[Doctor Carpet (Ret'd)]

Nobody's mentioned Ashby's chewing gum wand.

In case people don't know of it it's like a traditional wand but at the business end there is a small box with serrated teeth. You hold it over the gum, apply steam and then agitate it off.

Does take practise I found but sure beats having to get down on your hands and knees.

Like any system it won't work all the time, but it keeps me happy most of the time.

Does anybody else have thoughts on it?

[derek west]

whats the cost on one of those dr? sounds interesting

[Jim_77]

On a carpet clean in a town centre bar the other day I found that simply spraying a bit of spotter on the wads and then scraping it with the lips of my hand tool was breaking it free.  Then it was just a case of blasting the remains with really hot water (heated to about 90 in-tank), applying a bit more spotter, agitating with a handi groomer, then a final rinse and it was gone.

Working on about 3 or 4 wads at a time I got through about 25m² of really badly gummed carpet in about 45 mins.  I was pleasantly surprised but the bar owner was gobsmacked!  He thought he was "stuck" with it (scuse the pun)

He paid on the spot and gave me a tenner tip, two unheard of occurences in one go from a bar owner!

I've never really bothered with gum before, because of some of the reasons already mentioned here recently such as solvent damage, agitation damage and non-effectiveness of certain gum removal systems.  But this was a real eye-opener for me.

One thing I noticed was that if I first tried rinsing the wads with hot water, it just made them go into a bigger gooey mess.  Spotter, scrape off with hand tool lips, then deal with the residue seemed to be the best way to go.

[Doctor Carpet (Ret'd)]

Derek

Got to find the invoice in a pile of paper. I'll post it when i find it.

Roger

[clinton]

I always use citrus gel and its never let me down.Not sure about the wand with teeth

[derek west]

just bought a steamer from argos, £50, if it don't get the chuddy out its going back, i love argos and there 14 day no quibble guarantee.

[Jim_77]

I wouldn't bother getting it out the box!

Steam on its own is just going to make the gum wads more sticky and malleable, so when you try to scrape them they'll just spread over a wider area of carpet.

The heat from your TM combined with a hand tool will be far more useful, and probably just as hot.  As soon as you loosen the gum you need to remove it otherwise it'll just spread about.

[derek west]

must admit jim, gonna try the trucky first, then if i struggle ive another option with the steamer, boy scouts see, always be prepared.

[spindle]

if i am really honest..............i use a fork and pog!!!    then extract.....

[Len Gribble]

Chris

Pog a bugger to rinse out and expensive.

Len

[derek west]

ehhh! newbie here, whats a pog? yes i know what a fork is.

[spindle]

i know its expensive len ............but worth it imo

and works everytime..............


how are you getting on with that solvall???

[Shaun_Ashmore]

P.O.G. = Paint Oil Grease

Solvent to me and you.

I've heard people do many things but solvent heat and aggitation all put together must be the winner, oh and patience plenty of it.

Shaun

[derek west]

shaun
what do you reckon to piercing the chud with a fork, a wipe over with oj then full heat from the trucky, i cant put to much solvent down as its bitumen backed carpet tiles.

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Sounds good, could be worth taking the glide off your wand as it's more aggressive then.(unless you haven't go one on)

Shaun

[derek west]

shaun
glides are for girls. this is mans work, ask carlton, we drink viking lager, and they dont come any manlier than that, got a glide in the van, still in its wrapper if any girls out there are interested, £50

[Jim_77]

You won't be saying that after another 12 months and a huge bill from your osteopath

Get the glide working for you, or at least keep it so when you find out the hard way you can come back and tell me I was right

[derek west]

jim
ya big girls blouse.

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Did I ever tell you that I was the 1st to bring a wand glide into the country?

Shaun

[spindle]

shaun............

youre starting to sound like some 1 else