What method do you use for cleaning carpets?

What method do you use for cleaning carpets?

  • Hot water extractor

    Votes: 9 22.5%

  • Steam cleaner

    Votes: 5 12.5%

  • Foaming Carpet cleaner + carpet brush

    Votes: 11 27.5%

  • All Purpose Cleaner + carpet brush

    Votes: 5 12.5%

  • Soap and Water + Shop Vac

    Votes: 2 5.0%

  • Dry brush with carpet brush, then vac

    Votes: 2 5.0%

  • Other, please explain

    Votes: 6 15.0%
  • Total voters
    40
SInce I do this mostly for my own car (hopefully that will change this spring), I usually use a foam spray from a can and a carpet brush.
 
Carpets;

Weekly - spot clean to remove stains as necessary and vacuum

Monthly ? use hot-water extractor

Carpeted floor mats: Floor mats take a majority of the wear away from the interior carpet. However, this leaves floor mats with soiling as well as oily stains.

Inspect for oily stains.

Use a solvent-based spot remover to remove oily stains. Spot treat really bad stains (303? Cleaner & Spot Remover or Woolite? Heavy Traffic Carpet Foam)
Pour a small amount of cleaner onto a terry towel and wiping toward the centre of the stain to remove the spot. Clean normal to heavy soiling as described above. Floor mats may get as wet as necessary to properly clean them.

Normal cleaning- brush loose dirt/dust with a stiff brush, lightly spray surface with a carpet cleaner (Woolite? Heavy Traffic Carpet Foam) and let the foam dwell for 5-10 minutes and then remove residue.

Heavily soiled- brush loose dirt/dust with a stiff brush, use a citrus-based pre-cleaner P21S Total Auto Wash 10:1 distilled hot water, let solution dwell for 5-10 minutes to enable cleaners to react, and then use a carpet extractor

The rubber backing and the ability to relocate them to a warm place (not direct sunlight) for quick drying aids their cleaning. After mats are clean and dried, brush them to raise the fibres and apply stain guard (303 High Tech Fabric Guard) to repel grease, dirt and oil based stains and provide UV protection against fabric fading.
 
Bluegrass Cat said:
David,

What does brushing before vacuuming do?
Click to expand...

I wonder if it lifts all the dirt and debris to the surface, which would then make vacumming more effective?

Forgot to mention my method of cleaning. Recently I've been hanging out with some friends of mine at their shop and seeing how effective steam is for clean heavily soiled carpets. Follow it up with some towels to ensure that there isn't any left over chemicals or water, and they come out like new.

I wish that I could convince my wife to let me buy a VX5000 steam cleaner.:doh:
 
Guys, I have never cleaned the carpet of any of my cars. I have only vacuumed. I do not have a carpet extractor or anything like that. I do have a wet vac (which I bought a couple of months ago but which i've never used).

So what products do I need? A couple of you mentioned a carpet brush. What kind of brush is this? Please outline a practical procedure for me. TIA!

Al
 
akimel said:
Guys, I have never cleaned the carpet of any of my cars. I have only vacuumed. I do not have a carpet extractor or anything like that. I do have a wet vac (which I bought a couple of months ago but which i've never used).

So what products do I need? A couple of you mentioned a carpet brush. What kind of brush is this? Please outline a practical procedure for me. TIA!

Al
Click to expand...

I can keep it pretty simple, Al. I like to use carpet foam because it really loosens the dirt.

  • Vacuum
  • Spray evenly with Woolite Heavy Traffic Carpet Foam
  • Scrub in both directions with a carpet brush (use pressure)
  • Wipe in both directions with a damp (but not wet) towel
  • Wipe with a dry towel, applying pressure, as dry as you can get it
  • Brush with "stripes" for a finished look
  • Air Dry

I've found Woolite HTCF to be about the best. Resolve Carpet Foam is also very good.

This picture shows that I used Purple Power APC, which will do the same job, but i think the Foam does a better job.

(I use the same method for interior carpet and floormats)

IMG_2946.jpg
 
Roadrunner said:
Looks great Bill!!:thumbup::thumbup:
Click to expand...

Thanks Gary. I started doing the stripe method a few years ago for my female customers. Lots of SUV's and Minivans that were trashed and they wanted the interiors to look new again.

So after cleaning out the old fries, cup lids, straws, Taco Bell wrappers:banghead:, I was able to emit some "Wows" from the ladies!

Now I do that on all my details. It kind of gives the carpet the "steam cleaned" look!:tongue:
 
Luster said:
I can keep it pretty simple, Al. I like to use carpet foam because it really loosens the dirt.

  • Vacuum
  • Spray evenly with Woolite Heavy Traffic Carpet Foam
  • Scrub in both directions with a carpet brush (use pressure)
  • Wipe in both directions with a damp (but not wet) towel
  • Wipe with a dry towel, applying pressure, as dry as you can get it
  • Brush with "stripes" for a finished look
  • Air Dry

I've found Woolite HTCF to be about the best. Resolve Carpet Foam is also very good.

This picture shows that I used Purple Power APC, which will do the same job, but i think the Foam does a better job.

(I use the same method for interior carpet and floormats)

IMG_2946.jpg
Click to expand...
Looks good. Which brush in the picture did you use to do the stripes? Also, what product do you use to clean cloth interior upholstery?
 
i voted for steam though i haven't used it yet. convinced my wife we needed it as she has chemical sensitivities and nothing else would work. cleans like gangbusters around the house. got a vx3000 by the way.
 
1) vacuum 2) spot treat any stains (use spot shot) 3) use carpet cleaner in a bucket with hot water and brush (usually use same solution as used for our carpet steam vac (Hoover) or use hand attachment of steam vac 4) allow mats to dry or if interior carpet of car, doors open to dry. found out when our kids were growing up, the steam vac was a necessity both the house indoors and for the cars. (spilled milk/formula ugh!) the real key for those of us in the midwest, is to have a good set of mats on the carpet to catch the slush from the snow and all that black slush that's a mix of dirt,salt and slushy snow your feet drag in getting in and out of the car.
 
07 z-oh-6 said:
Looks good. Which brush in the picture did you use to do the stripes? Also, what product do you use to clean cloth interior upholstery?
Click to expand...

Sorry I didn't see this earlier... I used the Meg's carpet brush to stripe the carpets. I use Woolite Heavy Traffic Foam Carpet/Upholstery Cleaner for most interior fabrics, including carpet, cloth visors, fabric seats, fabric on doors and GENTLY on headliners. I repeat GENTLY!
 
Those who use rigid or any wet/dry vac to suck up water from carpets/upholstery, do you remove the filter from the vac when doing this?
 
Speaking of mats...I had custom made Lloyds black with red monogrammed mats in my new car,I have always heard that Lloyds are the best quality custom mats.I have only 1500 miles on the car so obviously the mats are new.
I am seeing a wear pattern on the drivers side already :Boxing: Now ,this is a 6 speed manual ...so this was a concern going in....these mats are beautiful and cost over three hundred bucks for the entire set including the trunk.
I have vacummed them several times including today....followed by a wet micro fiber towel .....I ordered sum stuff from PAC yesterday(chaching ),Hi Mike ! including sum Eimann Fabrik carpet cleaner.I will try and dilute this the first time as a sensitivity test Da Rules!....anyone have any experience with black Lloyds ?....for sure I dont want a screw up ! :White Horse:
 
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