good advice to have this already done so there is no confusion between the tech and what my be thought of as an up sale Most Apartments have cleaning crews and this should be done before the tech arrives.
NEVER USE STORE BOUGHT SPOTTERS! These are extremely bad for pets, children and the carpet! Resolve for example with factually burn your carpet over time and leave a foamy impossible goo that usually will take 100 cleans to fully get out. You do not need a full bottle for one tiny spot and this is a huge reason alone to put these spotters down. They are costing you more money at the end using bad spotters and now the techs have to fight two stains vs one. Rubbing alcohol is a great safe spotter and wont attract dirt to it. It also evaporates and is easy to work with. Natures miracle is a great product you can buy online for pets if you decide you need a recommendation for spotters aside from a technician. You can as well ask your local Carpet cleaning company for a neutral spotter that will be safe for all products and fabrics in the home. Never rub side to side and NEVER run your shampoo through your home clean er, even if its in the manual. Its a complete warranty warranty killer and carpet killer. Always rub clockwise to keep your twist’s if its a must at all. Always call your local carpet cleaning company for these spots if you have the means and possible carpet maintenance programs that may be available to save on costs in the future.
PH is the balance and levels of Chemicals. This scale is used in everyday life and most do not know it. Its used to grow food, its used to keep in good health, its used for carpets and as well as Hair Dying. If you do not understand the basics of PH, then you are not even close to a carpet leaning technician. Lets go over this simply.
7 Is Neutral Anything Below 7 is Acidic. Anything Above 7 is alkaline Basic Cleans are between 7-10 on the ph scale as we use Alkaline again, the neutralize acidic’s. Lets give an example. If you have a soil registering 2 on the acid side then you would need a ph of 13 on the alkaline side. If you had a soil that is a 5, then you would use a pH of 9 on the alkaline side and vice versa. VERY EASY! For every number moving past 7 either way, its times 10,000., then 100,000 all the way up to the millions of times stronger. PH IS THE WHOLE KEY in heavy pre sprays. Especially a Million times stronger than a 8-10 PH with Basic Cleans. Add heat to this and you come up with some incredible numbers to combat oils and soils into your carpets and upholsteries. If again, your carpets are greyish black in the traffic areas, you will need a pre spray above 10 alkaline to even get started. Power scrubbers and High PH are the only ways to truly maximize your carpet cleans and now have turned into restorative cleans. Do not wait past a year to have these carpets cleaned. There is such a thing as over cleaning your carpets and once a power scrub is done once and right, you should NOT have to do it again if maintained in these fashions. Keep it simple and the results can be astonishing!
Why are carpet repairs expensive?
Carpet repairs are very time consuming and extremely hard to do the right way. This is a myth that just anyone can do it. It takes YEARS of practice to even have the real confidence in learning this craft let alone attempting them. Carpet repairs is really a dying art and its extremely hard to even find a real repair guy, even if they tell you they are. Carpet repairs break down just like any industry. On a simple note and friendly note: Every company in America needs to hit a goal to not only pay their techs but as well, to stay in business. Every companies goal out there is to make 100$ an hour plus. Let me give you an example. We can break a patch in a carpet down simply. A basic 5 inch x 5 inch patch is 25-50$ basic. Break down to time, this is 15 to 30 minutes of work. We can piece this out or time it out and it ALWAYS works out the same. Repairs are extremely hard because we are fixing other installers mistakes and faults. It take smarts and real care to pull these off. Most will fake it and its again is super hard to find a good repair person. No matter who you call or what they say on the phone to bait and switch, you will ALWAYS pay around 100$ an hour and most do not include materials, carpet, pad, metal, tack strips and more into this low number. You can call 10 companies out and basically will end up the the same result or higher. IF YOU ARE PAYING LESS, then you are and will be getting ripped off,. Take the advice or leave it but, this is how the industry truly breaks down. This also applies for spotting and power scrubbing, upholstery cleaning and so on. This is based on an hourly and no matter what prices are agreed to get the foot in the door, these are ALWAYS going to change. W set our own bait and switch market up as a world wide whole so lets face the real music finally and get to the bottom of this. Hopefully this advice helps greatly and you can find the right company and person knowing this is the raw truth. Power stretching carpets is very hard work and can require multi hours to fix seemingly simple repair. They are not simple, at all. Renting this equipment or buying it is even more expensive and if you have never done this, its nothing that can be learned in a few years. Once you find a good tech, company, do not lose their number!
Pet stains and smells. Whats the real deal?
This is the hardest stain and smell that you can possibly encounter!, Especially Female cats! 95% of the companies out there do not have a real clue on what they are doing, even to this day. There are 100’s of pet cleaners, deodorizer and pet cover ups.Thats is just what they are. Cover ups.!There is only ONE true way to relieve these stains and smells and that is completely flushing the carpet, pad and subfloor. Using a Water Claw is one of the first steps into rinsing all of the urine out. This does the work without having to rip up the carpet and pad in most cases. If the company has the means, a power Scrub will ensure all of the urine is out after the water claw and is a absolute must when dealing with these seemingly impossible to get out stains. The most expensive way to guarantee this job is to remove the pad, seal the subfloor, pet rinse the carpet front and back and replace and install back. In its original place. This is very expensive this way but is the most for the buck! Anything less is just waisting your time and money. Pets contain a high volume of ammonia and its a must to break the salts down first! The one thing most do not understand about pet is you are dealing with protein Anything that leaves the body such as blood, feces and upchuck is a protein stain. This is more in depth then just saying protein The real problem is, when protein dries, it acts as a super glue and factually bonds the stain and smell into what ever it touches. In old school terms and days, the industry use to use dead and live enzymes to break these proteins and salts down. The problem with enzymes is, it can take days or even weeks to see or smell a real result and most people want this to be an immediate fix. Unfortunately there is NO IMMEDIATE fix due to the fact the carpet must dry completely after a major flushing. Even with air movement, this can take up to 2 days to dry.
Most products are using a gas off method and what this really means is, it can take a cat smell or molecule over 100 years to gas off. These products these days are trying to gas off 100 years of smells into 1-2 days. The other problem with this can be ventilation. If the unit or home has been shut up for weeks or months, these smells can penetrate the pours of wood,paint and fabrics thus being the mistake that the carpet was not done properly which is usually the case. After the pet rinse, its is important to let these areas dry and especially ventilate out of the home or there could be some mistakes on where the smell can still be coming from. On a further note, these smell can now be apart of the air duct system and may need a cleaning of its own to ensure the best quality of this horrible staining and smells. There are better ways to now remove these stains and odor’s by not having to remove the pad and seal the subfloors. This is still a expensive process because the chemicals are very pricey. Most companies that are competing for the low price use store bought products that not only hurt the industry, but it also hurts the trust of the consumer and again, its very important to know your Technicians and companies. Pet stains are a tough thing to deal with so spend your money in the right place and do it right the first time or you can spend even more money fixing a problems over and over to even replacing the carpet. If you are told this is a topside rinse only with no flush, you just lost time and money. You now know more about pet problems and resolves then most of the uncertified industry.
Its is very difficult to determine what a fiber can be. There are some simple tests you can do that can direct you into the right solutions or shampoos for these concerns. You can burn fibers and tell what they are by these simple steps. Take a fiber and use a Lighter to burn this material. Use Tweezers or tongs to hold the fibers and try to stand over a sink or even outside. If the fiber blows away, then it is a natural. If the fiber burns and leaves a bead, then its a synthetic. Plain and simple. Under other tests such as smells and site, you will be able to recognize some of the various fibers. If the bead turns black and has no huge smell, then its a polyester strain. If it turns black and smells like asphalt, you could be dealing with Olefin If the bead is a Gold / Brown color, its more then likely Nylon because of its purity. Don’t be fooled by the gold / black bead, some P.E.T. Fibers will do the same because of different fibers mixed. Last but least, You can us DI-carboxylic acid to break Nylons down and if it does not break down this way, then its a Polyester fiber and so on as the final tip to fibers.
All synthetic fibers for area rugs are cleaned as regular Alkaline Carpets. Its begins to get tricky when you are dealing with wools and cottons. These are usually dyed with bleeding dyes such as plant materials and even Rock materials. The Extremely expensive Area rug from over seas are usually handmade and will become a Nightmare to clean without the right information. One Rule of thumb and Take this friendly advice, there is really only one way to clean these and it is on the acid side of the cleaners. If you use a Alkaline Shampoo, its is more then likely to bleed or other term crock which will result in destroying these pricey and personal items. The Same applies with Cotton. Most area rugs have a Cotton fringe and lets go over cotton in short detail.
Cotton can be Ginned or Unginned meaning is the seed pod left over in the fiber. Most Couches that are cotton have a Unginned fiber and you can see the little seed pods in the fiber and couch. One good way to recognize Cotton without a tag. The Problems with cotton are, Its a Hollow Fiber. Once this Fiber is Damaged, the core will excrete a Brownish oil that can not be turned back, even with a acid. { Acid Cleaners and sometimes reverse Bleeding and Croaking. } Once the fiber is broke its core will fill up with soils and more oils that nothing will be able to take it out. Its surround by the fiber and is impossible to repair or clean.
Wool is the same. The difference is, wool is 10 times stronger and 10 times less stain resistant. Wool has a Natural oil to the fibers that keep soils and oils from destroying it so fast. This is an EXTREMELY tough fiber and is very pricey. This has to be cleaned on the acid side otherwise resulting in permanent damages or massive browning that cannot be fixed. DO NOT let just anyone or company address these works of art. You absolutely will require a certified tech to help with your now, extravagant needs to doing this work the right way the first time.