Cleaning Pros Uncovering the Truth in Rug, Carpet, and Hard Floor Quality.

I am getting ready to travel to teach at an international gathering of professionals who focus on the care of our indoor living worlds. The Experience Conference, an event sponsored by Restoration & Remediation Magazine.

This is the ONLY conference where the different fields of professional cleaning, disaster restoration (floods & fires), environmental remediation (mold, bacteria, & toxins), indoor air quality health, and soft and hard flooring inspection/installation all come together and collaborate.

We are all part of the service sectors that care for residential and commercials buildings – their regular cleaning, and their flood/fire clean up (and rebuilds) when disasters strike.

This is the opportunity for the best in these different – yet related – fields to share, network, and learn from one other. It is my FAVORITE educational event of the year. A chance for me to GEEK OUT with the new research in materials, methods, and their impact on our homes.

Experts Networking With Experts

There are more than 40 experts presenting on the main program. I have been invited to teach as part of the Cleaning Specialists track, focusing on rugs and textiles.

I am sharing details on the new rugs creating the most problems today for professional rug cleaners, as well as rug owners. I am sharing the shortcuts being taken today in production and what impact these flaws in the fibers and rug construction are creating for homes.

Hand-Loomed rugs from India. One of the problem rugs in today’s new rug market.

However, these problems are NOT in the rug world alone.

These same shortcuts are being found in furniture fabrics and installed carpets.

Home goods are being given “luxury” names, being sold at “luxury” prices, and yet many do not live up to the marketing hype that led designers and consumers to choose them.

This drastic downturn in quality is not just in the textile sectors of rugs, carpets, and furniture. It is in hard surface flooring as well.

New synthetic floors are being designed to give the false appearance of durability and easy maintenance, and can end up being a purchase that homeowners come to deeply regret.

The Pros Playground: “Hands-On” Destructive Demonstrations

Outside of the core educational program, because this is a hands-on event full of professionals who enjoy getting their hands dirty (and clean!) – another exciting educational piece is the live demonstrations.

The show actually BUILDS two houses in the ballroom – one the Cleaning Pavilion and the other the Restoration Pavilion.

Attendees evaluating water damage coming from the second story leak.

Rooms have different floor types, and different construction materials to test. Then pros proceed to cause damage, and see how it all holds up.

It is revealing… and seeing it in action is fun!

This year they are testing Luxury Vinyl Plank floors, which are water resistant. They will actually FLOOD the house, and see what happens on top of the floor, UNDER the floor, and in the walls.

Founder of Indoor Environmental Management, Rachel Adams, discussing the proper procedures for this water damage demonstration.

There will be restorers to clean it up, and other experts will be taking readings to see what is actually happening to the structure.

With floors and walls opened up to view through glass viewing sections, we will get to SEE what is actually happening real time, and how well the materials hold up. As well as how easy, or impossible, it is to get it back to pre-flood condition.

In the Cleaning Pavilion we will see common household damage scenarios on different floors, from spills, to over-use of a household Bissell, to over-use of household chemicals, to furniture damage and scratches. We will see what cleaning a rug in place in the home actually does to certain floors.

We will see what can be fixed, and what can’t. And which floor types – hard and soft – hold up best.

Antique Chinese rug with mold damage from a slab leak.

With the new floor types in homes and offices today, this is our opportunity to see what real world scenarios do to our clients’ property. Not just the visual damage, but the indoor air quality impact, as the specialists who assess moisture, mold, and other “stuff” in our air will be taking their measurements as well.

If Your Local Cleaning Company Is Going To This Event – You Have A Keeper!

School is never out for the pro.

This is not a static industry. Any cleaner or restorer who tells you they know all they need to know is someone to not trust your home to.

I have been in the rug world my entire life, yet I am ALWAYS learning more. Even though I am on the program, and excited to be their opening session, I am even MORE excited about the peers and experts I am going to have the opportunity to learn from and network with.

Rugs are just one piece of a larger world of cleaning, restoration, and remediation.

This event makes me an even more knowledgable professional.

If your local cleaning company mentions that they are headed to the Experience convention to grow their knowledge – they are a company to KEEP in your contacts.

Because this is an event that attracts the very best.

I am looking forward to coming back with new knowledge to share with our clients in San Diego to better care for their homes, and to share insights with RugChick readers here.

Best to you, Lisa