It's time for carpet
cleaning as we have a summer 'meet the public'
business where we share our home with guests.
My husband thought he would try a new company
and asked for an estimate. Plans to have it done
this week. When he shared with me that there
would be no need to set up fans to accelerate
the drying and that it would be dry in about 3
hours, I started becoming concerned.
Dry Cleaning the carpets? I know what chemical
that is. Then my husband shared that there was a
surfactant in the cleaning product that did the
good cleaning. Now I am really concerned.
2-butoxyethanol is a surfactant.
Well, I'm holding my horses while my husband
finds out what product & what the surfactant is
that cleans so well.
We would be running our guest right back out, so
many are allergic today. And on top of that I
don't want to spend every waking moment having
diarrhea & knowing tumor/cancers are around the
corner.
Here's what happened to a couple of cats when
Spot Shot Carpet cleaner was used in a couple of
homes
And just because a product says it is safe,
doesn't make it so
__________________
Rich,
OKAY, First, I've been in the Carpet Cleaning
Business for 28 years so any concerns you might
have regarding the chemical in question, I will
be happy to answer for you. I have also used and
taught EVERY carpet cleaning method there is, so
I won't steer you wrong. First, you should know
this. If you use Clorox Bleach in your laundry,
than THAT is FAR more toxic than what any carpet
cleaner uses. In fact there has NEVER been any
"TOXIC" carpet cleaning chemicals. Spotting
agents such as Tricloetholyne 1,1,1... YES. But
that's been off the market for 13 years now.
Question: Are YOU cleaning the carpets yourself
or hiring a Professional?
Trust me, if you're doing it yourself, please
stay away from, the Home Depot crap (ZEP) it's
out dated junk. Also stay away from ALL
supermarket brand spotters such as Resolve and
Woolite. They are know to cause "Reactive
Yellowing
in carpets. Plus, if they were really any good,
WE'D BE USING THEM. I have alot more to say on
that topic matter, but I'll move on.
My advice to you is to either get referrals from
friends or family members first. See what they
have to say about who they used. That's better
than "Rolling the Dice". I can tell you with
confidence however, that you should be happy
hiring a CHEM-DRY Franchise. Your carpets will
be safely cleaned and dry in 1 to 2 hours tops.
Their method is the same one I use most of the
time. Unless you need "RESTORATIVE CLEANING".
Feel free to e-mail me if you have any other
concerns.
____________________
We have a small carpet cleaning machine (Green
Machine) that we sometimes use, but for bigger
jobs we like to hire it done.
Thanks for the informative post on carpet
cleaning. I would like to know what the
surfactant is in the dry cleaning type
The chemical I'm concerned about is a surfactant
and it is used in dry cleaning and plastics
industries, and all kinds of cleaning products
I think the worst exposure is vapors in one's
eyes.
Do you have any health issues from your military
service, or from this business? ... flu type
symptoms is what exposure looks like or things
like a nagging cough, sniffles, etc
________________
FIRST WHICH surfactant are you talkin about?
There are too many out there and I don't know
which one you are talking about. However, to
simplify things, if you're talking about PERT.
(which is rarely used anymore) you would not
want to use that to clean your carpets with
anyway. In fact, you wouldn't want to use any
"solvent based" cleaning agent on your carpets
as it wouldn't clean them very well in the first
place. DRY cleaning (solvents) just happens to
be the worst cleaning system out there, however,
for some FABRICS, you have no choice, other than
replacement. Now, DRY COMPOUND (Capture, Host)
cleaning is very good and very safe. But again,
it has it's linitations. Are you doing the
cleaning YOURSELF or hiring a Pro?? Like I said,
Chem-Dry is VERY Good and their cleaning
solution is extreamly safe. You're not going to
get ill or die from it, so don't worry. Hot
Water Extraction ("steam cleaning") is the most
popular method, but be prepared for VERY LONG
drying times. In the end, IT'S NOT THE
METHOD...IT"S THE MAN". Go online and look up
the surfactant or call the manufacturer for the
MSDS. If you need me, you know how to reach me.
Remember this Maggie. Today, All Carpet
Cleaning chemicals are safe. They have to be.
We're around them ALL DAY-EVERYDAY. I used to
clean my hands with Triclor 1,1,1 and I'm fine.
I'm not one to tell anyone how to live. Far be
it from me. But the last thing you want to
become is a Chemo-Phobic person. There's way too
many other things to worry about in life than
cleaning chemicals. Unless you're consuming them
orally, you have very little and most probably,
nothing to worry about. Did you know Windex has
7 times more VOCs than what I use. Something to
think about.
Rich
__________________
OK, the products used by the professional we are
considering for carpet cleaning use the
following:
Steam Way PH-iber Guard,
MSDS
Steam Way Traffic Lane Cleaner (Maxpak)
MSDS
This has 2-butoxyethanol at 10% strength; CAS no
111-76-2
and Steam Way odor eliminator
MSDS
So what do you think of this type of carpet
cleaning ... as to the ones you have described?
More MSDSs
I think people get a lot of exposure to ethylene
glycol monobutyl ether, and it doesn't take that
much to cause serious harm.
but warnings are inadequate on the MSDS
(Material Safety Data Sheet) regarding harm of
2-butoxyethanol (#111-76-2)
valdezlink.com/same.htm
valdezlink.com/acute.htm
valdezlink.com/pages/crackthecase.htm#this
I'm watching my grandkids right now & my
daughter just got a call back from her
friend. Her friend said was in the hospital with
gall bladder removal surgery
I remember 4 months ago when they my daughter &
son-in-law went on a cruise and this
friend watched baby When they got back baby (4
months old) was fussy, fussy, fussy with swollen
abdomen (I suspected swollen organs)
I thought then that the chemical was there ...
If baby had stayed much longer, I suspect he
could have died, and they would have just said
SIDS ... we do not know
Gall bladder removal surgery is an early on
thing I notice with this chemical exposure
http://www.valdezlink.com/pages/questionnaire.htm
Another young father, a fireman in our town, had
gall bladder surgery removal and his kidney shut
down, liver issue, too .... and his digestive
system was shutting down (so they removed his
intestines and gave him a bag) ... his organs
were shutting down, and he almost died. I doubt
that it is over yet