[Neil Grainger]

Hello

Can anyone please confirm the difference between Belgium Wilton and Wilton carpets. I have a wilton that has been converted into a rug 24x10 and want to know the best way to clean it.

Cheers

Neil

[woodman]

BW is synthetic (polypropelene) cheap bit of tat, that will shrink very rapidly if over wet.

True Wilton is a 100% or 80/20 wool woven backed quality carpet that would have cost some serious money to buy.

If its been made into a rug and therefore not held down by gripper then in both instances caution should be used in the cleaning and over wetting avoided at all costs otherwise you will be the owner of a very large rug.

Hope this helps

[Elite (Ben)]

I try to avoid BW if possible. sometimes its not worth the risk.  If i do its with very little water.

ben

[Chris Bailey]

Scarey, Scarey.....

Hi Neil

Woodman is correct, too much water and you we be the owner of a new piece of furnishing.

The problem is that the fibre tufts are synthetic with the backing being natural.  Your cleaning solution will go straght to the backing as there is no absorbtion on the tufts as they are synthetic.  A natural backing will shrink when wet!

The easiest way to identify BW is by looking at the reverse of the carpet.  If you can clearly see the pattern on the back then it is a BW.  To confirm this do a burn test to check if the tufts are synthetic and the backing is natural.

Also, with a woven carpet the carpet tends to be a lot thicker than a tufted

Of course you can always chuck a bucket of water over it and see what happens!  ONLY JOKIN!!

I have cleaned a small number of BW's.  if it is well fitted then use as little water as possible, more dry passes than normal and dry as quick as possible with an air mover.  So far I haven't had any problems, they come up a treat.

With a rug, not fixed down.... there might be a tad of shrinkage!!

If you want to have a shot at it firstly explian the difficulties with your customer, get them to sign a waiver making sure they understand the problems and take the liability.

hope this helps

Chris

[CATMAN]

Another name for the Belgium Wilton is a "face to face weave", so as mentioned the pattern that is on the front is also on the back.

CATMAN

[Neil Grainger]

Did job today and rugs came up great. One was even a BW and it did not shrink.

Cheers for all the advice

Regards

neil

[scott.]

~Thought a poly BW if synthetic, wouldnt be woven   Thought all wovens were wool....or have I been mis-lead   also....which ones do the hotels use normaly?

[John Kelly]

The Belgian Wilton is "woven" on a high tech machine and in my view shouldn't be allowed to be called a Wilton. The only similarity between Belgians and proper Wiltons are the patterns. Spotting the difference between the two is basic stuff, not knowing can lead to you buying a new carpet.
As mentioned previously the Belgians have a Polyprop pile which allows water to go straight through to the backing which can lead to shrinkage. A genuine Wilton will be either 100% wool or Wool rich fibre which absorbs moisture preventing it going throught to the backing before it is extracted, they still need to cleaned with care.
If you are not sure, take a small peice of the pile from the edge or corner and light it with a lighter, if it smells like burnt hair it is Wool if it smells like tar or plastic it is Polyprop.
By the way it is only Belgian style Polyprops that are problematic, most other types of Polyprop carpets are easy to clean with few problems.

[Mike Roper]

Just adding to whats been said - Have you had a good look around a carpet shop lately. You will notice that belgium wiltons have evolved somewhat .I t is now very difficult to spot one as soon as you walk in a room as with the early ones .They can be plain or slightly patterned not just the heavily patterned ones. They look and feel like wool at first glance. To add to this I saw samples hanging on a rack that looked exactly how has been descibed earlier- pattern as distinct on the back as the front- but they were all wool! Certainly gave me a warning not to get complacent!
Mike

[the red carpet]

just cleaned my first b/w today so fingers crossed.
pre sprayed, set psi down to 80, set temp down to 60, used a extracta scrubba tool to aggitate and extract, turbo dryed.
lets hope all go's well.