Carpet Cleaning Methods, Part 1
My View
Just to be truthful, I want to tell you, I'm not an expert at carpet cleaning. When I first went into the cleaning business I would occasionally work for a carpet cleaning company for a day or sometimes two at a time. But while I haven't had a lot of experience in the field, the people I worked for were real professionals, and I did learn the basics.
This video starts out well by giving you three sets of general rules that you will want to follow no matter what type of carpet cleaning you are involved in.
Rule One Protect yourself -- by this they mean don't get yourself electrocuted. Carpet cleaning machines use a lot of current so it is very important to follow basic rules of electrical safety. Make sure the machine is properly grounded. If it isn't use a converter to ground it. Also, whether your machine is grounded or not, don't plug or unplug it with wet hands.
Rule Two Don't create problems for yourself -- here they mean don't transport more dirt onto the carpet to be cleaned. This can be a big problem because, depending on the method you use, you will put down hot water, foam or cleaning solvent; any of which will dissolve the dirt on the soles of your shoes. The solution here is to wear a clean pair of shoes or clean the shoes you are wearing so there is no dirt to track. And you need to clean the wheels on your machine before you start and make sure the drain valve isn't leaking.
Rule Three Use a planned cleaning pattern. Plan your work and work your plan as they used to tell me. Cleaning a carpet requires a fair amount of physical effort so it pays to plan things out to minimize your labor. If you need to move heavy objects, use a dolly, it will protect the carpet from being gouged and protect your back.
Along with general cleaning techniques they discus three of the five most common cleaning techniques:
Hot water extraction probably the best cleaning technique but takes the longest to dry the carpet.
Carpet shampooing, use a rotary machine to apply carpet shampoo, allow the carpet to dry for thirty minutes then vacuum.
Spin pad/bonnet uses a spin pad or bonnet dipped into cleaning solution then wrung out. Spin pads cleaning dries very quickly, a few minutes after the carpet is cleaned it can be walked on.
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As with all of ATV's products this video has high-quality production values and has been updated within the last several years. It has an interactive format in which it asks questions and pauses so the viewer can write down the answer. This allows you to make sure your employees are paying attention. Because of the well written scripts, video demonstrations and the question-and-answer format, viewers of these tapes have a very high level of information retention.
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Copyright © 2004 by The Cleaning Institute.
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