A good day for cleaning

[BenzBoy]

Today seems like the first really hot and dry day we have had for months in Sydney - perfect for interior cleaning.
I shampooed all the carpets in all the cars - I use a Wertheim hot water vac for that + a mixture of methylated spirits/Lux flakes/eucalyptus oil and of course the K'Archer on floor mats and door frames.
The water that I emptied out of the vac at the end of each car was a stinky, black sludge - probably great for fertiliser!! I dried the carpets with compressed air and now everything is clean until the next mudslide.
I still hanker for a car where I can open the bung in the floor and water-blast every surface....
Regards,
Brian

 

[260ebenz]

Hey Brian did you take photos of this I would like to see the before and after results?

Cheers.

 

[Oversize]

Yeah I'd love to know more details about your carpet cleaner and the solution used as I have plenty to do.... Unfortunately most of my carpets are (or were) beige and show up every blemish.

Make sure you leave the car open for a few days and it may pay to throw in some fabric softener refill packs and some moisture absorbing pellets in a well draining pot, suspended in a bucket. Long ago I had car carpets professionally cleaned and they failed to tell me to leave the car open. I couldn't get rid of the musty smell and ended up selling the car (due to other issues as well).

 

[BenzBoy]

Yeah I'd love to know more details about your carpet cleaner and the solution used as I have plenty to do.... Unfortunately most of my carpets are (or were) beige and show up every blemish.

Make sure you leave the car open for a few days and it may pay to throw in some fabric softener refill packs and some moisture absorbing pellets in a well draining pot, suspended in a bucket. Long ago I had car carpets professionally cleaned and they failed to tell me to leave the car open. I couldn't get rid of the musty smell and ended up selling the car (due to other issues as well).

About 5 years ago I bought a Wertheim SEM1200 wet vac with upholstery tool from Godfreys - and although it was designed by a committee and not of German quality, it does the job extremely well.

The detergent I use is an old Australian recipe you can find in any CWA book or buy the Martha Gardner Woolwash already made up. The advantage is that it does not leave sticky residue and does not need to be rinsed out. If you want to make your own here it is:
•1/2 cup of Lux flakes.
•1 cup of hot water
•1/2 cup of methylated spirits
•2 tablespoon eucalyptus oil
•Place all the ingredients in a large jar and shake well. Add 2 tablespoons of the mix to water in the solution tank.

Eucalyptus oil is an anti-bacterial and anti-fungal agent so if the car is well-dried afterwards there is just the aroma of gum leaves. It also dissolves grease and stains pretty well without stripping the lanoline from the Wilton in the Spirit.

Now how the hell do I get the Koalas out of the boot?

Sorry Tim - no photos. Nobody would want to see the state of the ML carpets (beige) or the CLK carpets (almost white) before I cleaned them.

Regards,
Brian

 

[260ebenz]

No probs about photos of the carpets Brian.

Just the thought of wet carpets makes we worried and they really would have to be dry before they went back into the car.

Old thing about wet carpets in a car the smell never goes away thank goodness this has never happened to me!

I have seen and heard of some shocker stories of wet and smelly carpets inside cars!

 

[BenzBoy]

No probs about photos of the carpets Brian.

Just the thought of wet carpets makes we worried and they really would have to be dry before they went back into the car.

Old thing about wet carpets in a car the smell never goes away thank goodness this has never happened to me!

I have seen and heard of some shocker stories of wet and smelly carpets inside cars!

But Tim - the carpets don't leave the car - only the mats.
Regards,
Brian

 

[260ebenz]

But Tim - the carpets don't leave the car - only the mats.
Regards,
Brian

Silly me did not read the post clearly and correctly!

Right you are Brian thanks for the clarification.

Sorry tired tonight might time for sleep early start tomorrow.

 

[Tony66_au]

Long story short and without too much detail....

Measure the amount of water you use and compare it to the amount you throw out.

Brians recipe is one that is used by professionals although I use more Metho depending on the job.

Godfreys have spot and stain remover as well as other interesting chemicals and are actually quite inexpensive.

And I have a professional Carpet steam cleaner!


On the subject of drying out car interiors?

Air con on recirculate will dry a car in under an hours drive, hot dry air is best.

With Euro cars be careful to NOT use a lot of water and re vac the carpet after the wash/rinse with a touch of Metho (Water and Metho mix BTw) in a 9 parts water/1 part metho mix.

Euro cars also tend to have under floor duct work to never clean the floor mats in situ or the car will slosh on corners.

Removing seats is a good idea.

Never ever use hired carpet cleaners.

Never attempt to wet clean door cards, hard backed items or headlinings.

Above all remember that although Armourall may look like a good idea it will case no end of grief down the track especially when the time comes to try and clean the inside of your car because it vaporises on hot days and coats everything in Silicone.

I actually had signs made banning the stuff from my workshop.

 

[Oversize]

I can guess why you shouldn't use a hired carpet cleaner, but can you elaborate Tony?

As the name suggests; Armor ALL!!! I never liked the stuff as it sucks you in on the first application (which looks good), but progressively worse with subsequent ones. And if you stop using it, the trims look worse than if you'd done nothing!!!

 

[Tony66_au]

I can guess why you shouldn't use a hired carpet cleaner, but can you elaborate Tony?

As the name suggests; Armor ALL!!! I never liked the stuff as it sucks you in on the first application (which looks good), but progressively worse with subsequent ones. And if you stop using it, the trims look worse than if you'd done nothing!!!

Maaate can I !

Carpet cleaning is a bit of a racket, Steam cleaning does not use steam it uses warm water, high pressure and 2 vacuum units in tandem to extract the volumes of water pumped into your carpet (Hopefully).

Dry cleaning is the same although it does not remove the cleaning solution but hopes to mop it up with rotary mops and is ok for fairly clean carpet but creates a nasty abrasive crust at the base of the carpet pile if the carpet isnt in optimum condition and dirt free.

These are the basics of cleaning carpet.

Shop hired units ala supermarket cleaners are low vacuum when new and wouldnt suck a sailor off your sister after a few years, they are rarely serviced, often still dirty and the chemicals they con you into buying are not worth a knob of goat poo IMO.

So you can add nasties to your carpet and then.... you cant remove them.

The other thing to bear in mind is that often these machines are used to clean up unspeakable nasties and again they are not cleaned properly afterwards.

When I had the cleaning business my guys would do a roaring trade fixing weekend carpet cleaning jobs and we always charged a lot more.

Cheap as chips were doing 6 rooms for $60 and I was charging and getting $480 per job without complaint.

Even using pro gear and not knowing what you are doing will give nasty results as the water pump is basically a Kartcher but the Vac nozzle has 4 or 5 spray nozzles (Although the car vac head has only 1)

So the trick is to pretreat the carpet with cleaning solution via a spray bottle (I used a hills 8 lt garden bottle) and then to rinse with clean water/metho via the fluid pump and vacuum so the carpet is only hit once under pressure (600 to 1400 PSI)

 

[Tony66_au]

So... Be aware of what is under your carpet.

Give it a really good vacuum out, be aware of how your carpets have been cleaned before and remember that carpet fibre acts as a wick drawing moisture and possible grunge from under the carpet base so it looks clean when freshly done but can quickly wick up crap from underneath (Hence the seats out of the floor wells suggestion)

it is also why foam seats used in cars dont clean well because the cleaning just drags more body oil n garbage trapped in the foam to the surface covers and the best way to clean car seats is crude and messy because you are blasting the goop out through the foam and the bottom of the seat which can also rust out your seat frames etc etc etc.

However, do it properly and you get a better job than any pro does.