Wash floor upgrades
Our first order of business was to upgrade our wash floor by reorganizing the things we use most often. Detergents were put in plastic jugs with dispensers for easy and quick access, and placed on a Gladiator shelf right at our wash floor. Washing tools such as rug squeegees, brushes, and our pressure washer were mounted and hung with Gladiator hooks. Basically we wanted everything off the floor to look nice, but also function easily. We accomplished both. Detergents and tools that are not frequently used were taken to a Gladiator storage cabinet.
We also added an electric water heater right at our wash floor. Most rugs are washed in room temperature water, or warm water, but occasionally we have the need for hot water for dye stripping or extremely dirty rugs. Having this heater is so much more convenient than having to take a bucket to the water closet or bathroom to get hot water.
Tumble Duster
There are many ways to dust a rug, from throwing it over a pole and beating it with a broom, to tumble dusting, and several methods in between. For years we used a strap duster. Rugs are laid flat, upside down, and the strap duster is slowly pushed back and for over the back of the rug. This machine has several leather straps on the bottom that spin and “beat” the dust out of the rug.
This is a very time consuming way of dusting rugs. A small rug can be done in 10 minutes or less, but a large rug might take 30 minutes or more. It basically required a full time employee to do this job. So we decided to purchase a tumble duster made by Centrum Force.
A tumble duster is a piece of machinery that can dust up to 10 rugs at a time in 30 minutes. And it doesn’t require a laborer to operate it. Rugs are thrown into the tumbler, and it slowly turns as the rugs tumble over each other. This action allows all the dry soils to drop out of the rug onto the ground. So not only does a tumble duster remove dry soils more effectively, it does it in a lot less time, and doesn’t require a worker to operate it. The duster is isolated in a small room with a dust collector, that way small dust is not spreading throughout our shop. Large dust and debris falls to the floor.
After the room was constructed we purchased a steel roll up door to close the room off. We also added a window on the side to quickly see if a cycle is complete.
Tracking Customers
We are still a small enough rug cleaning company that we like to track customer orders on a big dry erase board. There are rug facility software systems out that that can track rugs through software and barcodes, but something about being able to quickly see all what’s currently in house is something that we really like.
We had been using an inexpensive 4’x8’ dry erase board, and although it served its purpose, we just didn’t love it. So we replaced it with an attractive glass dry erase board. When a rug comes in, we tag it, take pictures of it, then add the customer name and order info to our dry erase board.
The board has all info needed for the order: quantity of rugs, how many rugs need pet treatments, rug pad, repairs, etc. It’s also very convenient being right next to our finishing area as well.