Another question: Cleaning upholstery.

[David]

Hi there,

As some of you may have seen from my previous postings I have been cleaning the carpets at my house, I told my Dad to bring home the Rug Doctor and I have finally completed cleaning the whole house and a few car mats, it was so much easier to get fantastic results compared to using the Vax which gave very good results but a lot of effort was required especially with regards to the stair cleaning.

So know guess what, my granny wants her carpet cleaning and she also has a few sofas and chairs that could do with a clean too.

What should I use to clean it, we have Prochem Woolsafe and some other Carpet Shampoo which is made by "Direct chemical supplies", the Prochem doesn't say anything about cleaning upholstery but the latter is suitable for cleaning upholstery.

Rug Doctor recommend using there own high foaming cleaner so the upholstery doesn't get too wet, will it be OK just to use the Carpet Shampoo?

Is it OK to use Prochem Woolsafe on carpets which aren't wool?

Thanks.

[The Medway Handyman]

Upholstery is a trifle more complicated to clean than carpets. It depends on the fabric.

Dralon is no trouble at all, viscose is a nightmare.

If the Direct stuff claims its suitable for 'upholstery' without being specific about what type of fabric, then leave it well alone. They obviously don't know what they are talking about.

Dry foam shampoo will avoid over wetting & is fairly safe on most upholstery fabrics.

Broadly yes. If its safe enough for wool, which could be regarded as a sensitive fabric, then it should be safe on most others.

The main problem with furniture, especially that owned by granny's, is that the fabric could be viscose. Wing back chairs with embroidered looking hunting scenes are often viscose. Bloody awful stuff to clean, colour runs like a bugger.

Only safe way is to find an area that won't be seen & wet it out with a strong solution of whatever you decide on.

Suck it & see as they say.

[David]

The chairs are like a suede fabricy thing...

Also the kitchen carpet is Flotex.

[The Medway Handyman]

Hmmm. Test it with a stronger & hotter solution than you would use to clean it.

Bomb proof. Do whatever you like, its almost completely indestructible. Only thing that affects Flotex is neat bleach - and that only takes the colour out.

[David]

I have found hotter water to give better results when cleaning some car mats however with the Rug Doctor the maximum permissible water temperature is 50C, could I do much harm with filling it with water at

60C-70C?

The water cools down quite quickly with the Rug Doctor.

Would it be OK to use the Prochem stuff on the chairs?

Thanks again for your help.

[The Medway Handyman]

Probably not, but I wouldn't go above 70c.

You are going to have to test an inconspicuous are first.

[David]

Thanks for the help, the Rug Doctor makes the job a tad easier.

Will be valeting the car with it in summer, I think I need to get some Extraction Pro for that...........

[The Medway Handyman]

Good machine. Have you bought one then?

Yup, great product.

[Dave]

I hired a rug doctor from home base a couple of years ago and I didn't know it came with tools for car carpets, or stair carpets. How do they work?

Dave

[The Medway Handyman]

The machine has a hose assembly and a hand tool which can be connected, Usually there is a valve to divert the pumps outlet to a q/r fitting - the solution hose connects to that. The recovery hose is swapped for the one going out of the lid.

Works, but a bit of a dogs breakfast. Adapting a horse for a different course.

[The Medway Handyman]

5.

[Doki]

I wouldn't be surprised if it's not cheaper to have someone valet the car than to hire a rug doctor. A quick google suggests you can get a hell of a lot of work done for not a lot of cash - possibly because valeting / detailing seems to be something a lot of people have a go at.

[David]

Nah I asked my Dad to bring it home, gave it a jolly good clean before using it.

I found the upholstery tool very easy to connect.

We have the quick dry machine, for carpets to dry quicker you turn the valve from Deep clean to quick dry, Rug Doctor say you have to use the quick dry shampoo for better results.

When we rent it out we just give that Carpet Shampoo from Direct chemical supplies.

[David]

In summer I spend a lot of time cleaning the car, sometimes I can be working on it for over 6 hours. Last summer I was very lucky as I won a tub of the new Autoglym HD wax which is worth 35 pounds IIRC.

[Dave]

Next time I hire one, I'll ask for the hose aassembly.

Thanks for the info.

Dave

[David]

Yes they normally have it there in a netted bag.

[David]

Thanks for your advise, I cleaned the whole house ( Hall, stairs, landing, kitchen, LARGE living room, lounge 3 bedrooms and 8 dining chairs) on Saturday and I got paid 20 pounds!

Took me 6 hours, all carpets wool except kitchen, Flotex was a pleasure to clean!

Used very hot water and a slightly stronger solution and went over it

4 times and rinsed about twice on the Flotex.

[David]

Just remembered that I cleaned 11 chairs...

[The Medway Handyman]

I do hope that was £20 per hour? Even that would be very cheap.

[David]

Nope, that's how much I got for 6 hours of work.....

Juts doing a favour really.