What types of cleaning products and other items are required for my laundromat to have what would be considered a fully stocked wash-dry-fold arsenal for my attendants?
Essentially, to start a wash-dry-fold service, you need bagging supplies – plastic bags and cloth bags. You also will require hangers for shirts and other garments, as well as safety pins to attach your invoices to the bundles. Additionally, I’d recommend a good POS system to keep track of your WDF orders and, of course, a scale.
As for cleaning products, you should have all of the typical soaps, detergents and bleaches required for day-to-day laundering. With regard to spotting products, the only ones that I would recommend in the beginning are a blood protein remover and a grease remover. Those are the basics, and that should give you a very good start as you launch your wash-dry-fold service.
[Editor’s Note: The Coin Laundry Association will hold “WDF 2022: The Definitive Workshop on Wash-Dry-Fold and Delivery” on November 16-17 at the Hilton Chicago/Oakbrook Hills Resort & Conference Center in Oakbrook, Ill. Dedicated to WDF, delivery and commercial laundry, the event will include education sessions, live demos, networking events and opportunities to “ask the experts.” For more information, visit: www.coinlaundry.org/wdf2022.]
With summer here, I’m having some trouble dealing with very heavily soiled perspiration stains. Do you have any ideas how best to tackle these stains?
First of all, perspiration stains, if they are set in for a long period of time and in a consistent manner, are very difficult – and sometimes they cannot be removed at all. The acid and oil in perspiration can actually discolor the molecules in the fabric.
Your best bet is to purchase a gallon of spray spotter for drycleaners. Most laundry suppliers carry this product, which features the necessary chemicals to disburse most perspiration stains.
Typically, spray the spotter directly on the stain, and then run the garment through a normal wash cycle. If you are using bleach as well, use non-chlorine bleach.
We recently washed and dried a load of white dress shirts. When these shirts came out of the washer, they were bright white. However, after drying them, they had all turned yellow. We have never had this problem before. We have previously experienced yellow spots on garments, but we were able to remove those stains with another wash.
What can I do to prevent this from happening again? And what can I do to get those shirts white again?
In general, white shirts turning yellow or gray is the result of either the detergent or a combination of detergent and bleach not being fully rinsed out of the garments during the rinse cycle. In such cases, when you put the white garments into a dryer, you’re essentially baking the residual chemicals onto the items.
I suggest you check your usage of chemicals, as well as the water level on your rinse cycles to be sure you’re getting enough water to properly rinse out the garments.
To regain the whiteness in those dress shirts, wash them in a regular wash cycle using chlorine bleach, if they’re cotton; however, if they are striped or have colors on them, use non-chlorine powder bleach. Then, repeat the drying process. This will remove the yellow stains.
