I recently read a post on the Cleanfax Bulletin Board where a respected cleaner shared his frustration with the seemingly endless list of traffic lane preconditioning agents and detergents offered for carpet cleaning.

His concerns made me take a hard look at what products are made available for upholstery cleaning, and how a cleaner can narrow down that list to what is truly needed for upholstery cleaning in the 21st century.

Here's my recommended product list . . .

PRESPRAYS

Avenge Fabric Prespray:

I always tell students that if I could only have ONE product with which to clean upholstery, it would be this one. For extremely delicate fabrics, I also recommend "FABRIC SHAMPOO". Products such as these may be designed to be sprayed on, or whipped into a foam and be applied by brush, sponge, cleaning mitt, or a towel. These products will suspend body oil, food spills, and other "common upholstery soils".

If the fabric has been allowed to become "abusively soiled" or has become exposed to smoke damage, and "AVENGE FABRIC PRESPRAY" or "FABRIC SHAMPOO" does not adequately loosen soil, you may either choose "AVENGE HD FABRIC PRESPRAY", or use "BOOST ALL" and "CITRUS SOLV" to enhance "AVENGE FABRIC PRESPRAY" or "FABRIC SHAMPOO".

Which is the better choice? First, review the characteristics of the available products:

Avenge HD Fabric Prespray:

AVENGE HD FABRIC PRESPRAY is alkaline (10) and may be more effective on synthetic fiber fabrics that have strong oil bonding characteristics, such as olefin and polyester. AVENGE HD FABRIC PRESPRAY should only be used on colorfast, synthetic fiber fabrics.

BOOSTERS (pH)

Boost All:

BOOST ALL will brighten and whiten dull or yellowed colors, remove most protein and tannin stains, and also eliminate yellow/brown discolorations from oily soils that are bonded to olefin and polyester. You should be aware that BOOST ALL will raise the pH of your preconditioning solution, and thus you must test this solution for any potential color related problems on the fabric that you intend to clean. Also, off white cotton fabrics may become snow white after the application of BOOST ALL. The alkaline nature of BOOST ALL may be controlled by adding BUFF ALL to your solution.

Citrus Solv:

CITRUS SOLV increases the grease and oil cutting quality of your preconditioner with altering the pH. When cleaning fabrics that have become exposed to body oil, newsprint, and petroleum; CITRUS SOLV will greatly improve your results. Caution: A commonly overlooked problem with CITRUS SOLV is its tendency to cause the formulation that it is blended with to penetrate rapidly through the fabric. This will slow drying times, and potentially cause the solution to reach areas that might be marked with soluble marker dyes or other unstable materials.

Using AVENGE FABRIC PRESPRAY or FABRIC SHAMPOO on natural fiber fabrics and AVENGE HD FABRIC PRESPRAY on synthetic fiber fabrics is the easiest system, but with training and experience, the use of BOOST ALL and CITRUS SOLV blended with AVENGE FABRIC PRESPRAY and FABRIC SHAMPOO will usually render even better results.

COLOR STABILIZERS

For the vast majority of your cleaning needs, the only other product that you must have is an acidic rinse agent, such as FABSET. 

Fabset:

FABSET is an acid rinse agent that offers the following very real benefits in upholstery care:

1. Dye Stabilization:  Most dye bleeding and color fading may be prevented if FABSET is applied both before and after the cleaning process.  Non-acid dye stabilizers, such as DYE LOC should only be used when colors are not stable to FABSET.
    
2. Browning prevention or removal:  Fabrics that are rinsed or post treated with FABSET and dried rapidly are less likely to brown.  Light browning will often be removed when fabrics are rinsed and dried quickly as well.
    
3. Natural fiber velvets dry softer when rinsed or treated with FABSET then followed with rapid drying with fans.

With the use of proper tools, cleaning equipment, and training, seldom will a cleaner need more than these few products.  Products such as alkaline upholstery emulsifiers, "Haitian Cotton" detergents and shampoos, and dry cleaning solvents are of very little use to cleaners who have the most up to date training and technology available today.

NOTE: Additional information regarding the above products may be found in Pembertons online catalog --  www.pembertonstore.com or go direct to the product by clicking below . . .

PRESPRAYS
AVENGE FABRIC PRESPRAY
AVENGE HD FABRIC PRESPRAY
FABRIC SHAMPOO

BOOSTERS (pH)
BOOST ALL
BUFF ALL
CITRUS SOLV

COLOR STABILIZERS
FABSET
DYE LOC