I have not received my new Grumpy yet, but will use the same pads I use on my other
Trinity's.
When cleaning commercial carpeting, I always thoroughly pre-vacuum...using a vacuum I have tested against other vacuum cleaners and that I know sucks up the most fine particulate. I have NEVER found a commercial facility that adequately vacuums their carpets on their own! Pre-vacuuming is an important step when cleaning using HWE, but it is critical when using a low moisture system.
I will make one or two passes with the
Trinity using microfiber pads with scrub strips, followed by one or two passes with Glad Pads, all depending on the soil load. On frequent accounts, a single pass with Glad pads on the lightly soiled areas would be fine.
I don't do any straight encapping anymore, which is why I sold my Cimex. IMO, straight encapping might be fine IF the facility would properly and regularly vacuum their carpets,...BUT THEY DON'T! The result, IMO, is a build up of soil that is never removed, until flushed with HWE, which as you know, can be a mess.
The combination of pre-vacuuming and using both the microfiber and Glad pads to remove the majority of the soil is actually cleaning.... not appearance management.
Needless to say, I do not charge 12 cents per square foot for this process. When giving a quote, I list vacuuming separately at 4 cents per square foot, so they can compare my quote with others that do not vacuum..... but I tell them that I will NOT do the job without pre-vacuuming.
I also try my best to get the commercial folks to purchase a vacuum that I recommend, and to get them to vacuum properly and frequently.
I recently cleaned the office spaces of a local beer distributorship. We spent two hours vacuuming wall to wall. The guy told me they vacuum weekly. I told him it took us two hours to vacuum, and he told me they spend about 15 or 20 minutes, if that.