Cleaned my first carpet today

[adamangler]

Well, got paid for it for the first time, i had a dabble with carpets a year ago but never pursued it.

Just my thoughts on it for anyone that may be interested in getting into carpet cleaning, as there no carpet section on the site.

I recently bought second hand extracta exel machine and dived straight in with a job

1.Its very hard work, a lot harder than stick waggling, i was dripping buckets of sweat.

2.It took me about 1 hour to do a small room and small hallway

3.30 mins of that was setting up and packing away.

4.Moving furniture is hard work.

5.Machine weighs a tonne, no way its going up stairs.

6.Its a ball ache unloading and loading van 4 times.

Luckily there was no stains as i have neither the knowledge or chemicals to deal with them, the machine worked great just used a basic carpet shampoo and it all came out well.

I will be booking some training asap as its a bit nerve racking winging it.

Overall enjoyed it, hard work but looked great when finished which was good and could have done it a fair bit quicker if i hadnt have had a problem with the hose leaking.

Got another booked in for next friday, lets hope it goes smoothly lol

 

[windowsurfer]

Someone told me its good to get trained up, as they tell you how to identify what materials the carpets are made off before cleaning them, if its a wool carpet seemingly can shrink, but I know nothing, sounds hard graft, but if it makes money on a rainy day then its a winner

 

[adamangler]

Defo need training, fibre types, stains etc etc, theres a lot to it apparently

wool tend not to shrink i think as its more absorbent, its more to do with the backing when it shrinks but i dont really know myself

 

[Green Pro Clean Ltd]

I did ask my mate and he told me a good training company for you Adam, then I totally forgot, I will text him in the AM.

I helped him on a job yesterday, by helped I mean I was the added muscle it took to get the machine up four flights of stairs and we are both burly boys!

Your first comment about dripping sweat? He is well fit and competes in triathlons for fun, he was visibly dripping.

Top tip is get some small glass test tubes, on arrival for a quote take a few fibers from the carpet add to test tube with the solution you will use to clean it. this will prove weather you are at risk of carpet shrinking, apparently quite common.

Just in case call your insurance man and make sure you are covered for carpets but otherwise good luck with it mate!

 

[Green Pro Clean Ltd]

In case it helps you out, down here he charges £40 for the first room (typical size) and £20 per room there after, hall and stairs is another £40.

So a 3 bed semi with living room and dining room works out to £160

You may also want to ask Adam at the cleaning warehouse in Wolverhampton as they sell loads of carpet machines he may be able to put you onto a good course.

 

[adamangler]

Going to cleansmart for training in nottingham in september mate.

Yes there was literally sweat dripping off my head, and my shirt was soaked

Its enough to lift it on van on my own, not going upstairs thats for sure, i have enough hose to do my 3 bed semi from downstairs but i might need more incase.

Insurance is next on my list

I charged £50, 40 for the first room then a tenner for the hall (very small)

seems about right, seen quite a few doing it a lot cheaper but theres guys making big money also, its interesting anyway.

 

[Green Pro Clean Ltd]

Well give us a bell when you're down here and we'll go for a pint. I give Rob the carpet guy a shout, nearly 15 years in the game I'm sure he can sling you a tip or two.

 

[Tuffers]

Good thread. Maybe this is your niche Adam?

 

[adamangler]

Will do green.

Possibly Tuffers, did quite enjoy doing it and pretending i knew what i was doing when she was quizzing me, yeh love im a pro dont worry...

 

[MrBump]

£50 an hour ain't bad mate! Plus hard work is good for ya, it's win win /emoticons/biggrin.png

 

[NWP Cleaning Services]

I did a course a few years back with PROCHEM in Chessington. Thought they would push me to buy their machines and chemicals but was please to find there was 100% no selling patter involved during the 2-day event.

Course was reasonably good, I would have liked a bit more practical getting your hands dirty, but they pushed a lot of info through my head.

It’s definitely worth a bit of training when it comes to using the professional chemicals. Should you use an acid or alkali based cleaning solution on this type of fibre? Which extractor solution should I use to rebalance the carpets PH? It was surprising what there is to know, but really interesting too.

The level of cleaning you can achieve can be visually on the same scale of the pressure washing boys cleaning block drives, amazing. I’m sure you’ll love it.

 

[peter rogers]

did u have a look at that site i sent u adam be gd for troubleshooting things