Area rug cleaning

[gimmeagig]

Hi,
I did a search here on the forum for cleaning area rugs, but not much came up.
I had my first take home area rugs to clean. i just have my garage and no bath or stretching rack.
I could use some pointers,please.
What I did was first Vacuum front and back. There was no tag on the rugs to identify the fiber and or way to cut anything off for a burn test. I wasn't sure what I was cleaning and I wanted to be careful about bleeding. I presprayed with fine fabric cleaner with some citrus pro after I pretested. I rolled out some plastic tarps in my garage and then I cleaned the top and rinsed with all fiber deep rinse.Got it looking pretty good.
I picked them up from the customer and they were already rolled up so I didn't put a disclaimer onto the invoice , just that the soil condition was heavy.I probably should have unrolled it before taking it?
After I cleaned the tops I put dryers on and when I turned the rug around to dry the backs too, I noticed that on one of them the back seemed much dirtier than it was before.
Question: Should I have cleaned the back first and then the front?
What is the best procedure to clean area rugs?
The customer was an old guy and didn't seem to have much money, I had already driven down to his place and figured I wanted to learn how to do rugs and I wanted to make at least some money for the trip, so i bid 1 medium and one large rug 10X12 for 75.-
I didn't realize how much work it was and I might have bid the job way too cheap.
What do you typically charge to clean an area rug? Do you charge for pickup and delivery?
Because this is really new territory for me, any pointers in that department are much appreciated.
Thanks

 

[prestige cleaner]

need to identify fiber first, synthetic or natural. alot of wool rugs will have cotton backing and synthetics are machine made. as far as charging goes, natural fiber will reqiure special care so need to charge more than synthetics. if your are going to do rugs in your garage invest in a duster and perhaps do it your self wash pit. your question will better answered by Lisa Wagner the rug chick.

 

[LisaWagnerCRS]

Hi,
I did a search here on the forum for cleaning area rugs, but not much came up.
I had my first take home area rugs to clean. i just have my garage and no bath or stretching rack.
I could use some pointers,please.
What I did was first Vacuum front and back. There was no tag on the rugs to identify the fiber and or way to cut anything off for a burn test. I wasn't sure what I was cleaning and I wanted to be careful about bleeding. I presprayed with fine fabric cleaner with some citrus pro after I pretested. I rolled out some plastic tarps in my garage and then I cleaned the top and rinsed with all fiber deep rinse.Got it looking pretty good.
I picked them up from the customer and they were already rolled up so I didn't put a disclaimer onto the invoice , just that the soil condition was heavy.I probably should have unrolled it before taking it?
After I cleaned the tops I put dryers on and when I turned the rug around to dry the backs too, I noticed that on one of them the back seemed much dirtier than it was before.
Question: Should I have cleaned the back first and then the front?
What is the best procedure to clean area rugs?
The customer was an old guy and didn't seem to have much money, I had already driven down to his place and figured I wanted to learn how to do rugs and I wanted to make at least some money for the trip, so i bid 1 medium and one large rug 10X12 for 75.-
I didn't realize how much work it was and I might have bid the job way too cheap.
What do you typically charge to clean an area rug? Do you charge for pickup and delivery?
Because this is really new territory for me, any pointers in that department are much appreciated.
Thanks

Roxy - you need to get some more education before you get into trouble... and you are not going to be able to afford that if you are charging $75. We charge $4.50-5.00 per sq ft to wash rugs.

If you go to my blog, the last three posts are topics you might be interested in reading:

Why Rugs Aren't Cleaned In The Home => http://bit.ly/giXiGb

Rug Cleaning Equipment Choices => http://bit.ly/dRDFU2

Rug & Fine Fabric Webinar => http://bit.ly/dI7uIN

On a final note... please post photos when asking for rug help, it helps IMMENSELY, because sometimes you may be saying one thing and we may be seeing it differently in our heads.

Thanks for posting - hope those links help you. And if you have no desire to learn more about rugs - then find a local rug plant to subcontract to and just add $1 per sq ft to the price. You'll do just fine.

Lisa

 

[gimmeagig]

Roxy - you need to get some more education before you get into trouble... and you are not going to be able to afford that if you are charging $75. We charge $4.50-5.00 per sq ft to wash rugs.

If you go to my blog, the last three posts are topics you might be interested in reading:

Why Rugs Aren't Cleaned In The Home => http://bit.ly/giXiGb

Rug Cleaning Equipment Choices => http://bit.ly/dRDFU2

Rug & Fine Fabric Webinar => http://bit.ly/dI7uIN

On a final note... please post photos when asking for rug help, it helps IMMENSELY, because sometimes you may be saying one thing and we may be seeing it differently in our heads.

Thanks for posting - hope those links help you. And if you have no desire to learn more about rugs - then find a local rug plant to subcontract to and just add $1 per sq ft to the price. You'll do just fine.

Lisa

Hi Lisa,
I had a feeling I underbid this job and I won't do that again. I did feel uneasy with this job and the money wasn't worth the trouble I could potentially have, I agree.I'll read the posts and maybe next time I'll have a better Idea how to actually clean rugs well and how much to charge. I took the rugs back to the customer today and while they were OK with the cleaning result, the wife did make a negative comment about why the bigger rug was still a bit damp. So In the future if I clean a rug, I won't return it until it's totally dry, that's for sure.
Obviously there are more questions I have, but I'll read those posts that you suggested first.
Thanks

 

[Doug Cox]

I hate to say this Roxy, but I don't think you under bid the job.

 

[Ron K]

You way over charged!

 

[gimmeagig]

You way over charged!

?

 

[The Great Oz]

Roxy,
It would be worth taking an introductory course on rug cleaning just to be able to identify which rugs you can safely clean with extraction procedures and which will be trouble. Clean the easy ones and take the rest to Karishian's in Spokane.

Actually, it might be worth taking a field trip to their shop to see how they do things. http://www.karishianrugs.com

 

[renegade_cowboy]

Roxy,
It would be worth taking an introductory course on rug cleaning just to be able to identify which rugs you can safely clean with extraction procedures and which will be trouble. Clean the easy ones and take the rest to Karishian's in Spokane.

Actually, it might be worth taking a field trip to their shop to see how they do things. http://www.karishianrugs.com

Brian the link doesnt work.

Very good advice above, dont get in over your head.. it could cost you big.

 

[gimmeagig]

Thanks Brian,
That's good advice and I'll follow it.
The link is http://www.kirishianrugs.com/
Kirishian not Karishian.When I was searching for it, the first thing that came up was the Kardashians,not bad but not what I was looking for at the time
By the way, the truck is working great!

 

[bahrahm]

go to "you tube" look for rug cleaning..you will c how to clean rugs(dry form or washing with a lots of water) then u decide what u like charge for.

 

[Zee]

go to "you tube" look for rug cleaning..you will c how to clean rugs(dry form or washing with a lots of water) then u decide what u like charge for.

wow GREAT advice- learn rug cleaning from youtube.... :roll: :roll:

If this board forgets half of what it knows about rug cleaning, it'd be still more than what you will learn from youtube.