BUSY BEE said:
I seem to remember Gary asking why these pads aren't advertised on any stone restoration forums or anything associated with stone restoration....only to carpet cleaners...why is that?
A good question.
The advantage of Spinergy pads (the brand sold by Interlink Supply), Viper PAds, Monkey pads is simplicity and ease of learning how to accomplish jobs that require removing etches from acid, light restoration due to abrasive foot traffic and so forth. The technicians that frequent stone care forums already are familiar with how to perform those jobs. They don't have much need for Spinergy pads.
What made these pads popular was never that they would do a better job than an experienced stone restorer could do with resin binded diamond discs or metal diamonf discs. Rather it was making it easier for carpet cleaners to get into stone maintenance by teaching and providing the tools for an easier, less messy and more fool-proof way to accomplish some jobs.
Many carpet cleaners at one time were reluctant to clean upholstery. There were new fibers and new weaves and it all seemed a little scary. There was a time when companies wanted upholstery cleaning to be intimidating. Their message was - You had to take their special training or you might mess up big time.
Many carpet cleaners feel the same way about area rugs. It is a big mystery with a lot of liability. You might be told that you can't cleaning area rugs without expensive training, tens of thousands of dollars in equipment and an Armenian last name.
Stone has been that same sort of boogey man. Maybe there are some who don't want carpet cleaners moving into their speciality field. But whatever the reason, many carpet cleaners are scared to get into stone.
Our message is that their are many levels of stone maintenance from simply helping your customer with preventative maintenance tips to cleaning to sealing to light restoration that carpet cleaners can learn to do without years of experience.
Certainly some services do require more traiing, experience and expertise, but many potential clients simply want their stone floors to be clean again.
Bottom line - The market for Spinergy pads never has been experienced stone pros but rather to carpet cleaners who have realized that they don't want to send their clinets who happen to have some stone floors to the competition. They are learning to take care of all the floor care needs of their customers. This includes carpet, tile & grout, wood floors and stone.