Vacuuming up sand from carpets

[apg39]

Hi guys & gals

Wondering if anyone had any tips or tricks for vacuuming up sand...very fine white sand.

I've been told a few methods - use a very stiff brush to agitate the carpet while vacuuming or use a weighted length (long screwdriver with heavy socket welded on the end in my case) to hit the carpet & loosen it all up from the fibres. They work OK only, still takes a lifetime to do & with newer cars all having black carpet it's very obvious if there's any left in there.

If I rub the vacuum nozzle over the carpet I can see little bits flinging off to the side like fleas & over the part I've just vacuumed.

Help?

 

[DaHen]

'Bout the only "trick" that I use is to just tap the carpet with the vacuum nozzle as I move it back and forth.
While using a five horse power shop vacuum which helps also.

 

[BobbyG]

Sometimes I think I'd rather be cleaning dog crap off carpets rather than sand. Sand immediately sinks to the very bottom of the carpet backing and is a pain to completely remove.

When I'm vacuuming sand I keep the nozzle of the hose on the carpet and tap the carpet with my left hand which causes the sand to bounce or come to the surface. I'll go back and forth until I'm satisfied.

 

[SeaJay's]

I do a combo of using a stiff bristle brush and taping the carpet. It's a pain and I don't think there is really any easy way to get it all out. And even after this, you typically don't get it all out.

I don't know if I'd rather be cleaning dog crap out of a carpet than sand...lol.

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Couple of tips in here...


Show Car Garage Video: How to clean and detail your car's interior


I've lived on the Oregon Coast and now the Florida Coast and as mentioned previously, sand tends to migrate deep into the weave of carpet and fabric and just doing a really good job of vacuuming while using some kind of brush to move the fibers around, (to whatever level is possible), helps.

If you can remove mats or any portion of the carpet and turn it upside down and then beat the other side with something to knock out and loosen embedded sand will help too...


Also, like a lot of car detailing procedures, it's real easy to move the suction attachment "quickly" over the surface, try to slow down a little and give the "vacuum" , that is the air being pulled from the surface, a chance to lift and remove particles. Moving the attachment at light speed will only remove topical particles.

That's a little tiny tip...

 

[richy]

2 things come to mind:
1) use a stiff brush to agitate; have it in one hand and the vacuum nozzle in the other...follow the brush right away
2) remove any attachments from the end of the hose and just use the hose against the carpet.
Not an easy job; good luck.

 

[oldmodman]

This method may be original. I was trying to get the sand out of my carpet after taking a friend and her kids to the beach and wasn't having much luck. So I tried using a high pressure nozzle on an air compressor line. And it worked, kind of. It blew sand all over the place. So I combined the two. I held the air line just in front of the shop vac hose and it worked great. The high pressure air lifted the sand out of the carpet fibers and the shop vac sucked it all up.
I guess that the stream of air is powerful enough to separate the carpet fibers all the way down to the mat so the loose sand can escape.

 

[tuscarora dave]

In the case of sand in carpet, my experience tells me that what makes it so tough to clean out is more so that the carpet fibers get matted together from being stepped on and that the sand gets somewhat stuck or embedded in the backing of the carpet. What I do is a quick vacuum to lift the stones and french fries etc. "off" of the carpet, then I screw my stiff white Cyclo carpet brushes on to my Cyclo Polisher.The PC style machines work too. When running the machine powered brush over the sand filled carpet, I find that this will first separate the carpet fibers from one another in a sort of combing action and secondly it agitates and dislodges the sand that is stuck to the carpet backing. Then when I go back over the carpet with the vacuum the sand comes right out. This whole brushing process only adds maybe ten additional minutes to the job but saves as much as 30 minutes.

 

[Rhudeboye]

When running the machine powered brush over the sand filled carpet, I find that this will first separate the carpet fibers from one another in a sort of combing action and secondly it agitates and dislodges the sand that is stuck to the carpet backing. Then when I go back over the carpet with the vacuum the sand comes right out. This whole brushing process only adds maybe ten additional minutes to the job but saves as much as 30 minutes.

What a great idearops:

 

[Crazy Amos]

You can hit it with the vac to remove the majority and then spray a high foaming upholstery cleaner on the carpet. It digs deep into the carpet and then as the foam rises, it lifts the smallest particles with it and brings them to the top. Works wonders. I use it for deep pockets that have a bunch on crap in the bottom cracks too. It's very quick as well.