[Jim_77]

Kev, why make things more complicated than they have to be?  Cleaning curtains in-situ is all about removing the dust and insects... dry extraction.

A good turbo vac, detailing with cylinder vac & brush attachment followed by a very light mist of m-power or whatever you like, wiped off with a terry towel, bob's your uncle.

If curtains look dirty and the client wants them to look clean, why take on the stress... get them down, in to a dry cleaner and transfer the responsibility.

[K.O. Glanville]

I'm in a place of less than 150,000 people spread along the coast over about a 100 miles, end to end.

And a gad-zillion resorts/motels/hotels, etc;

There are two major dry cleaners/laundries and a handful of very small dry cleaners/laundries.

Would you believe none of them do curtains. 

A nice opening there for a strong, bright, young entrepreneur. 

Shorty.

[Kev Loomes]

Kev, why make things more complicated than they have to be?  Cleaning curtains in-situ is all about removing the dust and insects... dry extraction.

A good turbo vac, detailing with cylinder vac & brush attachment followed by a very light mist of m-power or whatever you like, wiped off with a terry towel, bob's your uncle.

If curtains look dirty and the client wants them to look clean, why take on the stress... get them down, in to a dry cleaner and transfer the responsibility.

I dont stress Jim, and like I say weve been doing them for yonks (as you described) - its just that I fancied getting away from solvents - and maybe looking a tad more professional at the same time if thats possible, especially in front of commercial clients.

I wouldnt dream of using a normal steamer for instance (as per youtube 'how to steam clean curtains') as there is NO actual cleaning involved - it just 'looks' like they are being cleaned (they may be sanitized to some extent, but thats it). If I had one that extracted at least I could be honest and say that I am extracting what soil I can from the material - and in a healthy, safe way.

Following on from this though, generally speaking so long as they have seen someone 'cleaning' them they are more than happy! so maybe I should buy a cheap steamer and 'pretend' The thing is with curtains they never come out like new and we stress that big time, although some pile curtains if grubby do get transformed.

Cheers

Kev

[Doctor Carpet (Ret'd)]

Ah, the old debate about leaving money on the table.

I used to do them but hated it. To do it properly meant vacuuming both sides and if the sun was shining it was damn hot vacuuming the lining and header on the window side.

Besides I never felt they really came up that well knowing that if they were taken to a dry cleaners the finished result would be so much better.

Anyway the rate of earning money cleaning custains was never as good as cleaning carpets.

So I just dropped the service.

Mind you since then there have been the very occasional time I have vacuumed out curtains-but the money has been good and it has always been after a long discussion about the pros and cons.

Rog

[garybristow]

cleaning on site is ok for maintenance but not much else,real manky curtains need to be immersed in a dry cleaning machine ,even after 45 mins in a dry cleaning machine manky curtains will still be soiled ,smell etc
water marks and sun bleaching will even show up worse in some cases
gary
thats dry clean only curtains