[Thackley Cleaning Services]

I just wanted to know the best method for cleaning carpet tiles or really large commercial jobs.

At present we use HWE with pre-spray but it takes forever and we remove a lot of dirt (the waste tank is literally black).  But the issue is the time it takes.

Im thinking of investing in a rotary scrubber / bonnet machine.  The thing that concerns me is that bonnets only touch the surface and im not certain that encapsulation will remove all of the dirt and get rid of traffic lanes.  Results are really important and im not sure if low moisture (although far quicker) will get the job done.

I spend nearly 8 hours on a cleaning job yesterday so was thinking of another way to do things more efficiently.  I used powerburst with a sebo duo and extracted at 250psi with 80degree hot water.  Would it have been better to have pre-sprayed and then agitated with the rotary carpet scrubber.

Any advice would be really appreciated.

[Jim_77]

Surely the answer is to quote the right amount for the job at hand?

Having said that, a duo on commercial tiles is firstly non-effective and secondly very time consuming!  The hours spent with that machine were probably wasted.

If you haven't got a rotary, get one pronto - it's an essential piece of kit!

Best overall approach in my opinion is to upgrade your HWE equipment - something that is more powerful, hotter and can allow you to crunch through big areas in much less time... also a rotary extractor is essential in my opinion on big commercials. (Oh here comes "that" debate again!)

[Griffus]

Bonneting always going to be quicker and as long as you get a good system going results will be more than adequate.

You didn't say what area took 8 hours.

HWE is fine too, especially this time of year when carpets are especially dirty. I would suggest however that you forget the Duo as this must be next to useless. Use a rotary for agitation (grey XR pad). You can then go over again after HWE with cotton bonnets to help dry, this will also pick any residual dirt up.

A lot of tiles are natural hair / fibres though so be careful. I have used PB myself on such tiles when really bad but you must be sure to follow with an acid rinse.

[neil kellett]

Carpet tiles can be touchy, I used to fit them. If we'd run out of adhesive we'd just use spray glue or even loose lay alot of them intermittedly. Therefore upgrading your equipment with stronger vac motors could pose its own problems. I often find that when cleaning them now they can just lift where the fitters have cut corners in they're laying.  There is a machine called a Cimex that uses one large oscillating pad with 3 smaller counter rotating ones that might be worth looking into.

[Thackley Cleaning Services]

truth was lads I completely f***** up the pricing on this job.  For some reason, I underquoted it by probably a couple of hundred but in truth I probably didnt have the right set up to do the job.  hence the eight hours.

I am thinking about getting a rotary something dual speed 200 and 400 rpm with a carpet brushes, pad attachments etc...

I pre-vacced using a sebo bs36, pre-sprayed with powerburst and agitated with a duo.  The amount of dirt that came out was incredible (the waste water was pitch black when I emptied it) but i still felt that that there was probably as much dirt down there as I took out.

It later became known that the carpet hadnt been cleaned in about five years and its down a very busy office area.

So really, I should have vacced, pre-sprayed, then agitated with a rotary and then extracted with the portie.  The vacs on the portie are upgraded to the new 5.7" high suction motors and they were literall ripping the tiles off the floor.  After I should have bonnetted to remove anything left on.

thanks lads...

[Jamie Pearson]

The dirt you took out is all the dry soil trapped in these tiles. It makes it look like an oil change.

The only real way of shifting soil from the fibres is using agitation.

Absolutely the best methods for this are rotary/bonnet/encap systems.

On commercial jobs they care more about how it looks than how clean it actually is. The reality is that after 4 - 6 months it will be in the same state again anyway. Carpet tiles need maintenance not cleaning.

What we should be offering is Carpet Appearance Management not Carpet Cleaning.

The best method would have been pile lifter vac, encap.

Modern products mean you dont need extraction cleaning anymore on tiles.

[Kinver_Clean]

This is very true- I haven't heard it called Carpet Appearance Management before but that is what it is. They don't really care the carpet is only clean skin deep, as long as it looks OK.

A good micofibre pad system with the right solutions works very well.
I used four pads with a soak and rise system for two operators. The soak water needed changing frequently.
Several hundred metres per hour is easily done with two people, even better with a bucket boy/prevaccer as well.

[Thackley Cleaning Services]

The dirt you took out is all the dry soil trapped in these tiles. It makes it look like an oil change.

The only real way of shifting soil from the fibres is using agitation.

Absolutely the best methods for this are rotary/bonnet/encap systems.

On commercial jobs they care more about how it looks than how clean it actually is. The reality is that after 4 - 6 months it will be in the same state again anyway. Carpet tiles need maintenance not cleaning.

What we should be offering is Carpet Appearance Management not Carpet Cleaning.

The best method would have been pile lifter vac, encap.

Modern products mean you dont need extraction cleaning anymore on tiles.

My only worry with encap is that it just wont remove the dirt from the carpet but I understand what you mean.  As long as the carpet looks clean, the customer doesnt care how much dirt is still trapped in the bottom of the carpet.

Im looking for a system that does both bonneting and encap.  I know some of the rotary manufacturers also have carpet brush attachments for encap.  Does anybody know of a machine that can do scrubbing, bonneting and encap ?

[Steve Rothwell]

yes

an ordinary buffer will
you need a shampoo brush
drive plate and pads (I use microfibre)

the choice then is with the solutions you use. I use mainly fusion clean.

vac
put loads of solution down and scrub with the shampoo brush.
leave for a while
bonnet off
and then vac again at the end for any that bonnet not got rid of.

[heritagecleaning]

I there a training course out there that concentrates on comercials/rotary/carpet tiles? The courses I've been on didn't touch on it much.

[John Kelly]

This is a simple process. Pre-vac well as you'll remove a lot of dirt. Remember an upright only works well on the backward stroke. Wet your bonnet with cleaning solution either a standard bonnet shampoo or encap solution. Spray about 4-5 square metres of the carpet. Spraying too big an area just means the solution dries out and you have to re-spray it.
Thats it simples. There are dozens of videos on Youtube showing how its done including a few highlighted on here over the last week.

[Steve Rothwell]

It is only simple if you know what you are doing..

yes there are dozens of video's on youtube, but how would you know which ones are good and which are bad??

The few highlighted on here over the last week are good, but they are not the only way of doing it.

[Jamie Pearson]

As John says "simples"

I think the biggest challenge with this is getting your head round the fact there isn't a lot too it.

It's all about the right machine / pad / product combination for the carpet type.

[John Kelly]

The hardest part is getting the work!

[Steve Rothwell]

As John says "simples"

I think the biggest challenge with this is getting your head round the fact there isn't a lot too it.

It's all about the right machine / pad / product combination for the carpet type.

Which is why Heritage wants to know about a training course

[heritagecleaning]

As John says "simples"

I think the biggest challenge with this is getting your head round the fact there isn't a lot too it.

It's all about the right machine / pad / product combination for the carpet type.

Which is why Heritage wants to know about a training course

....and still wants to know

[cannon]

The iicrc (clean trust) do a commercial carpet maintenance course, details are on the alltec site

[Jamie Pearson]

The iicrc (clean trust) do a commercial carpet maintenance course, details are on the alltec site

I need another iicrc continuation credit this year. I will need to do this one as its the only one left that is applicable to what I do.

Maybe Paul will just send me the questionaire if I ask   

I could do a commercial course for those interested. Perhaps a group one for TACCA.

[Robert Watson]

"I could do a commercial course for those interested. Perhaps a group one for TACCA."
So are we fixing a date or what. 

[Jamie Pearson]

Just say when and where.