Commercial glue down problem

[NEVADAMAN]

Any help or suggestions would be great. I just came home from a job "cleaning" cgd in a small town cafe. The carpet is about a year old, cinnamon colored, extremely soiled and I couldn't get this carpet even close to clean to save my life. I've been in the business 2 years, use a Prochem Apex truckmount, presprayed 4 different cleaners (a general olefin cleaner, a peroxide cleaner, a carpet spotter, and a citrus cleaner), rotary scrubbed, extracted ...and nothin. I bet it didn't even look 10% better. Even if there are better cleaners out there this carpet should have at least looked like someone did something. The only time it looked better is when I actually got down on my hands and knees and manually scrubbed a few of the 200-300 spots. Has anyone encountered this kind of issue before? Needless to say I was plenty embarrassed and stumped when I left. What could I have done different? Is there something about cgd I obviously don't no or is this just "one of those jobs"? HELPPPP! Thanks for any info.

 

[Bob Foster]

.

 

[Mikey P]

You answered your own question.


Get a 175 rotary floor scrubber and with some fiber pads you could agitate the soil loose so it would flush our real easy

 

[NEVADAMAN]

Thanks for the replies. I didn't think about an enzyme based cleaner...I'll give it a try. I'm not familier with Judson Juice, Esteam Attack, or Cobb Powermax but I'm going to check them out...Thanks Bob. Mike, I actually scrubbed the whole floor with a 175 rotary floor scrubber and a carpet brush and it didn't help. Do you think the fiber pads would work better?

 

[steve frasier]

what Mike said and get some hot knife from Steve Smith @ Vacaway and shampoo it in with a red pad on the rotary

you can get a free sample from Steve Smith and just pay for the shipping

 

[Farenheit251]

Your brush is probably riding gently on top of the carpet. A red vct pad will make good contact with the fiber.
Sometimes with caked on grease it is hard to penetrate through the top layer. I remember one where neither straight purple power or straight citrus in a trigger sprayer would cut through the surface. The one thing that works is to turn up heat and pressure,then make 20-30 passes over same area. If water made the Grand Canyon it can also erode the grease in sufficient quantity and pressure.

I used to specialize in saving carpet like these. Finally I realized they were always going to wait a year again and ask for a miracle again. The problem is with the owner not your cleaning. Stanley Steemer couldn't get it clean but will still do a 100 million$ this year. Greener pastures to plow.

 

[Curtis Pennington]

You answered your own question.


Get a 175 rotary floor scrubber and with some fiber pads you could agitate the soil loose so it would flush our real easy

And then post pad, that will be the cleanest mofo on the planet.

 

[Dolly Llama]

The only time it looked better is when I actually got down on my hands and knees and manually scrubbed a few of the 200-300 spots. .

manually scrubbed with what?
and were you using a spotter when scrubbing those spots by hand?


even though a shampoo brush is the least aggressive as far as agitation, you still should of seen better than "10% improvement"

some thoughts;

not enough pre-spray applied or too weak of a dilution.
Don't be afraid to use max+ dilution rates and hose the rag down

not enough dwell time

poor/weak ineffective pre-sprays
(what brands are you using?)

here's a sledgehammer for you
Prochem Powerburst at 3 heaping scoops pr gal (that's max and half)
(mix thoroughly in hot water)
hose the rag down at 100 to 200 SF pr gal
Then roto scrub with pre-spray saturated scrub bonnet or white VCT pad.
(I'd suggest red pad, but don't know how experienced you are)


Lastly, sometimes a carpet can be so abused and/or ground up from sand and traffic, it will never respond and look good.


..L.T.A.

 

[Jimmy L]

Have you tried a counter rotating brush machine to really scrub that carpet?

I agree with larry in that you need to hose down that baby.


You're not just rinsing with water are you?


Also its better to look for easier work than fight this battle all the wasteful time.

 

[gasaxe]

they have a asphalt parking lot?

 

[Chads]

Use what Meat said Prochems Powerburst the best out there for resturants

 

[NEVADAMAN]

Thanks again to everyone for the helpful replies. Alot of really good ideas and suggestions that I will definately explore. It's nice to post a question and get honest and sincere answers for a change. I'm new to this board and not quite used to it yet. Anyway, it sounds like a red or white pad with a much better cleaner will certainly help. I'm going to try the powerburst and see what happens. Meat, you said you'd recommend a red pad depending on my experience...is the red pad more difficult to use? I'm two years into it and have used a rotary the whole time.

 

[DRScrivner]

Red pad is more aggressive. Don't want to buy the carpet and new install then don't use a red pad your first few times outta the gate.

 

[steve frasier]

powerburst is a good prespray to use for what you are trying to do

 

[hogjowl]

I used a green pad a couple of days ago to make a 20 year old carpet in a farming company office look like new. The 1.5 hp motor on my rotary didn't want to turn that green pad on that carpet, but once it got going, it dug out the dirt and picked up the pile like nothing else would have.

I'm thinking your problem was less associated with your prespray and more a result of your brush.

 

[scotty747]

heat! heat! heat! i have one like that. i scrub, suck, scrub, suck, etc. a prespray cant get through the top layer of greese so agitation and heat together should get er done.

 

[Rex Tyus]

Power burst is a really good prespray. I use it quite often. That being said in a head to head I would have to agree with Bob Foster. Esteem's Attack is the meanest of the mean. I just don't have anyone local to get it from anymore. Powerburst is a close second.

What were you rinsing with? Please don't say clear water. If so, there you go. Whitelightning extraction and be done with it. There is absolutely no reason to worry about resoil if you are failing to DEsoil.

 

[Mikey P]

Marty, lube that new greenie up next time or break it in on some rough concrete.


White pads on Commercial only tickle the soil

 

[Dolly Llama]

Meat, you said you'd recommend a red pad depending on my experience...is the red pad more difficult to use? I'm two years into it and have used a rotary the whole time.

the concern is burning up the carpet
If you keep the pad well lubed (plenty slippery pre-spray down) and don't stay on one spot too long, you'll be fine

Be prepared for MUCH more torque on the rotary compared to a shampoo brush.
Start in the middle of a room and not close to glass doors til you see what I'm talking about


..L.T.A.

 

[Able 1]

I always use Powerburst for any resturant and boost it with citrus pro... I just did a chinese resturant last wed. and it was nasty... I didn't use any agitation but used my slot glide to scrub when needed.

As posted before if it is asphalt sealer it isn't going to get any better...

 

[gasaxe]

I always use Powerburst for any resturant and boost it with citrus pro... I just did a chinese resturant last wed. and it was nasty... I didn't use any agitation but used my slot glide to scrub when needed.

As posted before if it is asphalt sealer it isn't going to get any better...

thank you.... i thought for there for a minute i was being ignored. If its greasy then whats been stated above would be the direction to go. if it has a "brown" tint to it that doesnt seem to clean then you could have a asphalt staining problem.

 

[leesenter]

If you don't have a machine to scrub, just prespray an enzyme RAKE IT IN ($30. for a rake), give dwell time and extract with the hottest water.

 

[juniorc82]

pre spray with an enzyme. give plenty of dwell time. before extraction give another quick pre spray with a high ph spray maybe with citrus , extract with hottest water. I clean restraunts with a porty this way and get good enough results to stay in the game compeating with tm guys

 

[Guest]

Any help or suggestions would be great. I just came home from a job "cleaning" cgd in a small town cafe. The carpet is about a year old, cinnamon colored, extremely soiled and I couldn't get this carpet even close to clean to save my life. I've been in the business 2 years, use a Prochem Apex truckmount, presprayed 4 different cleaners (a general olefin cleaner, a peroxide cleaner, a carpet spotter, and a citrus cleaner), rotary scrubbed, extracted ...and nothin. I bet it didn't even look 10% better. Even if there are better cleaners out there this carpet should have at least looked like someone did something. The only time it looked better is when I actually got down on my hands and knees and manually scrubbed a few of the 200-300 spots. Has anyone encountered this kind of issue before? Needless to say I was plenty embarrassed and stumped when I left. What could I have done different? Is there something about cgd I obviously don't no or is this just "one of those jobs"? HELPPPP! Thanks for any info.

First thing; Raise your temp to about 250 to 275; hook up inline a propane or kero heater. Use Multiple passes hot clean water rinse after your use your Prespray and Citrus Solv.

Mix in a 2 gallon pump sprayer 24oz Denatured alcohol, 1 ounce Tide Sensitive Skin Detergent, rest water, Mix well ; spray down let dwell for 5 minutes; extract with hottest water you can make. I do some of the worst Chineese Restaurants like this.