Wooly Bully

[cleanking]

Designers continue to put quality wool broadloom in high traffic areas in the high end areas our crews serve (hallways, master bedrooms, stairs). I wouldn't call it extremely common for most homes but we do see it often. It certainly is seen more in other parts of the world than the US markets as stated above. On all my trips to the UK I've always been amazed how wool carpet is nearly ALL of the installed carpet in that part of the world.

Wool rugs are certainly trending upward in the US, unfortunately they're usually of the hand tufted quality although, quality wool rug production still exists in Nepal, Turkey, and Afghanistan.

pH isn't the only consideration for a solutions effects on wool, for Wool Safe approval for example, other factors such as buffering and oxidizers tend to be where the ability to acquire product certification will fall off for instance.

Our trucks are naturally set to run with MasterBlend Enzyme Prespray (safe for wool at a ph of 9) or Oriental Rug Shampoo (safe for wool ph of 7.5).

Safe for Wool

These products have passed stringent efficacy and safety tests and have been certified safe and effective for use on all fiber carpets and rugs, including wool.

masterblend.net

While effects of using a higher pH product may not be immediately seen, continued use of these on wool fibers will cause fiber degradation over time. Certainly important to have a learned process for wool, with all of this in mind, for when you encounter these fibers.

 

[Cleanworks]

I

If you're over 60, you now have an earworm that you might have difficulty removing. (I understand chewing gum helps....I'm not sure why)

My apologies

To my point:

How many are noticing that they are cleaning more wool carpet? I brought this up a few months ago, and since that time, I'm receiving more calls, texts, and DMs about it.

I don't see it becoming the staple (no pun intended) for wall to wall cleaning in the US as it tends to me in the UK and Oceania, but it is showing up more and more in homes and businesses nationwide.

In the past 20 years or so our industry has migrated upward to prespray products between 11 and 12, and even VLM products in that pH range. The use of those types of products are, to say the least, not safe for this fiber. I think we'd all agree that a pH of that high is not nearly safe for wool, even if you attempt to neutralize it with an acidic rinse after you apply it.

What are you seeing, and if you feel up to confession, what are you doing when you clean wool?

See more wool in high end offices. Not usually a problem but need to be careful scrubbing with a CRB. Need to have the soft wool brushes on. Coffee spills are more challenging. I tend to use an oxy encap on those as it's 4-5 pH and although the peroxide is stronger than what wool is rated for, I haven't had any problems yet. I rinse when the stain is gone. I have quite a few homes with wool wall to wall and fortunately, they keep them pretty clean. One product that I like is Ultrachem Labs Clean. It's a neutral pH electrolytic product. Not the strongest cleaner around but does quite well.