For carpets that strive for eternal life
March 1st 2006

With 50,000 sq ft of carpets spanning a church hall, office accomodation, a private school and bookshop, carpet maintenance at the Folkestone's Life Church could have caused much wailing and gnashing of teeth.

But Host distributor, Timberstone, says its Dry Extraction system has been a revelation Life Church in Folkestone, Kent is one of the county's largest churches, a predominately open plan building it also houses office accommodation, a private school, a conference centre/church hall and a bookshop. With this multitude of uses the church plays host to hundreds of visitors a week and its 70,000 sq ft of floor space needs special attention paid to it when it comes to cleaning and in particular the maintenance of its over 50,000sq ft of carpet.

Host Distributor, Timberstone, has been responsible for the maintenance and cleaning of Life Church for the past seven years using the Host Dry Extraction Cleaning System.

"Over 50% of Life Church's floor space - the conference area, school, bookshop and offices consists of loop pile carpet tiles," says Colin Hemmings, MD of Timberstone. "This is a particularly busy space, which is constantly seeing heavy usage throughout the day. Using the Host Liberator and Freestyle vacuum machines combined with Host sponges means that this space can be cleaned and maintained quickly and efficiently and, importantly, be back in use minutes afterwards. The remaining floor space consists of pure lambswool carpet, sonic cord and quarry and ceramic tiles - the Host system is used throughout all these areas."

A cleaning programme has been devised by Timberstone that includes spot cleaning of carpets and upholstery which is carried out by the church's in-house cleaning staff all of whom have been trained by Colin in the use of the Host system - a facility that Operations Manager, Jo Harris, has found invaluable.

"Colin and his team regularly update our staff on any new developments with the system providing product support and help when required. The Host system has been a real revelation - it is environmentally sensitive and therefore meets the environmental purchasing policy of the school, it maintains and protects the considerable investment made in carpets throughout the building and, most importantly, there is no down time or shut down period of any areas after cleaning - a problem we previously had with wet cleaning systems. All in all it is excellent value for money".

Host's Dry Extraction Cleaning System incorporating both the Liberator and Freestyle vacuum machines is very easy to use because of the machines counter-rotating brushes. Only a light touch is needed to guide both these machines across carpet as they agitates the Host Sponges to effectively remove soil and allergens while lifting the carpet pile and maintaining its colour and durability.

The key, however, to keeping the Life Church carpets looking good is the maintenance plan. According to Colin, using the Host System with a maintenance plan has prevented the carpet from looking worn from use.

Under the maintenance plan, certain areas are cleaned more often than others, eliminating unnecessary cleaning and focusing on areas more prone to soiling. This means that areas such as entrance halls, doorways and heavy usage corridors can be cleaned regularly to ensure that they maintain both appearance and lifespan.

"The advantages of using Dry Extraction Cleaning means that when you have finished the cleaning process the carpet is ready for service immediately, a vital factor, particularly in commercial properties.

"It is an interconnected system that involves the vacuuming and extraction of dry soil all the way down to the carpet backing. Having completed this process then areas that have other types of soil can be attacked. By other soil we mean the soil that is bonded to the fibres of the carpet, generally called sticky soil. These bonds can be loosened by the application of a mixture of water, detergent and solvent and then brushing this mixture around the carpet fibres.

"The dry extraction system does exactly this. The key point is that this liquid mixture is applied in just the right quantity by the Host sponges, the water detergent and solvent break up the sticky soils and the sponge traps and absorbs these soils. Carpets don't get over wet, shrink or suffer from seam splitting. The soiled sponges are easily removed by the integrated vacuum system."

More articles from Host Von Schrader: