HI EVERYONE, IM AN HEW CLEANER AND IM LOOKING TO GET
INTO ENCAPSULATION. BIGGEST QUESTION I HAVE IS HOW
DO YOU CLEAN STAIRS WITH THIS PROCEDURE.

Hi Dennis,

Here's the way we approach encapsulation cleaning of steps in our business. We use the small lightweight Oreck Orbiter machine. It sells for $500. It's a pretty wimpy machine by comparison to most true commercial equipment. But it's worth its weight in gold when it comes to doing steps. I highly recommend considering this little machine for encap cleaning specialized areas such as steps. Click the picture to go to Oreck's website...






Rick Gelinas

I mostly use encapsulation on commercial work. On those rare occasions where I get to clean steps I usually use my Whittaker GLS machine. You can see that machine at www.crystaldry.com
For Residential, and smaller commercial steps I use a Versa Tool Orbital Scrubber. I got it from Hesco,...item# COM-20150.
Hesco has a website www.hescoinc.com.......but that particular item is not on thier website,...but it is in this catalog I have in front of me.

There are lots of ways to clean stairs.

The basic idea is to spray the stairs, then agitate The detergent in some way.

I use an electric sprayer to apply, and a 6 inch roto from US Products for agitation.

You could also use a horsehair or nylon brush and hand scrub them, it is not important what you use, if you already have something on hand, use that.

A point is the volume of stairs. One flight in a residence is easy, 20 or 30 flights in an office or high rise condo is another story.

One office I do has a main flight of 20 steps 8 feet wide, in the center of the building, and 2 sets of stairs at ends of the buildings, each with 20 steps and a center landing. Way too much for hand scrubbing. A machine of some kind is absolutely recommended.

And you might get a job like the one I just parted company with- a complex of condos, 4 stories each, 6 buildings, each a block long, each with 3 sets of stairs from roof down to parking level in the basement.

A lotta steps for sure.

That's plus all the hallways and entry lobbies.

So ya gotta be prepared.

Gary

For the odd time we have stairs in commercial sites we take one of the drive blocks off the Cimex machine pre spray the carpet and hand agitate with the drive block and a fiberplus pad.

That's a great idea Don.
Thanks for that suggestion.





Rick Gelinas

OK! CAN YOU USE A BUFFER WITH A SMALL PAD ON STAIRS

One of the first jobs I ever got back in 1956 when I started carpet cleaning was a theater. A lot of steps in the balcony, 3 sets of about 20 each as I recall.

After doing 1 set with a bucket and hand brush, I sez to myself, I sez, sez I, I gotta do this faster.

As it happened, the steps were wider and longet than regular home steps, so I took the roto up to the top step, and machine shampooed them.

I discovered very quickly I had to slide the roto down on the left side of the step to start, because of the direction the brush traveled in made the brush tend to go to the right, and against the riser, if the machine was in the center, or on the right side, it tended to throw the machine down onto the next step.

So... shampoo a step from left to right applying shampoo, then back to the left and stop, drag the machine down to the next step, repeat. Goes a lot faster then hand scrubbing. Handle and tank at the same level as when doing flat areas.

I did this on the next home I did, and so on, for many years. And that's the way I did- and still do many jobs.

But doing it this way is hazardous to say the least, and I know other cleaners who did it wrong, and fell down the steps with the machine on top of them. So, I cannot really recommend doing it this way, but point out it CAN be done.

The steps have to be straight down, not curved, angled, or narrow landings where the machine handle won't fit.

Gary

I just received the fiberplus 7" pads and used them with my Porter Cable 10 amp buffer. It works great. Don't know if the 3 or 4 amp models would have a enough power. Works great for edging also.