I just use Mr. Clean now. I used ChemSpec Formula 77 for years, but I can't say that it works any better than any general purpose detergent like Mr. Clean or Fantastik.

2 fluid ounces of Mr. Clean in 5 gallons of water.

nestork wrote:

Next time you're at the beach, try removing sand from
wet feet and dry feet and see which one works better.

Dateline: Atlantic City

A man was arrested after beach goers complained that he was fondling their
feet. He seemed to be alternating between people with wet feet and people
with dry feet. "It was very creepy" said an elderly man from North Dakota,
clad in a bright green Speedo. "It was as if he was trying clean our feet.
He would wipe the sand off, jot something down in a notebook, and then move
on to someone else."

Police say the man did not resist as they led him from the beach, but they
are not sure what he meant when he kept muttering "nestork told me to do
it. nestork told me to do it."

nestork wrote:

....snip...
..

Also, if you're planning on renting a carpet shampoo'er to do the
shampoo'ing yourself, then use only 1/5th of the carpet shampoo that Rug
Doctor or whomever recommends.

....and don't buy the shampoo in the racks next to the rental machine. Go to
Home Depot, Lowes, wherever and buy the generic shampoo "for use in all
carpet shampoo machines". It'll be half the cost of the name brand stuff
sold with the machines. I paid $10 for a gallon. The Rug Doctor gallon was
$21.99.

On Tue, 20 Aug 2013 18:29:32 +0200, nestork
wrote:


;3109756 Wrote:
a related question

what should be done First - carpet shampooing, or stretching?

thanks
marc

It really doesn't matter as neither one will affect the other. Most
inexpensive carpets have a polypropylene backing, and that polypropylene
won't soften if it gets wet because it doesn't absorb moisture. Good
quality carpets will have a latex backing that won't allow liquids to
seep through the carpet to cause stains or damage in the concrete or
wood below, and that latex won't be affected by shampoo'ing the carpet
either.

But, if it were me, I would stretch the carpet first, and then VACCUUM
it, and then shampoo it.

That way:
1.) you're not trying to shampoo a wrinkled carpet, so the work will go
easier
2.) you're not kneeling down on a damp carpet when you're stretching it,
and
3.) the vaccuum cleaner removes all the SOLID dirt (like skin cells,
pollen, paper fibers and such) from the carpet before that stuff gets
wet from shampooing. Once the carpet and the solid dirt are wet, you'll
have much greater difficulty removing that solid dirt cuz of water's
surface tension. Next time you're at the beach, try removing sand from
wet feet and dry feet and see which one works better. It's the same
with carpet. The water film on the carpet pile makes the solid soils
stick like glue to the carpet pile.

Contrary to popular belief, a carpet shampoo'er doesn't clean a carpet
better than a vaccuum cleaner. They are two different tools meant for
removing two different kinds of soils. You need to vaccuum regularily
to remove the solid soils, and shampoo periodically to remove the dried
up liquid spills.

if you don't read anything else in this post, read the following three
paragraphs.

Also, if you're planning on renting a carpet shampoo'er to do the
shampoo'ing yourself, then use only 1/5th of the carpet shampoo that Rug
Doctor or whomever recommends. That's because Rug Doctor (and that
other company too, forget their name) recommend using 5 times as much
carpet soap as the companies that make the carpet soaps that
professionals use. And, if I was a suspicious person, I'd suspect the
reason for that is because they know that if you follow their
instructions, there'll be a lot of soapy water left in that carpet after
you finish shampoo'ing. As the carpet dries, the residual soap will
form a film over all the carpet fibers which solid dirts will stick to,
causing the carpet to get dirty much faster than it otherwise would, and
making regular vaccuum cleaning ineffective at removing that dirt.

Under those conditions, the ONLY thing that will remove that solid dirt
stuck to the soap film on the carpet will be to shampoo the carpet
again, thereby simply replacing that soap film with a new one. And,
when people see how much dirt is being removed by shampoo'ing, and how
much cleaner the carpet is, they're impressed with how clean the rental
machine is getting the carpet. Truth is, most of that dirt wouldn't
have even be in the recovery tank water were it not for the residual
soap left behind the last time the carpet was shampoo'ed; it would have
been removed by vaccuuming. The only reason it's there is because it
stuck to the soap film on the carpet fibers.

But, if you feel compelled to follow Rug Doctor's instructions to the
letter, then at least do a SECOND pass over the carpet with just clean
hot water in the solution tank. That way, you remove that residual soap
film from the carpet so that you break that cycle of having to shampoo
all the time to keep the carpet clean.
I usually use either a bit of fabric softener or vinegar in the
final rinse.

I love the wisdom found on this group. Once in a
while, something is really good. This is such a
moment.

..
Christopher A. Young
Learn about Jesus
www.lds.org
..

On 8/20/2013 6:55 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
nestork wrote:

...snip...
.

Also, if you're planning on renting a carpet shampoo'er to do the
shampoo'ing yourself, then use only 1/5th of the carpet shampoo that Rug
Doctor or whomever recommends.

...and don't buy the shampoo in the racks next to the rental machine. Go to
Home Depot, Lowes, wherever and buy the generic shampoo "for use in all
carpet shampoo machines". It'll be half the cost of the name brand stuff
sold with the machines. I paid $10 for a gallon. The Rug Doctor gallon was
$21.99.

Clare's right here.

Theoretically, the ideal way of shampoo'ing a carpet is to:
1. Spray an enzyme pre-spray onto the carpet
2. go over it with carpet soap first
3. and then do a second pass with an acidic rinse.

What's an enzyme?

And enzyme is simply a protein that breaks down other protens. Proteins aren't just found in meat and egg yolks; they're found in almost every food stain and many bodily fluid stains such as blood and saliva.

The idea of putting an enzyme on the carpet is to break down all those proteins into smaller molecules so that they're more readily soluble in water. You're supposed to leave the enzyme on for 15 minutes, but that instruction is designed just to give the carpet cleaner sufficient time to set up his equipment. There is no harm at all, and some good in leaving the enzyme on for longer. Once the carpet dries up from having been sprayed with enzyme, leaving it for longer won't do any good.

The reason for the acidic rinse is that soap tends to be basic in pH and most foods tend to be mildly acidic. So, acidic food spilled on a carpet with some residual soap in it will tend to cause the food to stick better than it otherwise would.

The idea behind the acidic rinse is to neutralized that alkalinity of the carpet caused by the residual soap, and even leave the carpet slightly acidic. That, theoretically, will result in mildly acidic food spills not sticking as well to the carpet.

You can buy acidic rinse concentrates at any janitorial supply store, but putting one to two cups of vinegar per 5 gallons of rinse water in your solution tank before doing the final pass will work equally well.

NOW, there isn't a carpet cleaning contractor in North America that will do a final rinse unless you pay extra for it. What they'll do instead is say:
"Not necessay Ma'am. I'm using a friable soap".

What's a "friable soap"?

A friable soap is a carpet detergent that, under laboratory conditions, dries to a brittle film on the carpet pile so that normal vaccuuming will remove the soap film from the carpet pile.

The idea here is that once the carpet is dry, normal vaccuuming will agitate the carpet pile to cause all the flakes of residual soap to break off and be sucked into the vaccuum cleaner's filter bag. CUZ, that's what happens under laboratory conditions when they test that soap.

But, when you have who knows what spilled onto your carpet over the past 6 months, those aren't laboratory conditions. I won't believe that any soap is truly friable until they test that soap under real life conditions where they pour the soap onto carpets with dried up milk, orange juice, vomit, urine and beer in the carpet as well as the usual amount of dust, pollen and road grit. THEN, if the soap dries to a brittle film that breaks off the carpet pile easily to be sucked into the vaccuum cleaner bag, I'll reconsider.

The way it stands now is that it's best to clean your carpet with the above three step process, do a second pass with an acidic rinse, but no one does that final acidic rinse unless you pay extra for it. But, at least most professionals don't use so much soap that it creates problems for the home owner, wherease that could easily happen with homeowners that shampoo their own carpets with rental machines.

Anyhow, now everyone who's kept up with this thread knows more about shampoo'ing carpets than 99% of home owners.

PS#1:
One GALLON of carpet shampoo'ing soap should be considered a lifetime supply for your typical home owner.

PS#2:
If you live in a house with an asphalt driveway, be aware that a dark discolouration on the carpets near the door you come into your house is actually asphalt tracked in from your driveway. I have an asphalt parking lot and when I shampoo the hallway carpets near the back door of the building (where the parking lot is), I use Simple Green as the detergent in my solution tank, and it works better than carpet soap or Mr. Clean at removing that asphalt residue from the carpet.

On Wed, 21 Aug 2013 19:13:15 +0200, nestork
wrote:

Anyhow, now everyone who's kept up with this thread knows more about
shampoo'ing carpets than 99% of home owners.

Not exactly.

We have never discussed steam cleaning using a truck / van mounted
unit.

On 8/21/2013 1:13 PM, nestork wrote:
;3109969 Wrote:

I usually use ... a bit of ... vinegar in the final rinse.


Clare's right here.

Theoretically, the ideal way of shampoo'ing a carpet is to go over it
with carpet soap first, and then do a second pass with an acidic rinse.

The reason for that is that soap tends to be basic in pH and most foods
tend to be mildly acidic. So, acidic food spilled on a carpet with some
residual soap in it will tend to cause the food to stick better than it
otherwise would.

The idea behind the acidic rinse is to neutralized that alkalinity of
the carpet caused by the residual soap, and even leave the carpet
slightly acidic. That, theoretically, will result in mildly acidic food
spills not sticking as well to the carpet.

You can buy acidic rinse concentrates at any janitorial supply store,
but putting one to two cups of vinegar per 5 gallons of rinse water in
your solution tank before doing the final pass will work equally well.

NOW, there isn't a carpet cleaning contractor in North America that will
do a final rinse unless you pay extra for it. What they'll do instead
is say:
"Not necessay Ma'am. I'm using a friable soap".

What's a "friable soap"?

A friable soap is a carpet detergent that, under laboratory conditions,
dries to a brittle film on the carpet pile so that normal vaccuuming
will remove the soap film from the carpet pile.

The idea here is that once the carpet is dry, normal vaccuuming will
agitate the carpet pile to cause all the flakes of residual soap to
break off and be sucked into the vaccuum cleaner's filter bag. CUZ,
that's what happens under laboratory conditions when they test that
soap.

But, when you have who knows what spilled onto your carpet over the past
6 months, those aren't laboratory conditions. I won't believe that any
soap is truly friable until they test that soap under real life
conditions where they pour the soap onto carpets with dried up milk,
orange juice, vomit and beer in the carpet as well as the usual amount
of dust, pollen and road grit. THEN, if the soap dries to a brittle
film that breaks off the carpet pile easily to be sucked into the
vaccuum cleaner bag, I'll reconsider.

The way it stands now is that it's best to do a second pass with an
acidic rinse, but no one does unless you pay extra for it. But, at
least most professionals don't use so much soap that it creates problems
for the home owner, wherease that could easily happen with homeowners
that shampoo their own carpets with rental machines. And, that goes
double for those homeowners that think: "The instructions say to use 10
fluid ounces of soap per 5 gallons of solution tank water. But, I'm
going to forget where I put this soap the next time I need it, so I'll
pour the whole jug in to get the carpet really clean."

Anyhow, now everyone who's kept up with this thread knows more about
shampoo'ing carpets than 99% of home owners.

PS:
One GALLON of carpet shampoo'ing soap should be considered a lifetime
supply for your typical home owner.





What about Woolite? That is what I used on a wool Oriental rug
(expensive, and very dirty)....cleaned in place with watering can, scrub
brush, Shop Vac, fan.

We had a vacuum cleaner salesman stop by; my idiot husband let him in
the door. Don't recall the brand, but the price was around $1300. He
did the usual spiel and demo with filter paper to show me how much dirt
my vac. left in the carpet. He was in no hurry, so we chatted quite a
while. Very friendly guy. I asked him if I could have a piece of his
filter paper. Sure. I hooked up my 40 y/o Electrolux, put a piece of
filter paper across the nozzle, and showed him how much dirt HIS sweeper
left on the carpet. )

I've heard of Woolite, but have never used it. I've never had real wool carpet in my building or in any of my apartments. However, if the 1-800 customer service phone number on your container of Woolite says you can use it to clean wool carpets as well as wool fabrics, then I'd use it on your wool carpet, too.

I used to use carpet soap made by a company called ChemSpec which is a well respected name in the janitorial services sector of the economy. But, I've found that their carpet soap really doesn't work any better or worse than any all-purpose detergent like Mr. Clean or Fantastik.

It's important to use a good quality vaccuum cleaner to remove the solid soils from your carpet. You can also, however, use a Shop Vac style wet/dry vaccuum cleaner to clean liquid spills out of your carpet. Just press the end of the suction hose directly against the carpet pile and use the air flow through the hose to suck up as much liquid as you can.

You can also go to any Janitorial Supply outlet that carries carpet cleaning products and buy cleaning chemicals made especially for the kind of stain that's on your carpet. They're called "spotting solutions" or "spotters".

Professional carpet cleaning contractors will buy a "spotting kit" like the one shown below:

http://www.deltacleaning.co.uk/image...ting%20kit.jpg

That kit will contain anywhere from 8 to 22 cleaning solutions, each one for removing a particular type of stain; such as blood; ink and toner; coffee and tea; feces and urine; fruit juices; edible synthetic dyes such as Kool-Aid or Crystal Lite, etc.

You just go to any place listed under Janitorial Equipment & Supplies in your yellow pages phone directory that sells carpet cleaning supplies and ask for a spotting solution for whatever kind of stain you want to remove.

You read the instructions on the spotting solution and typically spray it onto the stain with one spray bottle, agitate with your fingers, suck up the soiled cleaner with the suction hose of your wet/dry vaccuum, repeat as necessary, spray clean water onto the area with another (or the same) spray bottle, work the water in with your fingers and then suck the rinse water out with your wet/dry vaccuum. If you can read and understand Engrish, you'll be able to remove stains from your carpet using a wet/dry vaccuum cleaner just as well as any of the professional carpet cleaning contractors in town can. And, you'll be able to remove stains far more effectively than by buying one of those $400 mini carpet shampoo'ers made by Bissell, Hoover or Eureka because not only are you using a cleaning product made specifically for the kind of stain you've go, but you have WAY more suction available to you. The more soiled cleaning solution you get out of the carpet, and the more soiled rinse water you get out of the carpet, the cleaner your carpet will be when it dries.

You can't clean an entire carpet that way, but you can certainly get stains out of a carpet that way.

You don't need to buy an entire carpet spotting solution kit. You just buy whatever kind of stain remover you need, which is exactly what carpet cleaning contractors do when they run out of one kind of stain remover.

On 8/21/2013 2:54 PM, nestork wrote:
Norminn;3110300 Wrote:

What about Woolite? That is what I used on a wool Oriental rug
(expensive, and very dirty)....cleaned in place with watering can, scrub

brush, Shop Vac, fan.

We had a vacuum cleaner salesman stop by; my idiot husband let him in
the door. Don't recall the brand, but the price was around $1300. He
did the usual spiel and demo with filter paper to show me how much dirt

my vac. left in the carpet. He was in no hurry, so we chatted quite a
while. Very friendly guy. I asked him if I could have a piece of his
filter paper. Sure. I hooked up my 40 y/o Electrolux, put a piece of
filter paper across the nozzle, and showed him how much dirt HIS sweeper

left on the carpet. )


I've heard of Woolite, but have never used it. I've never had real wool
carpet in my building or in any of my apartments. However, if the 1-800
customer service phone number on your container of Woolite says you can
use it to clean wool carpets as well as wool fabrics, then I'd use it on
your wool carpet, too.

I used to use carpet soap made by a company called ChemSpec which is a
well respected name in the janitorial services sector of the economy.
But, I've found that their carpet soap really doesn't work any better or
worse than any all-purpose detergent like Mr. Clean or Fantastik.

Mr. Clean? Yike! I had looked over the website for a local business
that did only cleaning of Oriental rugs...they explained how they did it
and that they used Woolite. I use it in the washer, as well, on
delicate cycle, cold water, for my wool sweaters. They never bleed dye
with Woolite, so I'm confident about using it on good rugs.

It's important to use a good quality vaccuum cleaner to remove the solid
soils from your carpet. You can also, however, use a Shop Vac style
wet/dry vaccuum cleaner to clean liquid spills out of your carpet. Just
press the end of the suction hose directly against the carpet pile and
use the air flow through the hose to suck up as much liquid as you can.

Hubby wouldn't help haul the rug outside for cleaning, so I cleaned it
in place. I used the watering can to saturate it first with Woolite,
and then again for rinses, and scrubbed it with the soapy solution on it
and used a stiff scrub brush. Hubby worked in garage at the time and
the blackness of the dirt appeared to be grease, but it came out fine.
I used the regular floor attachment to pick up the water, which it did
very nicely. Afterward, I laid some pvc pipes under the rug to help
speed drying with the fan running....careful not to raise parts up too
high and make ridges when it dried. Dried in less than 24 hrs, looked
great.

You can also go to any Janitorial Supply outlet that carries carpet
cleaning products and buy cleaning chemicals made especially for the
kind of stain that's on your carpet. They're called "spotting
solutions" or "spotters".

I get mine at the pet store for my darling grand-Schnauzer who likes to
leave a gift whenever he visits....last time, he had pooped about a hr.
before I was ready to take him out again. He was resting in the LR when
I called him to go out; he promptly walked over to show me the little
pile he had made by the front door, and then scooted back to where he
had been resting and looked up at me with his "I'm sorry" look. He got
yelled at last time, for urinating right next to me at the computer and
got his nose rubbed in it. Only time ever, never again. If he didn't
get the message, he never will. He spent the first six years of his
life in a kennel, so house-breaking has been pretty successful and he is
a heck of a sweet dog.

Professional carpet cleaning contractors will buy a "spotting kit" like
the one shown below:

http://www.deltacleaning.co.uk/image...ting%20kit.jpg

That kit will contain anywhere from 8 to 22 cleaning solutions, each one
for removing a particular type of stain; such as blood; ink and toner;
coffee and tea; feces and urine; fruit juices; edible synthetic dyes
such as Kool-Aid or Crystal Lite, etc.

You just go to any place listed under Janitorial Equipment & Supplies in
your yellow pages phone directory that sells carpet cleaning supplies
and ask for a spotting solution for whatever kind of stain you want to
remove.

You read the instructions on the spotting solution and typically spray
it onto the stain with one spray bottle, agitate with your fingers, suck
up the soiled cleaner with the suction hose of your wet/dry vaccuum,
repeat as necessary, spray clean water onto the area with another (or
the same) spray bottle, work the water in with your fingers and then
suck the rinse water out with your wet/dry vaccuum. If you can read and
understand Engrish, you'll be able to remove stains from your carpet
using a wet/dry vaccuum cleaner just as well as any of the professional
carpet cleaning contractors in town can. And, you'll be able to remove
stains far more effectively than by buying one of those $400 mini carpet
shampoo'ers made by Bissell, Hoover or Eureka because not only are you
using a cleaning product made specifically for the kind of stain you've
go, but you have WAY more suction available to you. The more soiled
cleaning solution you get out of the carpet, and the more soiled rinse
water you get out of the carpet, the cleaner your carpet will be when it
dries.

You can't clean an entire carpet that way, but you can certainly get
stains out of a carpet that way.

You don't need to buy an entire carpet spotting solution kit. You just
buy whatever kind of stain remover you need, which is exactly what
carpet cleaning contractors do when they run out of one kind of stain
remover.

Persian rugs and area rugs are commonly hand woven from wool, and so I expect that's why your local companies use Woolite on them. All of my living room carpets are either Olefin or solution dyed nylon fiber, and I find that any general purpose detergent works fine in removing dirt from them.

I have both a carpet blower (that works like a powerful fan, but blows only near floor level) and a dehumidifier that I use to dry the carpet after I've shampoo'd it in an apartment.

"Nature's Miracle", which most pet stores sell for cleaning up dried up pet urine is also effective at removing the smell of pet urine from carpets and other flooring. I've never used it though.

My church has been using a service that steam cleans
with the van mounted unit. I'm not impressed. I went
over the same carpet with my shampooer followed by
extractor, and got a LOT more dirt out. Oh, I got the
other kind of dirt, that's it.

..
Christopher A. Young
Learn about Jesus
www.lds.org
..

On 8/21/2013 2:00 PM, Oren wrote:

We have never discussed steam cleaning using a truck / van mounted
unit.

Oren wrote:
On Wed, 21 Aug 2013 19:13:15 +0200, nestork
wrote:

Anyhow, now everyone who's kept up with this thread knows more about
shampoo'ing carpets than 99% of home owners.

Not exactly.

We have never discussed steam cleaning using a truck / van mounted
unit.

Or using a van mounted steam cleaning unit to clear ice dams from gutters.

My buddy had a steam cleaning unit in his van. In an effort to increase his
income, and considering that few people have their carpets cleaned in that
manner during the winter, he decided to see if he could convert his unit
into an ice dam clearing device.

He fitted a hose with a high pressure nozzle so he could use the hot water
to cut through the ice dams. At that same time I had a serious ice dam
problem with water leaking into my house, so we made a deal. I would shoot
a video as he tested his device on my ice dams so he could use it as
advertising and he would clear my ice dams for free.

Well, I sure got the better end of that deal. His "invention" did a great
job of clearing the ice dams, but the mist caused such a coating of ice on
the ladders, my deck, the ground, the roof, etc. that it was extremely
dangerous. It was bad enough for me just walking around on the ground
filming and moving the chunks of ice that he cut off. It was much, much
worse for him trying to move around on the roof and ladder. He decided that
there was no way he could get insurance for his crew based on the coating
of ice that covered everything.

Oh well, nice try!

Thank you, that's one of the rare moments on Usenet when someone posts
an interesting idea.

..
Christopher A. Young
Learn about Jesus
www.lds.org
..

On 8/21/2013 10:37 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote:

Or using a van mounted steam cleaning unit to clear ice dams from gutters.

My buddy had a steam cleaning unit in his van. In an effort to increase his
income, and considering that few people have their carpets cleaned in that
manner during the winter, he decided to see if he could convert his unit
into an ice dam clearing device.

He fitted a hose with a high pressure nozzle so he could use the hot water
to cut through the ice dams. At that same time I had a serious ice dam
problem with water leaking into my house, so we made a deal. I would shoot
a video as he tested his device on my ice dams so he could use it as
advertising and he would clear my ice dams for free.

Well, I sure got the better end of that deal. His "invention" did a great
job of clearing the ice dams, but the mist caused such a coating of ice on
the ladders, my deck, the ground, the roof, etc. that it was extremely
dangerous. It was bad enough for me just walking around on the ground
filming and moving the chunks of ice that he cut off. It was much, much
worse for him trying to move around on the roof and ladder. He decided that
there was no way he could get insurance for his crew based on the coating
of ice that covered everything.

Oh well, nice try!

On Wednesday, 14 August 2013 10:20:04 UTC-7, DaveT159 wrote:
The carpeting in my house was installed during the winter, and they
apparently didn't bother heating the area and letting it expand before
installation.

Over the last few years the carpet has developed substantial wrinkles.

Can anything be done to get it to contract? I've already priced having a
reputable company come and trim it, and it's more than I feel like
spending to cure the problem.

Thanks

On Mon, 20 Feb 2017 20:20:24 -0800 (PST), wrote:

On Wednesday, 14 August 2013 10:20:04 UTC-7, DaveT159 wrote:
The carpeting in my house was installed during the winter, and they
apparently didn't bother heating the area and letting it expand before
installation.

Over the last few years the carpet has developed substantial wrinkles.

Can anything be done to get it to contract? I've already priced having a
reputable company come and trim it, and it's more than I feel like
spending to cure the problem.

Thanks


buy yourself a carpet stretcher and bang up YOUR knees instead of
paying the "robber baron" flooring guys to do the job - or get a
disreputable company to screw the job up for you?