The Best of Trashed Carpet

I thought there was a best of trashed tile/grout thread?  Anyone remember?

Oh well I'll just phoast it here, since I can't find it.

One I did yesterday...tile not bad, just the grout.

Presprayed with 12 oz per gal 2790 plus a couple oz of peroxide. Scrubbed with CRB, rinsed at 600 psi w spinner.

Love that micro fiber. Awesome work! Remember to list how you came to those results. Products and procedures. This thread is gonna help a lot of cleaners.

Ryan S wrote:Love that micro fiber. Awesome work! Remember to list how you came to those results.  Products and procedures. This thread is gonna help a lot of cleaners.

Done! I updated the post to include the how to info.   

Never used that 2790. I see you guys use it a lot. I usually just use what ever high alky I have.

I think I may be the only one, who else here uses 2790?

I think it works well, and as many people claim after letting dwell 10-15 min you can just extract without agitation.....but I'm too much of a perfectionist to NOT scrub it, on most jobs.........but from what I can tell, you can get good results without scrubbing. I say that because when I hit it with the brush after letting it dwell, the soil seems to release real quickly, as if it's already loosed before agitation.

I'll really be giving it the test on Monday, when I'll be cleaning really porous/pitted tumbled Travertine in a condo that I can't access with my TM, so I'll be rinsing with a 100 PSI portable (if it still works after sitting for 20 years) lol and a glided carpet wand.  

Is it safe for travertine? I know it doesn't like stone...according to the developer's site.

High PH (10-12) is safe on most stone, but there might be a limit for a polished stone, and a 14 ph like 2790 might be too high for some.......I'm honestly, not sure.
But I'm not worried about using it on this tumbled travertine Monday, being it's not polished...........I WOULD test it carefully before using it on polished stone for sure!

It's the acids that you really need to avoid on stone, especially if it's polished.

Excellent point, just had flashbacks to a job where I ended up needing to hone a travertine kitchen due to a too high ph cleaner.

Of course, it wasn't 2790...don't even remember what it was now, been too many years. It was a lesson learned....

So are you saying a high PH cleaner Damaged (or Etched) a polished travertine floor?

Did you do it, or you were told the cause was high PH?

I'm really curious about the details on this one, because I've never seen high PH damage stone.

It wasn't by my hand...luckily, but the guy I worked for sent me out to fix it. It might have been some component in the product too, but he claimed that the ph was too high and caused etching.

All I know is that I spent 2 days honing / polishing that darn kitchen and that was enough to make me concerned about 2790 on a polished surface.

Like you, it seems a little unlikely that a high ph would cause damage and I have never had that happen to me over the years. Still, he was a 20 year veteran cleaner and that is what he admitted to the customer prior to sending me out.

Glad to hear it wasn't you who caused the damage.

I've never personally had a prob with too high PH on stone, but I don't doubt it couldn't happen.

TEST, TEST, TEST  We get complacent, and forget over time. So a reminder it's never a bad idea.

YES, I made the mistake once... not testing a fireplace stone, once.
I thought it was calcite CaCO3 but it was gypsum, CaSO4.
I wasn't even there to clean the fireplace.  I was there to stretch the carpet; just thought I'd throw in a free mantle cleaning.
My ammonia cleaner dulled it out real bad.
A penny woulda scratched it, telling me real quick it wasn't calcite CaCO3.

Moh's Hardness scale:

1 Talc
2 Gypsum  scratch with fingernail
3 Calcite  scratch with penny (dolomite CaMgCO3, can't scratch with penny)
4 Fluorite
5 Apatite
6 Topaz
7 Silica
8 ?
9 Corundum
10 Diamond

not bad ? for college in 1976

How did you fix it?

One dirty carpet a few good morning shots

Ok cant post pics from ipad.

Cool pics Sam.

Davey Cracker wrote:Glad to hear it wasn't you who caused the damage.

I've never personally had a prob with too high PH on stone, but I don't doubt it couldn't happen.

TEST, TEST, TEST  We get complacent, and forget over time. So a reminder it's never a bad idea.

Yep, I'm here to Confirm, high PH can etch stone.

I tested some strong mixed 2790 (which was a 14 PH), on some travertine, and sure nuf, it caused some etching/dulling of the finish.

So TEST, TEST, TEST to prevent problems.  

Talk about value in an honest board like this one...we all just learned something new that may have just saved us from a costly error.

Maybe we should have called it the "Cleaner's University"?

Check this cat out! This is from the early years. First year of business. See that 1.5 whip, and aw29. Those were the days where I spent a lot of time saturating my mind in anything clean. I'm so proud of how far we have come. That photo is every bit of what All Pro Carpet Care was, ME! And Lesley lol, but at that time she had a full time job.

Oh yeah, broke my own rules.

That was Powerburst at 2 scoops in a gallon sprayer. And I believe I was running dry slurry. That's my wonderful boxxer421. Still running strong.

Man that carpet cleaning business of yours has aged you brother  That's cool to be able to go back in time too see were you have been and how far you've come.

The first things that came to mind was the perfect posture, the wand being held close to the hip, and the focus on your face....all ideal for wanding.

Fast forward to now, how are we doing?  

For me, my wand stroke has mutated to something vastly different in form. I now use my freakishly long arms to make a wand stroke that is probably double what a normal person would have. Someday it will probably destroy my shoulder, but so far there isn't any problems.  

I wish I had some photos like that from back in the early days, but it would have included wide elephant collars, side burns, a paisley shirt, and a Steve Perry hair cut......maybe it is better off not existing.   

I always love a good trashed thread, lots of good pics here! Here is some of mine, the products I formulate myself and are a little hush hush. I will call the prespray "carpet cleaner" in the meantime

Grease Eraser 15oz
35%peroxide 12oz
Sunshine Deo from Chemisters cause they didn't have $$ for a odor treatment. Good cheap stuff








Got to do three rooms of stretching too. That's where the budget was busted.

Very nice...and re-stretched too!

I have to learn that skill.

This one was a little tricky. I had a transition that was glued down, no power so I couldn't break and re glue. So I worked it from both sides of the wall to get the extra wrinkle out. Had to stretch over there by the fire place. Also had to stretch hallway into rooms.  One of the best tips for stretching is to slice a relief cut at door/closet/wall corners to help not create a wrinkle in closets and around corners. I guess a video is in order for that. You really have to get creative when stretching, you kinda have to look at the whole room and and come up with a strategy. Or should I say whole house, cause it's all connected. I really hate breaking seams and that take time to reseam and look nice.