It's many years since I attempted to clean a carpet. 
I hired a cleaner once and it put so much water into the carpet that we
gave up.
I bought a VAX (the big orange one) and again found it too wet although the
muck was certainly picked up.
My wife used foamy sprays, but that was some years ago.
What is the current 'best' method?
The carpet is large, wool and fitted. I would rather not take all the
furniture out of the room, although it may be possible.
-- 
Jim S
        Tyneside UK
     www.jimscott.co.uk

"Jim S"  wrote in message 
news:1v4axztzzq38v.dlg@ID-104726.news.individual.net...
> It's many years since I attempted to clean a carpet.
> I hired a cleaner once and it put so much water into the carpet that we
> gave up.
> I bought a VAX (the big orange one) and again found it too wet although 
> the
> muck was certainly picked up.
> My wife used foamy sprays, but that was some years ago.
> What is the current 'best' method?
> The carpet is large, wool and fitted. I would rather not take all the
> furniture out of the room, although it may be possible.
> -- 
> Jim S
>        Tyneside UK
>     www.jimscott.co.uk

I use a numatic George vacuum with carpet shampoo tools and commercial 
shampoo

Wife likes the dry powder that came with our sebo but only for small areas

Tony

Jim S wrote:
> It's many years since I attempted to clean a carpet.
> I hired a cleaner once and it put so much water into the carpet that
> we gave up.
> I bought a VAX (the big orange one) and again found it too wet
> although the muck was certainly picked up.
> My wife used foamy sprays, but that was some years ago.
> What is the current 'best' method?
> The carpet is large, wool and fitted. I would rather not take all the
> furniture out of the room, although it may be possible.

We used an upright Vax washer recently and it was most impressive. Plenty of 
suck and very simple to use, unlike the big Vax things with loads of pipes 
and clips.

Si

On Wed, 2 Jul 2008 19:21:27 +0100, Jim S  wrote:

>It's many years since I attempted to clean a carpet. 
>I hired a cleaner once and it put so much water into the carpet that we
>gave up.
>I bought a VAX (the big orange one) and again found it too wet although the
>muck was certainly picked up.
>My wife used foamy sprays, but that was some years ago.
>What is the current 'best' method?
>The carpet is large, wool and fitted. I would rather not take all the
>furniture out of the room, although it may be possible.

The alternative to water and the Vax/George types is steam.

Never used it but I have heard a few good reports on it.

On Wed, 2 Jul 2008 19:21:27 +0100, Jim S  wrote:

>It's many years since I attempted to clean a carpet. 
>I hired a cleaner once and it put so much water into the carpet that we
>gave up.
>I bought a VAX (the big orange one) and again found it too wet although the
>muck was certainly picked up.
>My wife used foamy sprays, but that was some years ago.
>What is the current 'best' method?
>The carpet is large, wool and fitted. I would rather not take all the
>furniture out of the room, although it may be possible.

Surely the machines don't put "too much water " down .That's up to the
person operating it . I've used a hired one in the past and after
doing it the carpet was hardly damp at all.It certainly took loads of
muck out of it .The water was black ..lol

Jim S wrote:
> It's many years since I attempted to clean a carpet. 
> I hired a cleaner once and it put so much water into the carpet that we
> gave up.
> I bought a VAX (the big orange one) and again found it too wet although the
> muck was certainly picked up.
> My wife used foamy sprays, but that was some years ago.
> What is the current 'best' method?
> The carpet is large, wool and fitted. I would rather not take all the
> furniture out of the room, although it may be possible.

Last time I did one I rented a Rug Doctor from one of the DIY sheds. 
They seem to work quite well.

Andy

Andy Champ coughed up some electrons that declared:

> Jim S wrote:
>> It's many years since I attempted to clean a carpet.
>> I hired a cleaner once and it put so much water into the carpet that we
>> gave up.
>> I bought a VAX (the big orange one) and again found it too wet although
>> the muck was certainly picked up.
>> My wife used foamy sprays, but that was some years ago.
>> What is the current 'best' method?
>> The carpet is large, wool and fitted. I would rather not take all the
>> furniture out of the room, although it may be possible.
> 
> Last time I did one I rented a Rug Doctor from one of the DIY sheds.
> They seem to work quite well.
> 
> Andy

Agreed. If you have a whole house to do, it's worth the effort and the hire
charge. The two things about a Rug Doctor are the oscillating scrubbing
brush bar which cleans better than just spraying soapy water, and the
vacuum extraction isn't bad compared to other units. My carpets are quite
damp afterwards, but cleaning involves going over them 3 times due to the
unmentionable things the kids deposited in the preceeding months!

But I do get very clean carpets, better than my VAX. 


For about a day...


The VAX isn't bad for light and ready-to-hand cleaning (and it did it's job
for a few years prior), but it struggles with kids... It's since been
relegated to building duties because it is pretty indestructible. I'm going
to build John Rumm's cyclonic-building-crap-trap for it when I get a
moment...


Cheers
Tim

"TMC"  wrote in message 
news:UN6dnZzCucRcUPbVnZ2dneKdnZydnZ2d@bt.com...
>
> "Jim S"  wrote in message 
> news:1v4axztzzq38v.dlg@ID-104726.news.individual.net...
>> It's many years since I attempted to clean a carpet.
>> I hired a cleaner once and it put so much water into the carpet that we
>> gave up.
>> I bought a VAX (the big orange one) and again found it too wet although 
>> the
>> muck was certainly picked up.
>> My wife used foamy sprays, but that was some years ago.
>> What is the current 'best' method?
>> The carpet is large, wool and fitted. I would rather not take all the
>> furniture out of the room, although it may be possible.
>> -- 
>> Jim S
>>        Tyneside UK
>>     www.jimscott.co.uk
>
> I use a numatic George vacuum with carpet shampoo tools and commercial 
> shampoo
>
> Wife likes the dry powder that came with our sebo but only for small areas
>
> Tony
>
How do you rate the Sebo as a vaccum please?

Samantha Booth wrote:
<>
> How do you rate the Sebo as a vaccum please? 
> 
> 
My mother has an upright Sebo. Finds it excellent in that 
get-it-out-and-do-what-you-need-and-put-it-back unfussy way that means 
you don't need to think about it. Light to use, noise level much better 
than most.

*I* like the Felix model (from looking at it in the shops) but partner 
has made it clear that my feelings are irrelevant. :-)

-- 
Rod

Hypothyroidism is a seriously debilitating condition with an insidious 
onset.
Although common it frequently goes undiagnosed.
<www.thyromind.info> <www.thyroiduk.org> <www.altsupportthyroid.org>

Samantha Booth wrote:
> "TMC"  wrote in message
> news:UN6dnZzCucRcUPbVnZ2dneKdnZydnZ2d@bt.com...
>>
>> "Jim S"  wrote in message
>> news:1v4axztzzq38v.dlg@ID-104726.news.individual.net...
>>> It's many years since I attempted to clean a carpet.
>>> I hired a cleaner once and it put so much water into the carpet
>>> that we gave up.
>>> I bought a VAX (the big orange one) and again found it too wet
>>> although the
>>> muck was certainly picked up.
>>> My wife used foamy sprays, but that was some years ago.
>>> What is the current 'best' method?
>>> The carpet is large, wool and fitted. I would rather not take all
>>> the furniture out of the room, although it may be possible.
>>> --
>>> Jim S
>>>        Tyneside UK
>>>     www.jimscott.co.uk
>>
>> I use a numatic George vacuum with carpet shampoo tools and
>> commercial shampoo
>>
>> Wife likes the dry powder that came with our sebo but only for small
>> areas Tony
>>
> How do you rate the Sebo as a vaccum please?

Depends on the model, but generally, based on 30 years selling cleaning 
machines, Sebo uprights are the best on the market.


-- 
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

"Rod"  wrote in message 
news:6d2br2FguadU1@mid.individual.net...
> Samantha Booth wrote:
> <>
>> How do you rate the Sebo as a vaccum please?
> My mother has an upright Sebo. Finds it excellent in that 
> get-it-out-and-do-what-you-need-and-put-it-back unfussy way that means you 
> don't need to think about it. Light to use, noise level much better than 
> most.
>
> *I* like the Felix model (from looking at it in the shops) but partner has 
> made it clear that my feelings are irrelevant. :-)
>
> -- 
> Rod
>
> Hypothyroidism is a seriously debilitating condition with an insidious 
> onset.
> Although common it frequently goes undiagnosed.
> <www.thyromind.info> <www.thyroiduk.org> <www.altsupportthyroid.org>

LOL

Jim S wrote:
> It's many years since I attempted to clean a carpet.
> I hired a cleaner once and it put so much water into the carpet that
> we gave up.

In which case you didn't use it properly.

> I bought a VAX (the big orange one) and again found it too wet
> although the muck was certainly picked up.
> My wife used foamy sprays, but that was some years ago.
> What is the current 'best' method?

There is no 'current' best method, all the carpet cleaning methods I know of 
are 30 years old at least.

The VAX uses the spray/extraction method which offers a very high soil 
removal, because it uses sufficient water to flush out the dirt.  See also 
'omelette - breaking eggs'.   You can't remove a lot of soiling without 
using a lot of water.

The vacuum on a soil extraction machine should easily remove any latent 
water - water which is present in the carpet, but not absorbed by the carpet 
fibre.

The foam method relies on two things, one is mechanical agitation to work 
the foam into the carpet.  The foam dries quickly trapping the dirt.  You 
then have to remove the trapped dirt thouroughly using a very good vacuum.

> The carpet is large, wool and fitted. I would rather not take all the
> furniture out of the room, although it may be possible.

That answers your question.  A wool carpet (probably 80/20 wool/nylon) will 
absorb 40% w/w of water.  A synthetic carpet (nylon, acrilon, polypropylene) 
will absorb as little as 2%.

Nothing wrong with making a wool carpet wet.  You mention it was 'too wet' 
or 'put so much water into the carpet'.

If you really over wet a wool carpet it will shrink by 30% along the length 
or the colours will run badly, or you will find brown staining all over the 
place.  If none of these things happened that carpet didn't get too wet.

Ever seen a sheep shrink in the rain?


-- 
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

EricP wrote:
> On Wed, 2 Jul 2008 19:21:27 +0100, Jim S  wrote:
>
>> It's many years since I attempted to clean a carpet.
>> I hired a cleaner once and it put so much water into the carpet that
>> we gave up.
>> I bought a VAX (the big orange one) and again found it too wet
>> although the muck was certainly picked up.
>> My wife used foamy sprays, but that was some years ago.
>> What is the current 'best' method?
>> The carpet is large, wool and fitted. I would rather not take all the
>> furniture out of the room, although it may be possible.
>
> The alternative to water and the Vax/George types is steam.
>
> Never used it but I have heard a few good reports on it.

If anyone could tell me where the dirt goes I'd be interested.  I can see 
how steam would loosen dirt from carpet fibres, but how does it remove it?


-- 
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

Tim S wrote:
> Andy Champ coughed up some electrons that declared:
>
>> Jim S wrote:
>>> It's many years since I attempted to clean a carpet.
>>> I hired a cleaner once and it put so much water into the carpet
>>> that we gave up.
>>> I bought a VAX (the big orange one) and again found it too wet
>>> although the muck was certainly picked up.
>>> My wife used foamy sprays, but that was some years ago.
>>> What is the current 'best' method?
>>> The carpet is large, wool and fitted. I would rather not take all
>>> the furniture out of the room, although it may be possible.
>>
>> Last time I did one I rented a Rug Doctor from one of the DIY sheds.
>> They seem to work quite well.
>>
>> Andy
>
> Agreed. If you have a whole house to do, it's worth the effort and
> the hire charge. The two things about a Rug Doctor are the
> oscillating scrubbing brush bar which cleans better than just
> spraying soapy water, and the vacuum extraction isn't bad compared to
> other units. My carpets are quite damp afterwards, but cleaning
> involves going over them 3 times due to the unmentionable things the
> kids deposited in the preceeding months!

Known in the trade as a 'self container extractor' the Rug Doctor is an 
excellent DIY machine.

If my own extractor broke down & I couldn't borrow another from either of 
two carpet cleaner mates I'd hire a Rug Doctor.

-- 
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

The Medway Handyman wrote:

> If my own extractor broke down & I couldn't borrow another from either of 
> two carpet cleaner mates I'd hire a Rug Doctor.

I am surprised they don't sell a version of it... or are they silly 
money to buy?

-- 
Cheers,

John.

/=================================================================\
|          Internode Ltd -  http://www.internode.co.uk            |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
|        John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk              |
\=================================================================/

The Medway Handyman wrote:
<>
> That answers your question.  A wool carpet (probably 80/20 wool/nylon) will 
> absorb 40% w/w of water.  A synthetic carpet (nylon, acrilon, polypropylene) 
> will absorb as little as 2%.
> 
> Nothing wrong with making a wool carpet wet.  You mention it was 'too wet' 
> or 'put so much water into the carpet'.
> 
> If you really over wet a wool carpet it will shrink by 30% along the length 
> or the colours will run badly, or you will find brown staining all over the 
> place.  If none of these things happened that carpet didn't get too wet.
> 
> Ever seen a sheep shrink in the rain?
> 

But isn't it the (jute?) backing that really shrinks? So if there is 
sufficient water to wet that you can get spectacular shrinkage.

I have not seen a sheep shrink in any circumstances (other than a 
butcher's shop) - but I have seen a jumper come out of a washing machine 
having changed from XL to Child. I thought it was the physical 
latching/ratcheting of fibres one onto another that caused such 
shrinkage? (That is, rather than simply having been wetted.)

-- 
Rod

Hypothyroidism is a seriously debilitating condition with an insidious 
onset.
Although common it frequently goes undiagnosed.
<www.thyromind.info> <www.thyroiduk.org> <www.altsupportthyroid.org>

"TMC"  wrote in message 
news:UN6dnZzCucRcUPbVnZ2dneKdnZydnZ2d@bt.com...
>
> "Jim S"  wrote in message 
> news:1v4axztzzq38v.dlg@ID-104726.news.individual.net...
>> It's many years since I attempted to clean a carpet.
>> I hired a cleaner once and it put so much water into the carpet that we
>> gave up.
>> I bought a VAX (the big orange one) and again found it too wet although 
>> the
>> muck was certainly picked up.
>> My wife used foamy sprays, but that was some years ago.
>> What is the current 'best' method?
>> The carpet is large, wool and fitted. I would rather not take all the
>> furniture out of the room, although it may be possible.
>> -- 

Why clean it? Things will still come back and live in inaccessible places.

Heave it. The council will take it away.

Mary

In article ,
Andy Champ   wrote:
>
>Last time I did one I rented a Rug Doctor from one of the DIY sheds. 
>They seem to work quite well.


If anyone is thinking of doing this (great machines IME) then check out
local morrisons before hiring. I found that the morrisons up the road offered
*massively* better rates than the homebase deal (a lot cheaper per day and
they chucked in a bottle of the detergent).

Only annoying thing is that they wouldn't accept bookings so you have to
take a chance that they have one when you go in...

YMMV of course :)

Darren

In article <PvidnVbDIPcO3_HVnZ2dnUVZ8qDinZ2d@posted.plusnet>,
John Rumm   wrote:
>The Medway Handyman wrote:
>
>> If my own extractor broke down & I couldn't borrow another from either of 
>> two carpet cleaner mates I'd hire a Rug Doctor.
>
>I am surprised they don't sell a version of it... or are they silly 
>money to buy?


They do sell them - red is hire, blue is for sale (they have some warning
about never buying a red one as it will have been nicked).

quoting from their site:

 "Millions already know about and have been renting Rug Doctor carpet
  cleaning machines for years. Now you can purchase the same powerful
  machine! The red rental Rug Doctor machines and the blue Rug Doctor
  machines have the same features, the same horse power, and the same
  amps. The only difference between the two is red machine is for the
  rental market and has an hour meter on it and the blue machines are
  available for purchase."

http://www.rugdoctor.co.uk/buy/


450 quid for the little one, 712 quid for the "wide track"...

Darren

>>
> How do you rate the Sebo as a vaccum please?
>

We have a Sebo X4 extra....   Excellent - if it ever fails, then I'd buy 
another

D.M.Chapman@ukc.ac.uk (dmc) wrote:
>
>http://www.rugdoctor.co.uk/buy/
>
>450 quid for the little one, 712 quid for the "wide track"...


I can see why people hire them!

On 2008-07-03, John <john@spamercity.stallan.plus.com.nospamhereplease> wrote:
>
>>>
>> How do you rate the Sebo as a vaccum please?
>>
>
> We have a Sebo X4 extra....   Excellent - if it ever fails, then I'd buy 
> another 

Me too...


-- 
          "Be thankful that you have a life, and forsake your vain
                 and presumptuous desire for a second one."
               [email me at huge {at} huge (dot) org <dot> uk]

On Jul 2, 11:25 pm, "The Medway Handyman"
 wrote:
> EricP wrote:
> > The alternative to water and the Vax/George types is steam.
>
> > Never used it but I have heard a few good reports on it.
>
> If anyone could tell me where the dirt goes I'd be interested.  I can see
> how steam would loosen dirt from carpet fibres, but how does it remove it?

It depends.  Some steam cleaners just blow steam at the carpet - which
obviously has the problem that the dirt doesn't go anywhere.

However, some of them have a vacuum cleaner as well, and that sucks
the condensed steam + dirt up (so your carpet is slightly damp rather
wet).  We have a Polti Vaporreto L'ecoaspira which does get the carpet
(and hard floor) really clean.

I would hesitate before fully recommending the Polti though.  The last
one we had seem badly engineered, and had to be replaced after a few
years.  The new one seems better, but we have only had it a few
months, so it may yet be unreliable.  (Personally, the poor
engineering would have put me off a buying  a replacement from the
same firm, but my opinion got given the same weight as Rod's.)

Tim S wrote:

> Andy Champ coughed up some electrons that declared:
> 
> 
>>Jim S wrote:
>>
>>>It's many years since I attempted to clean a carpet.
>>>I hired a cleaner once and it put so much water into the carpet that we
>>>gave up.
>>>I bought a VAX (the big orange one) and again found it too wet although
>>>the muck was certainly picked up.
>>>My wife used foamy sprays, but that was some years ago.
>>>What is the current 'best' method?
>>>The carpet is large, wool and fitted. I would rather not take all the
>>>furniture out of the room, although it may be possible.
>>
>>Last time I did one I rented a Rug Doctor from one of the DIY sheds.
>>They seem to work quite well.
>>
>>Andy
> 
> 
> Agreed. If you have a whole house to do, it's worth the effort and the hire
> charge. The two things about a Rug Doctor are the oscillating scrubbing
> brush bar which cleans better than just spraying soapy water, and the
> vacuum extraction isn't bad compared to other units. My carpets are quite
> damp afterwards, but cleaning involves going over them 3 times due to the
> unmentionable things the kids deposited in the preceeding months!
> 
> But I do get very clean carpets, better than my VAX. 
> 
> 
> For about a day...
> 
> 
> The VAX isn't bad for light and ready-to-hand cleaning (and it did it's job
> for a few years prior), but it struggles with kids... It's since been
> relegated to building duties because it is pretty indestructible. I'm going
> to build John Rumm's cyclonic-building-crap-trap for it when I get a
> moment...
> 
> 
> Cheers

I have to agree here having used a rug doctor a short time ago. I 
managed to clean the carpets 3 times before returning it back to the 
sheds. Well, you do get to keep it for 24 hours, so what's a little 
sleep loss?

Dave

Rod wrote:
> The Medway Handyman wrote:
> <>
>> That answers your question.  A wool carpet (probably 80/20
>> wool/nylon) will absorb 40% w/w of water.  A synthetic carpet
>> (nylon, acrilon, polypropylene) will absorb as little as 2%.
>>
>> Nothing wrong with making a wool carpet wet.  You mention it was
>> 'too wet' or 'put so much water into the carpet'.
>>
>> If you really over wet a wool carpet it will shrink by 30% along the
>> length or the colours will run badly, or you will find brown
>> staining all over the place.  If none of these things happened that
>> carpet didn't get too wet. Ever seen a sheep shrink in the rain?
>>
>
> But isn't it the (jute?) backing that really shrinks? So if there is
> sufficient water to wet that you can get spectacular shrinkage.

Yes.  If the backing is jute or hessian it can shrink, polpropylene can't. 
All are used on wool & wool blend carpets.  Assuming the backing were jute 
or hessian, the water would first have to penetrate the very dense pile, 
which if wool, is also highly absorbant.

You would literally have to soak such a carpet (as in flood) to shrink it 
badly.

>
> I have not seen a sheep shrink in any circumstances (other than a
> butcher's shop) - but I have seen a jumper come out of a washing
> machine having changed from XL to Child. I thought it was the physical
> latching/ratcheting of fibres one onto another that caused such
> shrinkage? (That is, rather than simply having been wetted.)

The wool fibres in a carpet are either punched ('tufted') or woven through a 
backing material and could only shrink along their length, different to a 
jumper.


-- 
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

The Medway Handyman wrote:
> Rod wrote:
>> The Medway Handyman wrote:
>> <>
>>> That answers your question.  A wool carpet (probably 80/20
>>> wool/nylon) will absorb 40% w/w of water.  A synthetic carpet
>>> (nylon, acrilon, polypropylene) will absorb as little as 2%.
>>>
>>> Nothing wrong with making a wool carpet wet.  You mention it was
>>> 'too wet' or 'put so much water into the carpet'.
>>>
>>> If you really over wet a wool carpet it will shrink by 30% along the
>>> length or the colours will run badly, or you will find brown
>>> staining all over the place.  If none of these things happened that
>>> carpet didn't get too wet. Ever seen a sheep shrink in the rain?
>>>
>> But isn't it the (jute?) backing that really shrinks? So if there is
>> sufficient water to wet that you can get spectacular shrinkage.
> 
> Yes.  If the backing is jute or hessian it can shrink, polpropylene can't. 
> All are used on wool & wool blend carpets.  Assuming the backing were jute 
> or hessian, the water would first have to penetrate the very dense pile, 
> which if wool, is also highly absorbant.
> 
> You would literally have to soak such a carpet (as in flood) to shrink it 
> badly.
> 
>> I have not seen a sheep shrink in any circumstances (other than a
>> butcher's shop) - but I have seen a jumper come out of a washing
>> machine having changed from XL to Child. I thought it was the physical
>> latching/ratcheting of fibres one onto another that caused such
>> shrinkage? (That is, rather than simply having been wetted.)
> 
> The wool fibres in a carpet are either punched ('tufted') or woven through a 
> backing material and could only shrink along their length, different to a 
> jumper.
> 

So how does this happen?

"If you really over wet a wool carpet it will shrink by 30% along the 
length..."

I thought the extreme shinkage would only occur if it were extremely wet 
- and that might indeed be doing so by getting through to the jute. (And 
that it would not happen on a poly backed carpet.)

-- 
Rod

Hypothyroidism is a seriously debilitating condition with an insidious 
onset.
Although common it frequently goes undiagnosed.
<www.thyromind.info> <www.thyroiduk.org> <www.altsupportthyroid.org>

Rod wrote:
> The Medway Handyman wrote:
>> Rod wrote:
>>> The Medway Handyman wrote:
>>> <>
>>>> That answers your question.  A wool carpet (probably 80/20
>>>> wool/nylon) will absorb 40% w/w of water.  A synthetic carpet
>>>> (nylon, acrilon, polypropylene) will absorb as little as 2%.
>>>>
>>>> Nothing wrong with making a wool carpet wet.  You mention it was
>>>> 'too wet' or 'put so much water into the carpet'.
>>>>
>>>> If you really over wet a wool carpet it will shrink by 30% along
>>>> the length or the colours will run badly, or you will find brown
>>>> staining all over the place.  If none of these things happened that
>>>> carpet didn't get too wet. Ever seen a sheep shrink in the rain?
>>>>
>>> But isn't it the (jute?) backing that really shrinks? So if there is
>>> sufficient water to wet that you can get spectacular shrinkage.
>>
>> Yes.  If the backing is jute or hessian it can shrink, polpropylene
>> can't. All are used on wool & wool blend carpets.  Assuming the
>> backing were jute or hessian, the water would first have to
>> penetrate the very dense pile, which if wool, is also highly
>> absorbant. You would literally have to soak such a carpet (as in flood) 
>> to
>> shrink it badly.
>>
>>> I have not seen a sheep shrink in any circumstances (other than a
>>> butcher's shop) - but I have seen a jumper come out of a washing
>>> machine having changed from XL to Child. I thought it was the
>>> physical latching/ratcheting of fibres one onto another that caused
>>> such shrinkage? (That is, rather than simply having been wetted.)
>>
>> The wool fibres in a carpet are either punched ('tufted') or woven
>> through a backing material and could only shrink along their length,
>> different to a jumper.
>>
>
> So how does this happen?
>
> "If you really over wet a wool carpet it will shrink by 30% along the
> length..."

Sorry, what I should have said is;

 "if you over wet any carpet with a jute/hessian backing, especially one 
that has a synthetic pile unable to absorb water, it could shrink by 30%"
>

> I thought the extreme shinkage would only occur if it were extremely
> wet - and that might indeed be doing so by getting through to the
> jute. (And that it would not happen on a poly backed carpet.)

Absolutely correct.  Sorry, my comments were unclear.  I was trying to clear 
up the myth that "wool carpets shrink".  Only carpet backings shrink, not 
carpet piles.

I have seen flooded carpet shrink by 30% - and I have seen a good carpet 
fitter put it back again using a power stretcher.

More troublesome is the phenomenon of 'browning' where the vegetable dye in 
jute/hessian wicks up the pile leaving large patches of brown staining. 
That can be chemically treated.

Worse scenario is dye run, rare these days, but common in the past with 
wool, less of a problem with modern dyes.


-- 
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

The Medway Handyman wrote:
> Rod wrote:
>> The Medway Handyman wrote:
>>> Rod wrote:
>>>> The Medway Handyman wrote:
>>>> <>
>>>>> That answers your question.  A wool carpet (probably 80/20
>>>>> wool/nylon) will absorb 40% w/w of water.  A synthetic carpet
>>>>> (nylon, acrilon, polypropylene) will absorb as little as 2%.
>>>>>
>>>>> Nothing wrong with making a wool carpet wet.  You mention it was
>>>>> 'too wet' or 'put so much water into the carpet'.
>>>>>
>>>>> If you really over wet a wool carpet it will shrink by 30% along
>>>>> the length or the colours will run badly, or you will find brown
>>>>> staining all over the place.  If none of these things happened that
>>>>> carpet didn't get too wet. Ever seen a sheep shrink in the rain?
>>>>>
>>>> But isn't it the (jute?) backing that really shrinks? So if there is
>>>> sufficient water to wet that you can get spectacular shrinkage.
>>> Yes.  If the backing is jute or hessian it can shrink, polpropylene
>>> can't. All are used on wool & wool blend carpets.  Assuming the
>>> backing were jute or hessian, the water would first have to
>>> penetrate the very dense pile, which if wool, is also highly
>>> absorbant. You would literally have to soak such a carpet (as in flood) 
>>> to
>>> shrink it badly.
>>>
>>>> I have not seen a sheep shrink in any circumstances (other than a
>>>> butcher's shop) - but I have seen a jumper come out of a washing
>>>> machine having changed from XL to Child. I thought it was the
>>>> physical latching/ratcheting of fibres one onto another that caused
>>>> such shrinkage? (That is, rather than simply having been wetted.)
>>> The wool fibres in a carpet are either punched ('tufted') or woven
>>> through a backing material and could only shrink along their length,
>>> different to a jumper.
>>>
>> So how does this happen?
>>
>> "If you really over wet a wool carpet it will shrink by 30% along the
>> length..."
> 
> Sorry, what I should have said is;
> 
>  "if you over wet any carpet with a jute/hessian backing, especially one 
> that has a synthetic pile unable to absorb water, it could shrink by 30%"
> 
>> I thought the extreme shinkage would only occur if it were extremely
>> wet - and that might indeed be doing so by getting through to the
>> jute. (And that it would not happen on a poly backed carpet.)
> 
> Absolutely correct.  Sorry, my comments were unclear.  I was trying to clear 
> up the myth that "wool carpets shrink".  Only carpet backings shrink, not 
> carpet piles.
> 
> I have seen flooded carpet shrink by 30% - and I have seen a good carpet 
> fitter put it back again using a power stretcher.
> 
> More troublesome is the phenomenon of 'browning' where the vegetable dye in 
> jute/hessian wicks up the pile leaving large patches of brown staining. 
> That can be chemically treated.
> 
> Worse scenario is dye run, rare these days, but common in the past with 
> wool, less of a problem with modern dyes.
> 
> 

OK - thanks - same song book after all. :-)

I didn't know the term 'browning' - nor that it could be treated. Had 
assumed if that happened it was a dead carpet.

Power stretchers muct be something else. Fitters seem to manage amazing 
stretch with just the, umm, <is manual the right term for something you 
use with a leg?> ones.

-- 
Rod

Hypothyroidism is a seriously debilitating condition with an insidious 
onset.
Although common it frequently goes undiagnosed.
<www.thyromind.info> <www.thyroiduk.org> <www.altsupportthyroid.org>