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Latest WoolSafe® News
quench Your Thirst For Knowledge8th February 2010 Every professional carpet cleaner worth his salt is always looking for ways to improve his skills and expand the services that he can offer. WoolSafe® members seem to have a particular thirst for knowledge, which is why we widened the scope of our training programmes in 2009 with the introduction of a new training course entitled Essential Carpet Installation and Repair. This one-day course is designed specifically with carpet cleaners in mind. It covers the kinds of carpet faults and problems technicians are likely to come across while cleaning residential carpets and maintaining commercial carpet installations. Trainers John Hopkins, Mike Walker and Robert Taylor have decades of experience in the carpet trade and proved to be veritable fountains of knowledge, advice and top tips. Areas covered are:
The next Essential Carpet Installation and Repair course is scheduled for 17 June 2010 We have limited the number of trainees per course to 8 so as to allow everyone sufficient ‘hands-on’ time and a clear view of the master fitter’s demonstrations. Harrogate National Floor Show Review17th September 2009 Reaping The Benefits Of Another Fruitful Show
WoolSafe members are set to reap the benefits of another fruitful show. The seeds of future work were sown around the National Floor Show by WoolSafe Directors, Paul Bakker and Agnes Zsednai and Marketing Manager Steve Bakker.
After the toil and labour of the show its time to plough through all the visitor and exhibitor details and see what the potential harvest could be. There were several promising contacts made that we hope will ripen and bloom into mutually beneficial business relationships.
There was interest from many Manufacturers and retailers in working with WoolSafe to create or develop carpet care booklets. These booklets will be given away with every cut of carpet and would contain maintenance and spotting advice. More importantly for our members, they would also contain a recommendation that carpet buyers only use WoolSafe Approved Products and WoolSafe Approved Carpet Cleaners.
Manufacturers and retailers were also keen to create internet links to our website carpet care pages so as to give the most accurate advice to their clients and to farm out the carpet cleaning work to people they can have total faith in.
Existing ties were also strengthened over friendly chats with faces old and new.
The WoolSafe team continually strive to spread the WoolSafe message as far and wide as possible. We do this for the benefit of our members in particular and the industry as a whole.
Always remembering that from little acorns do great oak trees grow! survey Results9th July 2009 The WoolSafe® Organisation 2009 Survey Summary of the responses by Certified Operators Many thanks to all of our members who sent in their completed questionnaire, the information that we have collated has already been put to good use. About the WoolSafe® Certified Operator’s Training Course;
About the WoolSafe® Certified Operator network;
About WoolSafe® Approved Products;
About the WoolSafe® Mark in advertising;
Especially helpful were your many great and varied suggestions in the comments section. We are working diligently to address the issues raised and will update you on our progress very soon. beware of the Headline-grabbing Media!2nd April 2009 Recently there were headlines in some national newspapers declaring that washing up liquid was just as good (or even better!) for cleaning carpets than “costly specialist products”. The articles were based on a report compiled by the “experts” of the Which? Magazine (March 2009), which compared the stain removing ability of 17 carpet stain removers, soda water and diluted dishwashing liquid (Morning Fresh). The newspaper articles emphasised only one aspect of the Which? report: that washing up liquid was found to be good in removing certain stains. Dishwashing liquids contain strong detergents, they are designed to cut through grease and food residues on your plate, and they would attack these stains just as effectively anywhere else, including your carpeting. However, they can also be alkaline, which can cause bleaching or colour bleeding on coloured carpets. Dishwashing liquids also leave a sticky residue (just look at the top of any bottle of them after a week’s usage!), which can be rinsed off plates, but would stay on the carpet. There it will attract dirt, so after a while a big black spot will develop in place of the removed brown or red one. Making a statement encouraging customers to clean their carpets with products not meant for that purpose, is very dangerous, especially in this economic climate. People will want to save money, but by using the wrong product they can actually end up either ruining their carpets or having to pay a professional cleaner to remedy the damage caused. The Which? report itself actually named some of the carpet stain removers as best buys, and not the Morning Fresh (which carries a warning: Do not use on fabrics)! However, they too fell short from giving the best advice, as they did not seriously consider any adverse effects of any of the products. They did not check whether the tested carpet stain removers caused colour-bleeding or rapid re-soiling. The WoolSafe® organisation has been testing all types of carpet cleaning chemicals for over ten years, and we know that there is a lot more to it than checking the removal of some stains (which of course is important too). Some of the products tested by Which? are very alkaline, others leave a sticky residue, so they will not give a good overall performance A lot of research and development work goes into formulating specialist products, which justifies their higher cost. Manufacturers have to make sure their products are safe even when used long-term – though some of them are making a better job of it than others. There is a need for independent testing and comparing, but it needs to cover all important aspects. Carpet cleaning chemicals bearing the WoolSafe® Mark are independently tested and approved for use on even delicate carpets or rugs, so they are the best to use in the long run. Be safe – it’s not worth saving the cost of a bottle of tested stain remover and having to replace your carpet. The newspaper editor will not pick up your bill! A final word of caution: sometimes it is not the product that causes the damage but the person using it. Over-wetting and/or excessive rubbing causes permanent distortion of carpet fibres. If the staining is extensive or looks difficult to remove, ask for professional help.
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