[Henry Roberts]

Hi Guys, I'm new to your forum and run a TM system in West Wales.
I have recently been asked to quote on cleaning about 800 square M in a school. There is a mountain of chewing gum to remove in certain areas and was woundering if any body has any ideas for removing it and what sort of charge over your carpet cleaning rate would apply?
Cheers, Henry

[richie]

Hi Henry.
Gum is a big problem when it comes to removal.  Depending on the carpet type i find that a decorators wallpaper scraper works well & is very quick.  You can use this on carpets that have a cut pile or carpet tiles.  You remove the gum & a small amount of carpet fibre.  Look at the link below that shows which scrapper.  Cost wise i charge £45 per hour per man for gum removal.  If its not possible to use this scrapper then id advise you use a gel.  Hydramaster OJ is really good but you do have to be really careful if the carpet is bitumein backed.  Prochems Citrus Gel will also do the job but not as likely to cause a problem with the backing.

http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid=9254665&fh_view_size=10&fh_start_index=30&fh_location=%2f%2fcatalog01%2fen_GB&fh_search=scrapper&fh_eds=%c3%9f&fh_refview=search&ts=1259441331147&isSearch=true

Richie.
PS
Get at least 2 packs of spare blades aswell as you will need them.

http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid=9254666&fh_view_size=10&fh_start_index=30&fh_location=%2f%2fcatalog01%2fen_GB&fh_search=scrapper&fh_eds=%c3%9f&fh_refview=search&ts=1259441474657&isSearch=true

[Simon@arenaclean]

It's more likely blu tac in a school, stuff goes everywhere. It's time consuming, I use citrus gel/steam gun combination, some freeze. Don't be afraid to charge for this if there is a lot of it it can easily take a couple of hours, so charge accordingly. You might want to think about low moisture/encap if they are low profile or tiles much easier, or post bonnet

simon

[Henry Roberts]

Thanks both for advice, blade sounds good.
Henry 

[colin thomas]

steam wallpaper stripper without the pad, you need to have a 'box' on the end of the tube to contain the steam, the one i use has a 'box' around 2" x 3", in the past i have taped onto the end of the steam tube a plastic business card box, still worked ok. hold the box over the gum for a few seconds, the gum will melt and you can scrape it off easily with a blade or something onto tissue or terry towel. wipe the remains with pog or citrus gel or similar, if you don't do this bit then the residue of gum will soon attract dirt to it, then clean as usual but i would make sure to give the carpet a better than usual rinse to get rid of any residue of solvent. 

colin

[james roffey]

I had a large commercial job in a Salvation Army hall, my first commercial job and was worried about removing all the chewing gum after some research i ordered some "Riditgum" which is designed to remove just chewing gum had to order six bottles of it though only used one and found it amazing also brought something called a gum getter from Alltec which is just a piece of plastice with a jagged edge, took seconds to remove gum, just squirt a little on the gum rub it with stiff wire brush then remove with gum getter easy