Well, I've done a few jobs with releasIT and my low speed 175 rpm buffer and an adjust-a-glide brush. Never a problem. Just did 2 jobs this weekend and used a Fiberplus pad on both instead of the brush...well, 1 called back today and said the "carpet looked weird"
Went and took a look and it seems the fiber pad maybe scrubs too much ?? because there are swirl marks everywhere...not so much swirls, but you can see alternating rows where it roughed up the fibers...every other row is like this, I guess its when I go back the other way or something. Anyway, it did look weird, so I recleaned it with my adjust-a-glide, and all is fine.

So on a hunch I went to look at the other job...same exact thing My client said they were wondering why it looked this way...(Thank goodness these are long standing loyal clients ) so, I am going tonight to re-do that one too...with my adjust-a-glide brush. What makes this so bad is that to the lamen's eye, tjose lines every other row, actually make them think it is dirty...kinda like I skipped a row, was what the second client said. I explained it and all is fine between us...BUT...

Does the Cimex do this also ? Scurb so deep that it makes it looked 'roughed up' on every other row ? Will definitely be using my brush instead of a pad from now on...I can't remember when I had a re-do...now I have had 2 this week...

Hi Jerry,

Turn that frown upside down

When you use a standard rotary machine it's not advisable to walk in a straight line so that you'd make straight rows. A rotary machine works best when smaller overlapping passes are made as shown in this diagram.


With a standard rotary machine one wet pass followed by one or more dry passes works well. A few dry passes may be needed to get the job done.

You'll find that some pile reversal is going present itself whenever a carpet is scrubbed with any type of equipment. Even a strong vacuum cleaner will cause the pile to lay in different directions.

The pattern that you’re seeing in the pile should normally disappear with a couple of days of foot traffic and vacuuming.

The reason why your Adjust-A-Glide brush produces very little pile movement is because it makes very little contact with the carpet. The block in the center of the brush prevents it from making much contact with the carpet. By comparison, the FiberPlus pads make a lot of contact with the fiber, and that’s why we use them. Contact with the carpet is a good thing.

The Cimex will likewise produce a pattern. It makes an overlapping spiral effect. We have been told that it looks like a flowered effect on the carpet. Our customers have never found it objectionable. In fact I once had a retail customer request a cleaning right before their vice president came for a visit. I suggested cleaning early in the week so that the VP wouldn’t see that we were just there. To my surprise the manager said “no we like that look” and had me clean the carpet the night before the VP visit. The VP came and left and there was no problem.

If you wanted to remove the pattern from the carpet the carpet could be groomed while it’s still wet. But that would require more labor.

Bottom line: I think that if you’ll adjust your scrubbing technique with your rotary you’ll see better results. And I think you’ll find that the overlapping spiral effect that the Cimex produces is not objectionable, in fact folks seem to like it.




Rick Gelinas

Thanks for the refresher course Rick And whether you're looping or straight, you'll still have to 'go left' or against the grain, and it will reverse the pile, or 'rough it up' as my tech says...and on residential cut pile, I see it all the time, and like you said, it's rarely a concern, but....

I know what it was and why it was and even explained it to the custy that called, but no go...they didn't like how it looked, so had to re-do it. And when the 2nd custy said it looked like I skipped a row, I laughed, told them what it was, and they were ok with it, but just for their 'peace-of-mind", I'm going there in a bit to redo it also.

I agree the pads work great and I, personally like them and I like the 'swirlies' , but if the custy doesn't (and he's the one paying), then, instead of chancing these re-do's and strange expressions on their faces, I'll just use the brush for now.

Btw, I should've renamed the message title, this was more about a specific custy's opinion rather than a problem with the actual encap's performance....releasIT did a fine job

I agree with you Jerry. We have to do whatever it takes to keep the customer happy. Sometimes we can help them to understand what's to be expected with the cleaning process (i.e swirls). But if they're not inclined to accept an explanation, then we must do what we must do to make keep them wowed with our service - cuz that's what it's all about. So you are absolutely right to provide the high level of service that addresses any concern that your customer has. After all, that's how we retain "customers for life".

I recall many moons ago when we used to do some office cleaning (a memory I'd like to let fade away). Well we used to vacuum the offices with a good commercial vac. And I'd teach our helpers how to vacuum so that we'd leave a scalloped effect on the carpet. We wanted the staff to come in the next day and see that we had been there. This was kind of our trademark.

So personally I have no aversion to leaving some pile markings on the carpet now. Let them know we were there and that we cleaned their carpet. It's like when you leave the barber shop with that fresh cut look that will never look the same till your next haircut. That's what we're leaving them - a stamp on their carpet that says we have serviced every square inch of their carpet. So I say, leave-em swirls with pride. It works for me.

Keep them customers and carpets smilin




Rick Gelinas

We have been primarily in the residential market for the last 8 years. My experience with this client base has been that there are 2 trains of thought when it comes to leaving swirl or wand marks on carpet (depending on your cleaning method). They either like them or hate them!

My experience tells me that most customers don't really want the marks (my opinion). The customers that do like them will tell you to leave them. These marks can easily be eliminated by going over everything with a carpet brush. This step only adds 2-3 minutes to each area, but the overall visual effect of a clean carpet is magnified, ten fold, when a residential carpet is groomed. The best part is that it eliminates a complaint that can potentially lead to a redo (which costs us money).

Commercial carpets are very different in that they don't realy end up with any type of marks at the end of the process and therefore don't give the cleaner much concern for potetial complaints.

Hope this helps...

we groom every cut pile carpet and rug that we clean, 100% of the time, and I've never had a residential custy say anything about them.

But with comm'l level loop, we don't groom, since there's not much there to do so, last night when I went to that 2nd job, I sprayed it, brushed it and ran a few bonnets over it...no swirlies May start puting a 'finishing bonnet' on all my encap job, just to prevent any 'opinions' about any possible swirlies Whatcha think Rick ? ok to do that when encapping?

Thanks again.

Once I decided to start asking clients whether they wanted cleaning lines or not, so they got their choice. I asked my first client and she said, "Oh no, I know what you are up to, you are just being lazy and want to see if you can get out of grooming the carpet. I want it groomed perfectly." I had no idea what to say to that. That was the end of giving folks an option.

I ALWAYS leave swirls in all of the carpets I do. Out of ALL my customers, I have 2 that want the carpet groomed. The rest don't, and I want to leave the impression that every sq inch is cleaned.

OK, that said- I gotta add to what Rick said above. with a standard roto, whether you go left and right or forward and back laying the detergent down, go back over it with ovals, left and right. This does 2 things. Works the detergent in better, covering all sides of the fibers, and does not leave light and dark rows if just going left and right.

AANNDDD.... if just going left and right, the ends of the strokes are not as well cleaned as the center. Another reason to go completely around all of the edges first, catch the corners at this time, then fill in the middle.

And Rick's right about the brush with the plastic pad in the middle. In my opinion, this is a poor choice, and made for someone who is NOT an expert with the machine. A full sized brush- bristles all the way across is better. A Fiber Plus pad is better yet for a couple reasons. The Fiber Plus pad creates more foam, making the detergent dryer, and goes further, and scrubs the carpet fibers better than a brush because of larger contact area- like Rick sez.

Gary