consultant’s corner Brought to you by ICAN Carpet Cleaning: An T There are at least a dozen ingredients affecting any carpet care operation. The following is a review of a few of them. By: Gary Clipperton, president of National Pro Clean Corporation Overview Here are some parameters you can sim-ulate in your building: Drying time comparisons will identify extraction efficiency Long-term observations can track re-soiling rates Side-by-side comparisons for equip-ment and chemicals can identify which particular machine or cleaning solution produces superior results. Prevention Since the appearance of the carpet reflects on your competence, emphasize preventative care. Educate the user to avoid food and drink spills and stress the importance of avoid-ing toner, ink, bleach, chewing gum, rust and cigarettes on carpet and furniture. Also, note the importance of having ade-quate entry matting in place. Spot Removal Four critical mistakes that are made in car-pet spotting include: Oversaturation, over-aggression, lack of rinsing and the absence of a complete spotting system. There are few spills that respond to flooding. Instead, light amounts of cleaning agent normally work best. Repeated scrubbing without correspon-ding results such as absorbency into a towel or removal of the stain indicates another chemical approach will be required. Too often, a high-sudsing spotter is applied and then not properly flushed out to remove soil-attracting residue. Finally, the absence of a complete spot-ting system to address most of the com-mon spills is widespread. how white your laundry would turn out. A pure white cloth sample would be washed with different detergents to see if the test patch would darken. Over the years, I have adapted and taught that approach to identify levels of soiling on a carpet. By assigning a degree or shade of soil darkening, comparisons can be made. For example, a one-degree darker shade of soiling may only require interim maintenance or low-moisture cleaning. After repeated low-moisture attempts, the next cycle may progress to a two-or three-shade darker soiling, at which point a restorative hot water extraction technique may be necessary. Don’t be misled by cleaning supply claims that one method is all that is required. Without a periodic or annual deep flush-ing of the carpet, residue will accumulate and, eventually, you must remove excess soil and chemical residue. Minor increments in shading may indi-cate a low-moisture process will be ade-quate and will result in labor savings and faster drying times. However, after repeated low-moisture cleanings, the soiled shading will eventual-ly darken which, in turn, will justify the wet extraction cleaning. Cleaning Has Limits Years ago, I was demonstrating a particular spot removal product that I had developed. The custodial manager quickly took me to a restroom carpet where someone had spilled bowl cleaner containing hydrochloric acid on the carpet. The acid had literally eaten a hole in the carpet and the manager was serious in thinking my spot remover would grow new carpet. Don’t assume ownership of areas of the carpet that have been damaged. Crushing, fading, matting, sprouting, wear, differential expansion or wrinkles and color loss are all beyond your ability to cor-rect with cleaning. Make a commitment to the carpet you clean and remember that ignoring soil will not cause it to go away. CM The International Custodial Advisors Network Inc. (ICAN) is a non-profit association comprised of industry consultants with a wide range of expertise in building management, indoor envi-ronmental and service disciplines. This network provides free janitorial and building maintenance consultation service to the industry through the Cleaning Management Institute (CMI). Chemicals And Equipment Real-world applications can adapt some of the laboratory testing protocol used by the Carpet Research Institute. You can duplicate some of their guide-lines to identify chemical and equipment performance. Interim Versus Restorative Cleaning Years ago, I was introduced to gray scale testing for visually evaluating changes in color of textiles that was used to observe 10 CM/Cleaning & Maintenance Management ® • August 2010
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