how do you professionals do carpet

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ptownTSI

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How do you professional detailers, especially the mobile guys clean carpet. Do you shampoo it? then you need to get the shampoo out and vacuum up all the mess?



i'm not doing detailing professionally but the last interior i cleaned was so bad i ended up taking a bucket with oxy clean and water, sprayed the whole carpet down, scrubbed in the oxyclean, sprayed the carpet down and then vacuumed it all up with a shop vac. Due to the time it took to dry if i was doing this again i would do it first thing before detailing the rest of the car.



thanks for any tips.
 
Both shops I worked at previously had heavy duty steam extractors. Given my situation, I picked up a Bissel Big Green Clean Machine and I mix hot water in with extractor shampoo. Before hitting the carpet with this, I typically use a carpet cleaner (usually foaming) or a warm water/shampoo solution in a spray bottle and agitate, then use the BGCM. I also use undilluted APC for tough stains.



I know a lot of guys use the Little Green Clean Machine to extract because it has a built in heater. It was a little too small for my taste though.
 
ptownTSI said:
How do you professional detailers, especially the mobile guys clean carpet. Do you shampoo it? then you need to get the shampoo out and vacuum up all the mess?



i'm not doing detailing professionally but the last interior i cleaned was so bad i ended up taking a bucket with oxy clean and water, sprayed the whole carpet down, scrubbed in the oxyclean, sprayed the carpet down and then vacuumed it all up with a shop vac. Due to the time it took to dry if i was doing this again i would do it first thing before detailing the rest of the car.



thanks for any tips.
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You need to extract the carpets with a hot water extractor to do a proper job. Extraction with a shop vac or the like just extracts moisture - it does not rinse the fabric clean and extract the excess soap and soil residues. I am sure someone will dispute this but I will guarantee any fabric that isn't extracted with an extractor will still be dirty and full of soap.
 
I have a Sensei Carpet extractor. 5 Gallon solution tank and 5 gallon reclaim. It's also a heated unit.



I use BAF/PRO's Heavy Duty Interior Cleaner for most cleaning and their Seat Belt Cleaner for stains.



Spray cleaner on, scrub with a brush, and then extract with the extractor. I run clean water in the extractor btw.
 
i did completely spray the interior carpet with more water, then vacuumed out with the shop vac. Wish i could have been more "fancy" but it did get the job done. I'm sure a steamer would have been much easier. I had to scrub the truck seats as well. This thing was in rough shape. There was mud streaming out of the floormats when they were pressure washed, and the carpet in the front took around 3 wash/flush/vacuum cycles to get all the mud out.
 
ptownTSI said:
i did completely spray the interior carpet with more water, then vacuumed out with the shop vac. Wish i could have been more "fancy" but it did get the job done. I'm sure a steamer would have been much easier. I had to scrub the truck seats as well. This thing was in rough shape. There was mud streaming out of the floormats when they were pressure washed, and the carpet in the front took around 3 wash/flush/vacuum cycles to get all the mud out.
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I use to do that method where you'd spray clean water on the carpet and vac it out kind of like a poorman's carpet extractor. It does work but doesn't get the carpets nearly even close to being as dry as a carpet extractor. It's also a lot easier with the extractor.



If you get a lot of vehicles that really need it, then investing in an extractor is well worth the money. It's a lot of money but well worth it.
 
magictouch24 said:
Both shops I worked at previously had heavy duty steam extractors. Given my situation, I picked up a Bissel Big Green Clean Machine and I mix hot water in with extractor shampoo. Before hitting the carpet with this, I typically use a carpet cleaner (usually foaming) or a warm water/shampoo solution in a spray bottle and agitate, then use the BGCM. I also use undilluted APC for tough stains.



I know a lot of guys use the Little Green Clean Machine to extract because it has a built in heater. It was a little too small for my taste though.
Click to expand...



I have a Little Green Clean Machine (LGCM). I didn't know there were small enough attachments to the Big Green Clean Machine. I'll have to take another look.



Not all LGCMs have heaters. There are actually 3 different models. There's one without a heater, and this is the model sold at Walmart. I had to go to Target to see the other two models, both with heater, one with the plain tool, and the top of the line model with "turbo" agitating brush. Probably a waste of money, but I didn't want buyer's remourse wondering if I was missing out. You're not. I don't ever use the "turbo" handle.



The LGCM is probably way on the bottom end of carpet cleaning tools, but I'll tell you, this little baby is light years away from any of the spray on/vacuum off products I've tried in the past.



Applying the shampoo is only 1/4 of the battle. IMHO, you really have to spend the time and effort to rinse out the shampoo. Chances are, if you've ever shampooed your carpets, there's enough residual shampoo you only need to rinse your carpets to "reactivate" the residual shampoo, and pull the dirt out. That residual shampoo, BTW, is attracting dirt and dust, which is why I'm very thorough on the rinse cycle.



I've only used the Bissel shampoo made specifically for this cleaner. I've been fairly happy, but I'm always open to try something someone else has found better. Is there something better I should try?

 
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