Carpet/Upholstery

[AeroCleanse]

I'm a floor guy looking at adding detailing as a service. Saw a video where he sprayed some really foamy stuff onto a floormat, worked it in with a brush, and then wiped with a twisting motion using a MF towel.

Is this a normal, accepted method of cleaning it?

Sounds like an amature at work with some big box store foaming carpet cleaner.

If it's your own car then you can do what you like, I don't think most professionals would use that method.

[allenk4]

May have found a use for those bonnets I bought when I first got into detailing:

Encapsulation Carpet Cleaning - How To Clean Carpets | BonnetPro (http://bonnetpro.com/landing/how_to_encap.html)

[Flash Gordon]

With encap, the more soil you can get out with your vacuum the better it will work. Here's my basic steps -

Vacuum.
Agitate thoroughly, i use my PC 7424 and aqua brush.
Spray your encap solution.
Lightly agitate with hand brush to ensure encap is on all fibers.

Scrub carpet, Again i use my PC 7424 on speed 6, i scrub the carpet just like i am working a polish on the paint, slow hand movement and make at least 2 passes. More for heavier dirt.

Here you can stop and forget about it, let the encap work it's magic as it dries.

For medium soiling I blot with towel or steam with a triangle thing and towel. Either way, when the towel gets dirty, get a new one! Don't spread the dirt around!

For heavy soil I extract with hot water next.

After either steam or extract i mist encap again just to ensure there is encap solution at the correct dilution on the fibers.

When carpet dries, vacuum it a final time.

I use Bonnet Pro brand encap. VacAway is another good one.
So is Releasit.

Bonnet Pros "revive it" line is amazing. "Confidence" is my go to. The "revive it spotter" is the best I've ever used for spot treatment, period.

Today i had a blood stain my customer tried everything on to remove it. I sprayed the spotter on it and just watched it disappear. I didn't have to even touch it. It does the same for coffee and other organic spots.

The best thing about all of it is the dilution ratios make it very cheap per 32 oz trigger bottle.

I usually use less than 20 oz mixed solution per car.

For heavy salt i extract or steam.


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Thanks for the tips

:props:

[MDX Detailing]

Nice. Yeah, I've used HWE and I've used encap. They both have situations they work, and work well in. I tend to prefer to use HWE because I can blitz a freaking carpet and not feel bad about charging what I do that way. Nice to meet you, and thanks to both of you for the input.

If you think you can "blitz a freaking carpet" and not feel bad about charging what you do, you must be charging next to nothing, since blitzing a vehicle with an extractor is not going to accomplish anything except soaking carpet and upholstery. This leads to odors and wicking problems, especially when it comes to spilled coffee or drinks in the upholstery. Proper cleaning takes time, care, and attention to details. "Blitzing" a carpet is not providing your customer with professional services.

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[Joseph Rogers]

Jon-Don is a good distributor for a lot of stuff carpet cleaning, but I'm going to be straight up and hope Bill Yeadon doesn't get mad at me for it...:)

You can get better encap products at Excellent Supply. They're located in Florida, so you'll have to have it shipped, but I think once you go over $350 in product you'll get free shipping. I could be wrong.

Anyway, they've got 3 staple products you'll want to give thought to.

Releasit DS2 (Stands for Double Strength) - This is the all around go to cleaner. Mix, spray, agitate and BAM. You're done. Let it dry and vacuum it out. DS2 actually has a fluorochemical protector built into it, which most of the others don't.

Punch - This is for pre-application to particularly greasy areas. Let it sit for 15 minutes or so, scrub, apply some DS2 as a follow up, and scrub. Let dry, then vacuum.

Hydrox - This is for light colored carpets. It's got a peroxide built into it, and it will make the carpet and upholstery "pop" when you're done. Nice thing to have to restore something particularly dingy looking.

Kengo, if you're going to do encap, swap out encap products for steps 5 and 7. Do not use any other products in conjunction with encap...as it dries there is a crystallization going on. The product crystallizes around the dirt, which is what prevents it from re-attaching to the fibers. Other cleaners can really mess with the crystallization, and prevent it from happening. If you do that, you might as well just get an extractor and suck it all back out, because all the benefits of the encap juice will be lost.

[Joseph Rogers]

If you think you can "blitz a freaking carpet" and not feel bad about charging what you do, you must be charging next to nothing, since blitzing a vehicle with an extractor is not going to accomplish anything except soaking carpet and upholstery. This leads to odors and wicking problems, especially when it comes to spilled coffee or drinks in the upholstery. Proper cleaning takes time, care, and attention to details. "Blitzing" a carpet is not providing your customer with professional services.

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Oh, man...look, I know you guys don't know me that well yet, and vice versa...but is it REALLY necessary to be snotty about it?

Look. When I tell you I'm "Blitzing" the carpet, that means that I'm pre-vacuuming, prespraying, scrubbing, and extracting, nice and slow. Blitzing means I'm going all out on it. I also charge quite a bit for my services, and people are happy with what they get for it. I've got links to online review sites on my website. Feel free to go look:

New River Valley Carpet and Tile Cleaner | Quest Floor Care (http://www.questfloorcare.com)

I'm not some hack that comes in and don't care what happens. I've got tools for upholstery. I've got tools for carpet. I've got tools for tile and grout. Being able to specialize and understand what is necessary for a proper, productive clean is important to remaining profitable.

[dcjredline]

I gotta say I use Blitz as a wham bam thank you maam statement too. Glad you cleared up your meaning though.

[dirtdestroyer]

I always thought of blitz as in an intense, direct attack. A blitzkrieg in war is a bunch of short heavy atacks followed by more speed and surprise once through the initial defenses. In football a blitz is a QB rush (similar meaning to the military meaning really). I never knew it was used any differently as those and it's similar use in media are the only definitions I've heard of. Maybe people just think "quick" when they hear the word and forget the all encompassing meaning of the word.

It's been a great thread so far. Alot of good info.