[david knowles]

Apart from a few for friends this has been my first carpet clean and the results are disappointing. The carpet is old with flattened pile, nylon or polyprop. I vacuumed then presprayed with wool-x and a little added orange x to boost the heavy soiling on traffic areas. the carpet is loads better than it was but still looks blotchy.I presprayed again with a dilition of orange x that was stronger but still not the best results!! I have done the Cleansmart training and was told to use only the wool-x microsplitter and it would be right for most jobs and to be fair it has, but I think that this may need some detergent what would you recommend.

[david knowles]

this is the carpet before.
the second picture on the previous pages it the after picture

[john martin]

 No need to stick with ' microsplitter' if other products will make like easier ...  otherwise you should be compensating with heavy agitation and hot heat ..
The first carpet should turn out even enough although its worn /flattened like you say
the second pic looks like an area between a couch and a coffee table , worn ,faded ... never gonna look like new , but the black dots should be fully gone at least  .

[david knowles]

All the blabk  marks  did go away ?
 What should i use was thinking of Powerburst or Crystal green.
 I do not have heat on my machine but I do have a slow speed buffer with a soft  brush for agitation. ??

[wynne jones]

Are you expecting everything to come out with your prespray then? Cos I think you need to lower your expectations if you do.

You need to either re apply some prespray or use a spotter of some description, then extract. With powerburst and hot truckmount and a synthetic pile I would probably not have to spot on many carpets but on some I would, sometimes a lot.

[john martin]

All the blabk  marks  did go away ?
 What should i use was thinking of Powerburst or Crystal green.
 I do not have heat on my machine but I do have a slow speed buffer with a soft  brush for agitation. ??

I see dots      they will come fully out with something as simple as white spirit in a squirt bottle ,or your orange-x  concentrate perhaps  , but be careful you don't leave a clean dot in its place .
yes any of the two you mention would help ... might be no need for anything too harsh though ,
and order the magma !    

[Carpet Dawg]

John Martin, Hot heat apposed to?? 

David. For a carpet like that you need hot powerburst! non of this microspliter balls.

Mix it heavy i.e. 7 - 8 scoops to 5 litres of hot water. Spray it down heavy, agitate and spray it again. Let it dwell for at least 15 minutes. Then extract.

Like Wynne said, you my need to lower your expectations in the future though (and your customers!!). You cant fix wear n tear. Sometimes wear looks like a tray film on the carpet, it can be mistaken for dirt.

Tony

[david knowles]

I had used eco x spotter .POG .
 
Then presprayed again with Orange x  diluted 10;1 and did it with the hand tool.I got most of the black marks out but was still left with these blotchy marks.
 I knew from reading on this forum that you can get better results on polyprop carpet if you use powerburst  and did not want to settle for the result I got so i will order some and go back and give it ago.

[wynne jones]

Polypropylene can be a bit tough with oil based stains. I wouldn't be too hard on yourself you will go through a huge learning curve on almost every job in your first few months.

Do what you can and keep on learning. Practice on off cuts or samples. You are probably already doing a better job than some out there that have been going years.

[Craigp]

Polypropylene has a close affinity to oil.

Use a solvent spotter on the black spots and marks.

Use powerburst, mirco spitters are not good for a newbie, too hit and miss.

[Craigp]

Hope you didnt charge much, lol, you see it's not fun starting out in this business.

[david knowles]

I did not take any money although it was offered but I asked for the opportunity to come back and put it right !

[neil 47]

David travel 40 miles up the road and get a busy cc to take you out for the day.

[Hilton]

I did not take any money although it was offered but I asked for the opportunity to come back and put it right !

Put what right ?

You cleaned it to best of your ability, what were they expecting.

Its a cheap bit of tat carpet that looks like its delaminated in places what they see is what they get.

Polyprop is a by product of the production of oil (Olefin) they attract oily stains and do not like any kind of friction, the cheapest ones like these are classed as disposable.

I wouldn't worry about it, just move on but stop doing jobs for nothing.

[wynne jones]

Not sure what they are teaching on the NCCA course but I dont think you should start off by mixing your own concoctions with boosters which might be a bad idea for someone with little experience. Again it suggests that you feel it must all come out in one go and making it stronger is the answer, which isnt always the case. When you have unidentified marks that have not come out it might need another go with your prespray, it might need a solvent or... it might need an acid.

[david knowles]

I did the cleansmart course in nottingham i used wool-x pre spray then after took all the black marks out with eco-x which is a solvent for marks left from the childs buggy wheels. #
There was still blotchy marks do i mixed orange x prespray and cleaned it all again. still blotchy. i tried a few of my spotters for stains hoping to find something that took these dark blotchy areas out.
We were never told how to use anything else on this course and i see another cc having the same problems when having this training.
Im sure that the powerburst would do a far better job and i will now give it a try.
I would have hoped a days training would have given me all the info to clean most conditions of carpets. Still  I put it down to experience I will get the opportunity to put it right I suppose its the beginning when I will make the mistakes.
Thanks for the  input guys will update you when i go back and complete the job.Properly.

[wynne jones]

I still think you are being too hard on yourself, but conscientiousness is a good thing. Just keep going and learn from every job and you will be fine.

[Dave_Lee]

The problem with a lot of cleaning courses are that they are aimed at using particular makes of products, rather than types of products.
The early courses that I attended were based on the products that the host suppied, whereas the NCCA course is based on what products you need be it Alkaline, Acidic, Neutral, Solvent etc.
You need to go on an independent training course.
Dave.