[cleanability]

Belgian Wilton at customers house today. I gave my reservations about wet cleaning it. Customer said its ok, the last carpet cleaner did a "shrink test" on it and its won't shrink  .
Been carpet cleaning 18 years and never heard of a shrink test on a carpet. Is there one or is this just fantasy?



Chris

[neil 47]

If it's a bw it will shrink if you over wet it .

Stick pins in it in a 2" square and wet it and see if it contracts .

I think he probably was bs and just low moistured it and went over it with vacs on as all the bw I've done lm come up well

[stuart_clark]

I clean bws all the time and without a problem, but it all dependson how well they are fitted ! If its at all loose on the gripper dont touch it, it has to be well down in such a way that you find it hard to lift the edges, anything else walk away or bonnet clean

stuart

[Hilton]

BW were never designed to be fitted on gripper they are 100% stick down, which you will see in hotels all over Europe.It was the UK that started fitting them on underlay   (cheap suppliers such as Carpet Right passing them off as Wiltons)and gripper hence the warranty was invalidated.

They started fitting them using double gripper to prevent shrinkage but of course even this did not stop it if over wet it just pulled it apart or lifted the gripper up.In time fitters because of cost and time just fitted in the standard manner and then it was open season on claims against CC as once you agreed to clean them it was assumed you were the professional and had made a 'commercial decision' on that basis to go ahead 'knowing' the risks.

Unfortunately lack of training and of course just down right cowboy cleaners started cleaning carpets they had no idea about and accepted they were in fact 'Wiltons' and of course suffered the consequences as a result or not as the case may be if not insured or professional.

Can you do a shrinkage test ? yes you can if you have a sample, bit of spare carpet, mat etc what you can not do is test an area of there fitted carpet for shrinkage, if you do its at 'your risk'.

As mentioned above with care they can be cleaned perfectly well 'after an inspection' and explaining the risks to the client just by keeping moisture to a minimum.

[mr muzzy]

A   b/w  to me is a cheap woven carpet that can not be cleaned with h/w/e you just think water and they will shrink
back in the day you used to see loads of them, few quid a yard , not many now ,if you did clean one they would shrink bend buckle ,you could not kick them back out no way
I clean lots of woven carpets no problem ,but not them no way
why would you let a Customer tell you a carpet is not going to shrink ?
why has she not used the same cc as last time ?
it sounds like your getting set up for a claim

 

[Steve Chapman]

The test for me would be if its a polypropylene face fibre on a jute / natural backing then its gunna shrink as the water will go straight through the pile with no absortion like wool etc and just hit the backing which will absorb it and shrink.

Would be low moisture all the way....

[cleanability]

Thanks for the replies chaps.