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Over the course of about 7 weeks, we conducted an unbiased test of two fabric protection treatments we sell on a new piece of cut pile nylon carpeting. This is so that you can see what these products can really do, and the asset of providing them to your customers. It adds value to your professional work, while at the same time increases your cleaning revenue.
We took a brand new piece of decent quality carpet and gave it a quick aggressive cleaning to remove dust, debris, fuzz, rough up factory protection, and get the stiffness out of it. We did this so that we would have a consistent medium to begin with. We then applied two protectors in segmented areas, stained it, and observed it over time as we trampled on it and messed it up. After a few vacuumings spread out over weeks, we cleaned it to see what we ended up with.
Vertically, we treated the left column with Triplex Green Guard. Green Guard is the "new wave" of fabric protectors that is encapsulant-based, contains dye resistors, and has a super application rate of 6,000 square feet per gallon. The middle column was left untreated. The right column was treated with Bridgepoint's Maxim Advanced. Maxim Advanced is a flourochemical like Teflon or Scotchgard, but is a step above for a few reasons: better coverage (up to 2,400 sq. ft.) and lower price per gallon. Unlike competitors in its class, it also contains dye resistors like the Green Guard.
We then stained the carpet with particularly difficult staining materials. In the photo samples below taken over time, you will see seven rows of stains. Unfortunately, we did not think enough to apply some red Kool Aid. Next time folks!
Top to bottom, here is what they are:
Ketchup
Soy Sauce
Beet Juice
Black Coffee with sugar
Yellow Mustard
Brown Mustard
Spent Motor Oil
Use the scrolling box below to view the photos
Call us if you would like more information about incorporating these products into your work to add value to your cleaning services and increase your profits.
After a Week The staining has set in, and we kept the rug upside down in the shop all over our floor for a day or so. We did this to begin to accumulate some soiling on it. |
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Later Onward You can see the rug is more soiled. It has not been vacuumed at all yet. We invited everyone to step all over it and mess it up to their heart's content. |
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First Vacuuming Here is what it looked like right after the first time vacuuming it. You can clearly see how the two outer columns are staying cleaner because they are resisting dry soil better than the center unprotected column. This is a clear benefit of fabric protectors. |
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Second Vacuuming After a few more weeks, we vacuumed it a second time. Again, observe how the outer columns are staying cleaner. |
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And a Couple More Weeks We decided to move the test onward. We took a consumer formulated spot remover ONLY and applied an equal amount to each stain to emulate a consumer doing the work. We gave it some light agitation with a bone spatula to get it to penetrate. |
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Another View Each stain got two or three shots of the trigger sprayer. We are using the Spot Pro product by Pro's Choice. Note: You can have these customized for your company absolutely free. 72 pints & triggers with your name & number for $169 |
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A Little More Agitation We used the spatula end of a tamping brush to give the spots a little more work. |
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Results of Manual Spotting Here is what the spots looked like with the application of the spot remover and 5-7 seconds of agitation each. This is so you can see how they broke up (or didn't). They were lightly wiped with a Microfiber towel. |
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Here it is in Daylight Ready to Clean Right after the above photo was taken, we brought the rug outside to clean it with a truckmount. |
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Truckmount Cleaning We heated up the machine and made one 10-12 second backward pass down each column. We then spent another 10-12 seconds going back and forth over the whole thing, cleaning it aggressively.
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Result of Truckmount Cleaning Here is what it looked like after that cleaning. You can begin to appreciate here the difference between the protected and unprotected portions. Also, you can see how the fabric protectors compare on certain stains. |
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About a Half-Hour Later Here it is drying in our showroom. The center unprotected section is clearly soiled, while the outer columns are not. Oddly, the spot remover cleaned the center better than the truckmount.
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Another Shot in Different Light Same time frame, different light. Cameras can be funny, so we biased the lighting here to show you. |
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The Next Morning First thing the next day after it was sitting there all night, I took this photo. Impressive when you look at the differences. |
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Same Time Again, I biased the lighting to show you. Why not just stop in and I'll show you the actual rug? |
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After Grooming All of the yarns were groomed nicely here so you can get another look. As you see, yellow mustard is always a challenge. |
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Let's Be Fair After the liquids were applied and with all the spotting, it occurred to me that there could have been some wicking overnight. Here is the reverse side of the rug. See what I mean?
Sooo... |
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Light Shampooing I quickly applied a light spray of a fabric shampoo to the whole carpet, guessing that it may have suffered from wicking. This step was performed to eliminate lightly wicked coloration to get a more accurate view of the protection performance. |
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Lastly... Here is the final result after drying. As you see fabric protectors do not render a surface bulletproof. However they do have their place and will keep carpet cleaner with vacuuming and make spots & stains more easy to remove. To be fair, we chose some nasty stainers to illustrate our point. We apologize for forgetting the red Kool Aid :-) |