yesterday, i was working in a very nice state park inn that i do.
The staff told me that they had already taken care of the main hall, that I could start on the wings.
So anyways, I prevac the wings, encap, then hit the main halls.
The next day, which was yesterday, i went in to do another floor and check the work from the day before. The wing and main hall looked like night and day.
They hadn't vac'd at all, and i took their word on it. Dont trust others to tell you that they have vac'd good. Anymore, staffs in commercial arenas are on edge and hurryin' to get stuff done, if they dont see surface dirt, then they must be clean.
anyways, sorry to ramble, i prevac'd good, encapped again and checked today,, all is well. I like the results.

Moral of Story... Prevac even if they someone says that they have. And if they did a good job, your vac'ing again certainly wont hurt anything. Just a thought.

Happy Cleaning to all.

Steve Dobson
ProFloor

I hear ya, Steve!!

It might be that they really did vac, and their vac bag was totally stuffed full, consequently they could not remove anything, no matter how many times they went over it. That's the benefit of the doubt.

However, my money is also on- they did NOT actually vacuum.

Another point- assuming they did vac, the more dirt removed dry is less that has to be removed with moisture. The cleaner the carpet is when you (I) start,
The easier it is to clean, and better results.

Gary

great thread Steve

i have always wondered in the back o my thick skull if not pre-vac'ing b4 encap'ing would be noticeable....glad you learnt that for me (the hard way) lol

thanx --- Derek.

A few weeks back, I was giving a demo on encapping to a friend doing a restaurant he does monthly with his Truck Mount and RX-20.

I had intended to do 1/2, let him do the other half with his regular machine, chemical, and procedure.

I vac about 20 x 20 area, and started to encap. He said he would vac the rest of the area I intended to do, another 20 x 20. His helper started to clean the other half. With the roar of his machine, I could not hear my friend using my vac, I am concentrating on what I am doing, and assumed he would finish vacuuming the rest of my half. He got sidetracked, and did not finish it.

I run my machine all where I said I was going to, not realizing he did not vac an area about 20 x 20, just about an area 5 x 5.

I finish the area. Most of it looked real good, and where the helper met my half, there was no visible difference. It all looked the same.

BUT!! an area of about 15 x 15 looked crummy. I scratched my head, wondering why that area looked different, somewhat better than it had before it was encapped, but not as good looking as the rest.

As I was loading my machine and VACUUM, it was not in sight. Where was it? outside, where he had carried it instead of vacuuming where he said he would.

AARRGGHH!! No sale. The only way now to make the carpet look all the same was for his helper to reclean that 15 x 15 area.

Phooey!!

YA GOTTA VAC IT!!

Gary

tell us Gary! how'd the carpet look? Encap'ed vs's RX-20'ed???

intrigued --- Derek.

good points guys. Yep, ya gotta prevac.
It does make a noticeable difference.
Sure that hall that I did looked better than when i started, but when i got to the wing, or the manager or a customer, it was another noticeable difference.
Great for a demo, but not for charging for services rendered. LOL

thanks for the replies.

Steve

lol, agreed Steve. glad i've always pre-vac'ed on demo's to. i've read that some Encap'ers claim to not pre-vac....scary.

thanx --- Derek.

Re that restaurant I mentioned- in the middle where the 2 systems met, there was no visible difference between the cleaning with the Truck Mount and RX-20 and encapping with the Chemstractor and Fiber Plus Pads.

I had started in the middle and worked towards the exit door. He started at the far end and worked towards the middle.

The part that was not vacuumed was towards the exit door, and *BWAW!!* I really wanted to make a great impression, because except for the kitchen entries, that was the dirtiest part of the carpet. (It is done monthly, so was not filthy, just dirty.)

And yes, there WAS a visible difference between where it had been vacuumed and where it had not been vacuumed, then encapped. The carpet is a light green commercial plush cut pile, and not what I would have chosen for a very busy restaurant, but there ya go, deal with it.

After he had HWE the non vacuumed part, and it did look clean like the rest, I asked him if he pre vacuumed, and he said never, it did not need with the Truck Mount and RX-20. MAYBE it is not as critical with that setup, but with encapping- in my opinion, yes, it is critical for a good job.

Oh well.

And another thing, while I think about it. That 4th floor condo where Jaime and I cleaned the carpet and sofa, to get to it, ya gotta go into a lobby, up the elevator, down an outside hall some 100 feet, inside a door, and down a hall some 50 feet, so it is a LONG ways from the outside. Vacuuming the carpets picked up a FULL dust cup of dirt, so to me anyway, that proves it IS critical to vac first before cleaning.

Gary