Local couple's business specializes in delicate rug cleaning

PLATTSBURGH — It's a trend, says carpet cleaner Don Schonzeit.

"People are taking wall-to-wall carpeting out and replacing it with hardwood, laminate, grouted tile."

In part, that's because one school of thought connects carpeting with allergies, said the Point au Roche man, who with wife, Amy, have been cleaning carpets, area rugs and tile since 1984.

And it's about cleaning, too, he said.

"Pets is a big thing."

Eliminating pet urine from a carpet is a daunting task.

Severe stains can't truly be neutralized, Schonzeit said, "unless you pull the carpet back to clean and treat both sides, remove the bad part of the pad and replace it and then take care of the floor, including sealing it with shellac."

BEATING THE RUG
In the Pond Street, Plattsburgh, office of 5-6-CLEAN, Schonzeit flipped the switch on the "Badger," a heavy-duty machine that employs heavy leather straps to vibrate the dirt from the fibers of a rug.

Gripping the handles the same way one would a hand-maneuvered snowblower, he eased the heavy red machine onto a black, maroon and cream-colored oriental-style runner that lay over a metal grating with a wire edge.

The Badger clattered loudly as it did its work, moving slowly along the rug — no more than 5 feet a minute.

It works on the same premise as grandma's hand-powered rug beater, knocking the soil loose in a way Schonzeit said a vacuum cleaner can't do.

"It's OK to go over the fringe, too," he said as the Beaver powered down.

Lifting the runner, he pointed out fine sand in the bottom of the grate. Even bits of dried dye work loose under the Badger's action.

Next, the runner would be pre-sprayed with a product made for wool to loosen remaining soil and then cleaned with hot-water extraction.

"For wool," he cautioned, "you don't want very hot water."

CHECK FOR TUFTS
Schonzeit loves oriental rugs, and when Plattsburgh Air Force Base was operational, he said, many graced the floors of homes here.

"All these guys went overseas and came back with oriental rugs," he said.

A traditional oriental is knotted, not tufted with glue, he said. He advises people to be cautious about choosing one fashioned with tufts, which can be identified by the scrim, or layer of thin fabric, that covers the back.

"On these rugs," he said, showing the back of the maroon runner, "you're actually going to see the back of the knots."

With a tufted rug, he warned, "the glue can dissolve. And it can smell awful when it's wet."

As well, bubbles can develop where the glue dissolves and the back of the rug pulls away.

Not all traditional oriental rugs are hand woven, Schonzeit said.

"There can be very good quality machine-made rugs," he said.

And while it's been said the number of knots per inch tell how good a rug is, that's not always so, he added.

"They say that's like judging the quality of a painting by the amount of paint used."

NEW GENERATIONS
Quality helps dictate the life of a rug, but so does proper care.

"The dirt has sharp edges," Schonzeit said. "Every time you walk on it, (the dirt) cuts and abrades the fibers."

He advises people to vacuum frequently to eliminate as much soil as possible. And he suggests the use of runners and area rugs atop wall-to-wall carpeting to protect high traffic areas.

Wear there happens fast, he said, and it can't be reversed.

A rug's price tag is not always an indicator of cleanability, Schonzeit said.

"Some very expensive rugs are very hard to clean."

And some costly designer rugs are made atrociously, he noted, pieced together rather than woven.

"They can shrink or distort" during cleaning, he said.

He likes rugs made of olefan, a man-made fibre that can be made to look a lot like wool.

"It may not have the resilience of wools, but it's very cleanable unless there's an oil-based spill," he said.

"They're often beautiful rugs and relatively inexpensive."

And stain-resistance has come a long way since he and Amy first began cleaning rugs almost a quarter century ago, Schonzeit said.

Another manufactured fiber, nylon, is the lead in that area.

"They keep having new generations."

E-mail Suzanne Moore at: smoore@pressrepublican.com