Rug cleaning plant

[Goomer]

I am currently looking for a local rug cleaning plant to bring some rugs to be cleaned. In my search I came across a company that feeds the rugs through a machine, instead of being washed in a pit.

http://www.majesticrugcleaningnewyork.com/rugcleaning.html

Are there any benefits and/or disadvantages to washing them like this as opposed to someplace that uses a wash pit?

 

[Chris A]

dunno, but they gotta nice web site

 

[Clean Response]

Unless you do a boat lad it is of rugs it is too pricey and a rug pit is the way to go.

 

[Clean Response]

Unless you do a boat load of rugs it is too pricey and a rug pit is the way to go.

 

[LisaWagnerCRS]

I am currently looking for a local rug cleaning plant to bring some rugs to be cleaned. In my search I came across a company that feeds the rugs through a machine, instead of being washed in a pit.

http://www.majesticrugcleaningnewyork.com/rugcleaning.html

Are there any benefits and/or disadvantages to washing them like this as opposed to someplace that uses a wash pit?

Frank - usually operations that have wash pits are in transition to "growing up" to having wash floors and machines for rinsing and removing the water. So the site you found is one of a long-time operation, that would likely give you a better cleaning than your wash pit option (if they are detail-oriented, so you may need to ask about their operations... if they are like Bryan O'Haleck's or Ken Snow's then you would be picking the best one to use... and they both have operations with big machinery)... and you would also tend to get a better pricing from an operation that's large and mechanized because there will be less labor involved. Guys with wash pits are usually more limited in their turn around during a typical day, especially if they don't have "crews" working for them.

You might test an order with both, and see who does the better job, and see what price you can get and add on your margin.

But an operation like the one you found will likely be much more thorough than any new start up wash pit operations you approach. Especially if they don't have a lot of experience. It all depends truly on the one in charge, at both facilities.

Everyone I have trained to start with a wash pit has moved to pouring a real wash floor and when funds and space provide, getting the equipment to grow their volume. So I teach the pit as the transition phase - way better than surface cleaning, and can be thorough absolutely, but you hit a ceiling where you can only do so many rugs a day with that model. So you plan to grow eventually.

This means a pit setup is limited in the price they can offer to subcontract work - because their time is more invested in each rug, and that's costly. But when their operation gets larger and more systemized, those margins get better to work with.

Anyway... that's my two cents.
Lisa

 

[Goomer]

I am currently looking for a local rug cleaning plant to bring some rugs to be cleaned. In my search I came across a company that feeds the rugs through a machine, instead of being washed in a pit.

http://www.majesticrugcleaningnewyork.com/rugcleaning.html

Are there any benefits and/or disadvantages to washing them like this as opposed to someplace that uses a wash pit?

Frank - usually operations that have wash pits are in transition to "growing up" to having wash floors and machines for rinsing and removing the water. So the site you found is one of a long-time operation, that would likely give you a better cleaning than your wash pit option (if they are detail-oriented, so you may need to ask about their operations... if they are like Bryan O'Haleck's or Ken Snow's then you would be picking the best one to use... and they both have operations with big machinery)... and you would also tend to get a better pricing from an operation that's large and mechanized because there will be less labor involved. Guys with wash pits are usually more limited in their turn around during a typical day, especially if they don't have "crews" working for them.

You might test an order with both, and see who does the better job, and see what price you can get and add on your margin.

But an operation like the one you found will likely be much more thorough than any new start up wash pit operations you approach. Especially if they don't have a lot of experience. It all depends truly on the one in charge, at both facilities.

Everyone I have trained to start with a wash pit has moved to pouring a real wash floor and when funds and space provide, getting the equipment to grow their volume. So I teach the pit as the transition phase - way better than surface cleaning, and can be thorough absolutely, but you hit a ceiling where you can only do so many rugs a day with that model. So you plan to grow eventually.

This means a pit setup is limited in the price they can offer to subcontract work - because their time is more invested in each rug, and that's costly. But when their operation gets larger and more systemized, those margins get better to work with.

Anyway... that's my two cents.
Lisa

Thanks Lisa

 

[mirf]

Thanks lisa,
your post helped me also

 

[rhyde]

Try both!

When you get rugs back I can guide you through some tests here on MB to see how clean the rugs really are!

 

[arnelsmith]

Thank you for the information Lisa. I'm just curious if its expensive or not?

 

[LisaWagnerCRS]

Thank you for the information Lisa. I'm just curious if its expensive or not?

Is what expensive Arnel? My reports are free. And I give different ideas for cleaning based on your budget... so if you are asking if cleaning rugs is expensive, that depends on how you go into it.

If you do not REALLY LIKE rugs, then simply subcontract. The ones who are the best at this have a natural calling to textiles. rug whisperers... :mrgreen:

Lisa

 

[Harry Myers]

Wow I cant believe what I just read . Sometimes I feel like people are hypocrytical . I'll tell you thanks for people like Randy . I am dissapointed.

 

[Burtz]

be]this rug washing stuff must be all rocket science stuff

Don't seem to complicated

[youtube:1yypj9i9]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0awGTIQwEEc9]

 

[Jimbo]

Wow...the benefits of affordable labor!

 

[The Great Oz]

You can wash rugs in the parking lot, if you have an arid environment and don't care what happens to the rug. At the point of manufacture a rug can be ruined and either bleached or left in the sun for months to fade the dyebleed. If it can't be brought to an acceptable appearance for export, it will just be sold at a lower price to the locals that rip off tourists.

As far as rug cleaning plants go, the people there and what is acceptable to them is more important than the tools they use. I've know a plant guy or two that felt that any rug that they damaged was the fault of the rug, and if the rug looked good on the surface it was done. I've met plenty of wash pit guys that never took the time to learn anything other than by trial and error, and didn't clean a high enough volume of rugs to learn much that way either. These are the guys that make you sign a waiver so if they screw up it becomes your fault.


PS: A lot of rugs are pretty tough, but the ones that aren't could bite you hard. We're repairing a rug for a local cleaner that thought he'd give rug cleaning a try and then found out his insurance didn't cover trial and error learning. We gave him our cost to do the repair, which will save him $7,600 over the replacement cost of a rug that can't be replaced.

 

[cleanway]

There is definitely going to be a difference in the outcomes. But unless you are quite sure on the reliability of the service provider, please dont. And the pricing can be a bit on the heavier side comparatively as well.

 

[Goomer]

There is definitely going to be a difference in the outcomes. But unless you are quite sure on the reliability of the service provider, please dont. And the pricing can be a bit on the heavier side comparatively as well.

What outcome are you referring to being better? The pit or the machine?

I visited the plant this week and saw the operation. I know my knowledge is limited, but I must say I was impressed. Vast racks of rolled paper wrapped carpets, large repair room with what looked like thousands of rolls or colored threads and an old guy on a old sewing machine replacing a fringe, a large drying room with hot air blowers and circulating fans, a machine just to roll the carpet back up, a lot of cool stuff.

What is bothering me is the fact that the manager showed me a large solution tank above the machine that he said is where they mix the cleaning solution for doing a batch of rugs. Now I was wondering if their one solution can cover a broad enough range of soiling conditions to always get great results. To you pit guys, do you always start with the same solution? I know urine will benefit from a acid soak....which can be done in a pit,...so how will they treat the urine by sending it through this machine? Are there other conditions that may require a different cleaning solution? Maybe I should go by again and ask him some more questions.

My point is that they seem to be using the same large batch of solution for all the rugs. Can there be an effective "One size fits all" solution? Or is the benefit of washing in a pit, the ability to choose a different solution based on the conditions of the rug?

 

[The Great Oz]

What is bothering me is the fact that the manager showed me a large solution tank above the machine that he said is where they mix the cleaning solution for doing a batch of rugs. Now I was wondering if their one solution can cover a broad enough range of soiling conditions to always get great results. The machine will do a lot of agitation while rinsing soil and detergents away using lots of water. Just like on-location cleaning, in most cases one detergent works well for most rug cleaning.


To you pit guys, do you always start with the same solution? I know urine will benefit from a acid soak....which can be done in a pit,...so how will they treat the urine by sending it through this machine? Are there other conditions that may require a different cleaning solution? Yes, in a plant cleaning operation with a machine, there will be lots of different methodology used depending on what's best for the carpet and the degree of soil. We'll prespray some rugs with different spotters, pre-shampoo some, soak some, hand clean some...