why not just Encap all resi work? can someone post the NEGATIVES of only Encap'ing all resi carpet please? i am sure there are some cause HWE is and will always be a great method. but the more we learn from Gary's adventures, the less i see a reason not to Encap all resi carpet (assuming you already have Encap equipment of course).

thanx --- Derek

BTW, i'll start :

1) 2nd floor work would be tough in a home, unless they have an elevator. this is assuming your using a Cimex or another large floor machine. however there are other tools that are lighter in weight and can still get the job done using Releasit.

i know what you are saying. But i doubt that it will ever overcome HWE in the residential arena. I use encap with great success, on level looped berbers. On cut pile, i love to use my TM, RX, Bonnet, etc. There are alot of problems such as urine, etc.
that need a good flushing. I think, IMO< that commercially speaking, mgt. is concerned with that appearance' more than if it is really 'clean down and in'. I believe that encap with the cimex gives them both, but they get their floors cleaned on a maintenance schedule and all, so they can live with it. Plus, nobody is down playing on their floors or going without shoes.
In a residential environment, kids are on the floors crawling around, etc. I like the thought of 200 degree water hitting and flushing, then getting extracted and also the high temps doing its job in killing stuff. They are all tools and we know that.
the more tools in the box, the more things you can fix, thus the better you service your customer and that is what it is about.
Just my thoughts. We all know i am a diehard encapper now, but i can't say that i see it as the best method for all work, atleast not in the home setting. not yet anyways.
good post.

Steve

Steve Dobson
ProFloor
Custom Cleaning Services

hey thanx Steve

yea it isnt the best method for resi carpet, but then again, what is? lol.

i hear ya about the flushing action. but for someone like myself who doesnt have a TM and isnt even close to being in a situation where i can purchase one, i wonder for us ppl if Encap'ing resi carpet could be an alternative to HWE. for 6 years my porty has done an OK job in my estimates, but i have never been terribly confident in it's abilites. i've also never been real comfortable using the homeowners electric when i have upwards of 4 diff. electric cords running out of their door and most of them need a seperate circuit...but thats just me i know lol.

someday i hope to have as many tools as yourself and alotta the other folks around here.

thanx and have a great Sunday fellas --- Derek.

On level looped berbers in a residential setting, you are fine.
on the multi height, i find it a little more difficult to use, but still possible.
You dont have to spend a lot of money to be able to offer alternative cleaning methods.
Bonnet cleaning, OP are great methods and work really good.
You can team the cimex for agitation with your portable for the extraction and get great results. Add post bonneting with your orbital and you are set and really giving top notched cleaning service.
There are alternatives to high priced TMs
Many successful people only bonnet clean, OP, etc.
So it is possible.
I use my TM now on 5 of 10 jobs.
Only on trashed is it mandatory. IMO
otherwise, I use it because I have it, but also look to Bonnet and encap more.
Just a thought. just done rule yourself out because you dont' have a TM. It will come in time if you want residential work.

Good luck buddy.

Steve

Steve Dobson
ProFloor
Custom Cleaning Services

At the present, I am encapping about 1/3 of all my residential customers. That's with every kind and condition of soils. Every kind of carpet. Even SMALL urine problems, give the deposits a dose of the 50-50 before going over the carpet with the regular dilution. So far it has worked 100% of the time. NOT deep, repeated urine problems, but single accidents.

I have quite a few customers with allergy or chemical sensitivity problems, and they get bonnet cleaned with Bi-O-Kleen products Bonnet Cleaner. Between these folks and homes with a lot of steps, that's about 1/3 of my residential customers. The other 1/3 get HWE with my Truck Mount, and that bunch has a LOT of steps, and I am not gonna carry my machine up alla them steps, or if the job is totally trashed, and there is just too much junk to bonnet or encap.

So it is about 1/3 of each method for me.

A good test of encapping could have been today. Miss Piffelton kept a bottle of red wine on the top of a cabinet in the kitchen, Summer came last week, plenty hot around here. On Friday, the bottle actually exploded, from the heat. She showed me the bottle today, sure enough, the top blew right off the rest of the bottle, not a cork that came out, the glass broke!!

I should have, but did not say "Wine is supposed to be kept in a wine cellar where it is cool, not in a kitchen near the ceiling where it is hottest!!"

Anyway, she had a product called "Wine Away". and applied it to the carpet next to the kitchen, some 12 to 15 feet from the kitchen. It had worked pretty good, about 90 to 95% of the wine was gone. That product is a digester of some kind apparently, similar to Bac-Out, and did a pretty good job. Some residue left got a dose of Bac-Out to finish it up, then because it was a condo on the 3rd floor, it got Truck Mount HWE, not a roto.

So, my point is- it could have been done with a Cimex, or a roto, but I ain't gonna carry a heavy machine up 3 flights of stairs when I can carry hoses a lot easier.

But if that's the only machine you have, and you are 35 years old, then go ahead and carry it up the stairs- like I USED to do!!

Gary

i'm only 33 and wouldn't even consider it lol

but i have drug me Mex up 1 flight of steps 3 times thus far....had to have someone help me each time though lol.

thanx for the experiences Gary --- Derek