Teach me how to clean carpets (salt, oil stains)

Hey DB,

I wanted to appeal to you gurus about cleaning floormats and carpets. I've had some negative experiences recently in dealing with carpeted floor mats, and I am humbly asking for some assistance in helping my routine become a better, and more effective routine for myself and more importantly the customers I offer this to.

My Current Equipment
- 12 gallon shop vac
- carpet scrub brush
- Megs APC (i go 2:1 up to 8:1) - b/c of the "fabric softener" content on the back.
- Electric Pressure Washer

My current routine (doesn't work on heavy oil and crusted salt stains)

This routine usually works on light areas, but still leaves stains, and does NOTHING to melt away salt stains or those brown "oil" (they look like oil) stains in the carpets.

1) Rinse carpets with pressure washer
2) spray liberally with MEgs APC cut around 4:1
3) scrub like crazy until the carpet is nothing but foam
4) rinse with pressure washer
5) suck dry with wet vac

Why am I complaining? Well two things, that routine doesn't seem to get the carpet any cleaner, just moist after suck drying. And secondly:

- I need something that doesn't require the pressure washer as it won't work on the unremovable carpet on the inside.

My questions are:

1) What products should I be using? (Zero by Woolite? Detergent? Folex?)
2) Do I need to buy a Bissle Little Green Machine just for carpets?
3) What methods or equipment am I missing?
4) Should I bring a hot water boiler with me to details?

Thanks in advanced everyone.

 

Twogt wrote a thesis on carpet cleaning... it's in the detailing school section...

 

I just watched this video on how to use a carpet extractor, I'm doing all of those things except I need to re-equip.

YouTube - Auto Detailing Mytee Carpet Extractor Usage by Detail King

For me:A mini carpet extractor is needed I guess.

I need:
- More brushes, coarse, thick and fine.
- Hot water access
- Better soaps: Carpet extractor soap, pre-treat and carpet soap.

 

Aaron..before you go buying more equipment, try this first. Go to Home Depot and get some Zep High Traffic Lane cleaner. It's part of the Zep professional series. They have several carpet cleaners but I find this one to be the best..it also has an enzyme element to it as well. This is the process I use which gets out most of the stains and certainly has got out EVERY salt stain I have dealt with:
thorough vacuum and dry brush and vacuum to loosen up the fibers
spray on Zep Traffic
agitate with brush
rub a white terry cloth or mf over stain, repeat..you will see the stain get pulled out onto the terry cloth (that's why I like using white ones)
Once you've pulled out as much as you can that way, then
power wash thoroughly
wet vac front (and back on mats) to get as dry as possible
vacuum in your funky lines at this point if you want them

Optional: now use your steamer for any stain that did not come out from above. I don't think there's any one product that will get out every stain. Stains also differ depending on what they are. IF you want to get really serious, you need to have different cleaners depending on the type of stain you're dealing with (oil based, protein, etc) and an extractor or steamer. But, using my method above should help you with over 90% of what you run into. For salt stains on carpeting, vacuum, Zep, agitate, draw out stain, vacuum. Try not to use too much Zep b/c you will leave some soap in the carpet. This is where the extractor pays for itself. Mostly, I find that the salt stains are worse on the mats.

 

Do what Richy said -thorough vacuum and dry brush and vacuum to loosen up the fibers. Vacuuming and brushing alone will make your carpets 75% better. Just remember to do it first.

 

Perfect, at least now I have an excuse to go to Home Depot, I need to buy a few extra brushes however, are there any specific types I should get?

 

You want something with fairly stiff bristles..other than that, get what fits your hand...you'll want to have a good grip on it. While you're there, try some of the Zep Citrus APC...I can't live without it!! Their glass cleaner can be cut 32:1 IIRC so I don't know what you use, but I'd bet $$ it's more expensive than the Zep...and it's not just cheap..it really works well. Let me know how it works for you.

 

Richy...what does IIRC stand for?

noob question.

 

If I recall/remember correctly.

 

Having the right chemicals / pre treatment is key as well. Machine or not IMO for anything outside of the normal stain...


Having a extractor IMO is nice as I don't like to mess with the fibers ---when wet if I don't have to. Thorough vac, spot treat, pre treat and extractor away. This is more a different level however because I do *notice* when the fibers have been messed with too much...

Kinda like where the heel of where your pedal rests on the mat....depending on how the fibers in that area is like

 

If it is a removable carpet then take it out on the porch and wash it with powder detergent and water. This thoroughly cleans my carpets. Let it dry for a day and it should be ok.
If it can't be removed then i would suggest investing in a good quality vacuum.

Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning Professionals Company based in Liverpool

 

Richy coming in with the save again. I really gotta try this Zep stuff. I'll grab citrus and traffic. Right now I'm using folex, woolite and 303 fabric cleaner.

What do you use zep citrus for?

Aaron thanks for asking this question. If you didn't ask it I would never have come upon the zep stuff ! So gracias

Aaron looks like you're heading in the right direction. Hope you're going to the detailing meet today. It'd be great to meet you. Richy I am guessing you won't be able to make it since you're a little far away Detail a plane and maybe you can barter for free flights to Toronto

 

Has anyone ever tried dry brushing the carpet?? I do a dry brush prior to any wet cleaning.
Kinda loosens things up.

 

I agree with Richy in that although an extractor is nice, its not always necessary. The most important thing to remember if you are not using an extractor is to use a very low foaming cleaner so it rinses out easily. I did all my carpets by hand for about 5 years before I bought an extractor.
-vacuum carpets thouroughly using a stiff brush as Richy and Got Wax suggested to loosen any debris
-spot treat any stains and let stand for a few minutes then spray, don't soak, the carpet with your cleaner. I always had very good success with Autoglym Interior Shampoo.
-What I would do now is mist the carpet with clean water to dampen it and scrub with a stiff, short bristled brush.
-wipe carpet down with towels and let dry. If any stains remain, use the appropriate cleaner to spot treat those areas. Poorboys Apc works very well on high traffic areas as well.

For carpeted floormats I would
-pressure wash off making sure not to hold it so close to the mat as to introduce deep lines into the carpet as they won't come out.
-liberally spray the mats with your shampoo, give em a scrub and let stand for a few minutes
-scrub them again and rinse being careful not to introduce any of the afore mentioned lines.
-if you happen to introduce any lines into the mat, go over it again with the pw asher holding it a little farther away and continue until all lines are gone
-now yyour mats are soaking wet so use some cheap spring loaded clips and hang them to dry. If you hang them on an angle, all the water will run to one corner when draining. The mats will be dry very shortly when doing this and then give them a wipe with a towel.

 

I always dry brush too and pretty much follow Ken's routine. Pressure washing floor mats is great!

 

Since I've re-read the entire thread, I see that I missed the initial suggestion of dry brushing, sorry!!! But, I didn't see any mention of Folex. This is also available at HD or Lowes.

 

I have found this to work for me great and really saves times and energy.

-vacum with 5 hp vacume entire inside, and I mean not a crumb anywhere
-pre-treat with adams carpet cleaner
steam clean using vx5000 and use the most water option to really get deep into the carpet and loosen up the dirt
-immediatly follow with carpet extractor (mine has a water extraction lift of 137inches and a 150 -psi water spray with water hitting the carpet at 200 + degrees)
-if need to, hit the carpet one more time with steamer on low setting just to heat up the surface and allow to dry up all vapor. find the carpet dries a little faster when it is heated.

this method pretty much takes everything and anything out. anything that is still left in the carpet after all of that is lodged in there pretty bad.

saw guys using the brush method (everything by hand and alot of elbow grease) in a low end detail shop I worked at and man did it do damage to the fibers of the carpet. I definately prefer having the right equipment and "some" chemicals to loosen, heat and then extract the carpets I work on.

godoman

 

There are two kinds of soil in carpets:

a. Dry soil 85%

b. Oily soil 15%

The proper way to clean carpets is the following:

a. Vacuum thoroughly to remove all dry soil before adding any moisture
b. Hand remove any stains with appropriate stain removers
c. Pre-Spray lightly with shampoo to emulsify the oily soil on fibers
d. Let dwell for a few mintues
e. Friction scrub with hand brush or rotary shampoo tool.
f. Using a heated soil extractor remove the oily soil/shampoo residue
g. Final vacuum to remove any excess moisture

You MUST use a soil extractor to rinse out the oily soil and shampoo residue. A shop vacuum will not do it.

Like taking a shower, putting shampoo in your hair on soap on your body and then jumping out of the shower and wiping the shampoo out of your hair and soap off your body with a towel. You do not do that, you rinse the shampoo out and the soap off your body. To remove only with a towel leaves a sticky film on your skin.

Same with carpet shampooing, without an extractor to rinse out the residue you leave a sticky film on the fibers which will wick up when dry or create immediate resoiling.

Regards
Bud Abraham

 

I must say that Autoglym Interior Shampoo is pretty good as not needing to be rinsed. Before I got my wet vac, AG interior Shampoo left my fabrics feeling very dry without having to rinse. A rinse would have been preferable ofcourse, but this product is damn good for what it is.

The wet vac process has been well explained here, but like Godoman above, I like to avoid scrubbing the carpet when I can. Even with heavily soiled carpets, I've been able to clean them without scrubbing. You just need the right cleaning agent.

 

You need a good salt remover to permanently get rid of the salt stains. i have a couple companies that make it I use and both are effective. If you want a cheaper alternative, white vinegar and hot water work well but leave a bit of a smell behind