Totally fed up!!

[NigelOBB]

Just take your time Richard, you’ll be fine. Secret is don’t over soak the carpet, especially wool ones.. there must be industry standard disclaimers out there.. also take before and after photos.. and pics of any damage before you start..


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[AndyN01]

Hi Rich,

Good advice to contact manufacturers/suppliers.

Any business, anywhere, anytime might get sued. Just be sure that you're properly insured.

If you're looking for mainly domestic work (or maybe cars?) then how about a post on here for some free "practise" work for you (is that OK with the Mods?)?

Ignore Facebook.

You'll be fine.

Good Luck.

Andy.

[RPWC]

Originally Posted by stocktake

Offer a free one room cleaning to any of your existing customers Rich. Pretty certain a man of your intelligence wont be far off the mark after your theory training.

Originally Posted by Les4048

How about looking on what you were told at the course as a positive rather than a negative. They’ve obviously told you the pitfalls which reading your post it looks like that’s all you’re seeing, I assume they also told you how to do the job properly. As for Facebook disregard any negative advice on there as it’s full of it, I enjoy Facebook but I’ve learned to disregard the idiots on some of the larger groups. As others have suggested get out there and even do a few for free until you gain both knowledge and confidence. Wishing you every success

Originally Posted by humphshumphs

Was this course run by a company that sells the machines or just a 'general carpet cleaning course'?
If it was a general one, then I would get in touch with a couple of companies that supply the machine you are looking at (or even the manufacturer) and see if they do courses - or at least give you some proper information.

Originally Posted by rustymotor

Hi Rich, don't get down over the response, there are loads of videos on youtube about how to do it also, have you thought of car interior cleaning? Try the folk selling the materials they should be able to offer advice and training.

Originally Posted by NigelOBB

Just take your time Richard, you’ll be fine. Secret is don’t over soak the carpet, especially wool ones.. there must be industry standard disclaimers out there.. also take before and after photos.. and pics of any damage before you start..


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Thanks for all the encouragement everyone. The thing is, on this last course,I didnt get to clean any carpetsAs the unit we were in belonged to someone else,and there were people working in the office downstairs,mthe instructor just went through the motions of cleaning a carpet without any if us actually having a go. I have plenty of people who would give me work, and friends/family to let me practice, but I want more experience, before I even do that. I also need more advice on identifying types of carpet. I found a xompanynin Nottingham,that offer hands on training,and you get tomuse the machines, and actually clean carpets.
Trouble is it works out expensive,its a 2 day course, so that means driving down the night before and staying over, in order to get there in time. Nowhere nearer does training, apart from the company that I went with last week.

[Mr Bone]

Try asking a carpet fitter for some offcuts, you could use them to practice with a cleaner.

[RPWC]

Originally Posted by Mr Bone

Try asking a carpet fitter for some offcuts, you could use them to practice with a cleaner.

Something I had already thought of actually, getting hold of an old carpet someone was chucking out.

[Sprinter]

Originally Posted by RPWC

Something I had already thought of actually, getting hold of an old carpet someone was chucking out.

Put a wanted ad on your local Freecycle. Worth a try.

[coolcat]

Well I'm looking to put this place up for sale soon so if you want to practice on mine I can put you up for the night Rich

Seriously though.......I hope it all goes well, I'm sure you are more than capable and will make a good go of it

[Stickman]

Hi Rich
Imho the likes of Facebook etc aren’t the best platform for constructive advice
Many carpet stores still sell doormat sized carpet samples relatively cheap
These would be perfect to practice on - for instance you could use things like coffee and coloured squash etc to recreate stains-once dried you then practice your technique.
I did briefly clean carpets and upholstery for a living many years ago and there’s not much to it other than learning techniques through experience
However the correct professional cleaning machines are horrendously expensive to buy and therefore will take a long time to recoup your investment.
The cheaper machines are not as powerful and more suitable for home \ diy use
As such they’re slow when compared to the professional brands.
Upholstery fabrics such as dralon and velour respond well and give good results so are good to practice on as are also the carpet in yr car for instance. Tricks of the trade are as Nigel has already stated don’t get the carpet too wet and once cleaned do try to remove as much water as you can especially at the edges.
See if you can practice for free on friends carpets and upholstery
Also be aware there are some things that you can’t remove such as mould stains on rugs or carpets
Regards
Chris

[macafee2]

hope fully this is not a silly suggestion.
Talk to carpet shops and ask if you can have any old carpets they take up so you can practice. Not sure how you would dispose of it so consider that.

Also try freecycle for your area and ask for old carpets if you are able to collect. Again disposal may be an issue.

good luck hope it works out

macafee2

[RPWC]

Originally Posted by Stickman

Hi Rich
Imho the likes of Facebook etc aren’t the best platform for constructive advice
Many carpet stores still sell doormat sized carpet samples relatively cheap
These would be perfect to practice on - for instance you could use things like coffee and coloured squash etc to recreate stains-once dried you then practice your technique.
I did briefly clean carpets and upholstery for a living many years ago and there’s not much to it other than learning techniques through experience
However the correct professional cleaning machines are horrendously expensive to buy and therefore will take a long time to recoup your investment.
The cheaper machines are not as powerful and more suitable for home \ diy use
As such they’re slow when compared to the professional brands.
Upholstery fabrics such as dralon and velour respond well and give good results so are good to practice on as are also the carpet in yr car for instance. Tricks of the trade are as Nigel has already stated don’t get the carpet too wet and once cleaned do try to remove as much water as you can especially at the edges.
See if you can practice for free on friends carpets and upholstery
Also be aware there are some things that you can’t remove such as mould stains on rugs or carpets
Regards
Chris

Thanks Chris. I may.call o your experience once I get further ahead with plans. I am hoping to enroll o another course that gives hands on. training. I used fb as the course instructor said therd was a good site to buy used machine from, so I posted on there asking for some experience. I had one offer to go oug with him or one of his staff for a day, but too far away.

Originally Posted by macafee2

hope fully this is not a silly suggestion.
Talk to carpet shops and ask if you can have any old carpets they take up so you can practice. Not sure how you would dispose of it so consider that.

Also try freecycle for your area and ask for old carpets if you are able to collect. Again disposal may be an issue.

good luck hope it works out

macafee2

I had already thought about that Ian. Wouldn't be able to take too much though as I don't have a garage. Its more identifying types of carpet that concerns me