Lately, I've been using the Cimex for my residential carpet cleaning.

Here are my steps:

1) Prevac.

2) Prespray (DynaChem Encapsulate).

3) Shampoo/Scrub with Cimex w/brushes and Releasit DS.

4) Low pressure(60 psi) extract with hot water (use dry strokes).

5) Groom.

Results?

Totally restorative.

Dry time?

Most carpets are "dry to the touch" in about 2 hours or so. Not bad. Nobody has called about any spots wicking back. That's a good thing (like Martha Stewart says).

So far, every customer has been VERY impressed with this system and its incredible results. It is obvious they have never seen a Cimex before!

At first, I was hesitant to do the "shampoo and rinse" thing because I thought it would take way too much time and effort, but I am finishing each job quicker than I expected.

One thing I really have to watch out for though, is taking care not to mar baseboards and furniture. This is very easy to do with the Cimex, but if you slow down and watch carefully when scrubbing along walls, etc. everything is fine.

Is this as good as it gets for residential? Can a carpet be cleaned any better than this (short of disengaging it and washing the sections in a rug processing plant)?

If you are extracting after cimex you should be able to stay two inches away from the walls. How much are you charging,35-40 cents?

Seems a bit redundant; first you encap and then you extract the encap. Doesn't extraction defeat the purpose of encap? I can see you agitate with the CIMEX and then extract but why put down an encap chemical just to remove it?

hiyas Mark

boy you really CLEAN carpet thoroughly!

i agree that there may be some redundancy. realistically, you are prespraying, pre-scrubbing with another prespray, then HWE'ing.

that process is about as good as it gets as you brought out. the only alternative would be to use presprays that may save some bucks and are actually made for that. that is up to you and i dont think the end result will be much different, cause the agitation caused by the Mex is the workhorse of that process in my opinion.

boy you and Dob'er really know how to pour on the process'!!! lol

thanx --- Derek.

PS : now that i re-read your post, you say 60 psi...so your using Encapsulants as presprays is brilliant. at that low a psi, your not doing a thorough flushing anyways, so the Releasit DS that is left on the fibers / tufts will be crystalizing. sounds like a great cleaning to me, and i'm sure your charging top dollar for it

take care --- Derek.

Hey,Mark I was impressed with your method .I see the wisdom of dc encap as a prespray cause when you rinse with another encap you still get the benefits of encap. The reason I know is cause I use the same system ( thanks to your recommendation of dc encap as a pre-spray a couple of months back).One question I have is how are you rinsing your carpets? I thought you were primarily a rotary/vlm guy?

Darwin,

My price averages out to about 30 cents per sq. ft. [I charge by the room - but that's fodder for another discussion...].

Derek,

You are destined to go far in this business! You really do pay attention. I extract with what I call a micro mist (this is actually, just hot water coming out of the two 11001 v-jets on my weighted floor wand at 60 psi). I figure it this way.....

1) The DC Encapsulate encapsulates the fiber.

2) The Releasit DS encapsulates the soil, deodorizes, and imparts even more protector to the fiber.

Shampoo-feeding/scrubbing with the brushes on the Cimex gets both "encap" products worked all the way to the base of the fibers but because they are both "fast drying" products, I'm not worried too much about an extended over-wetting situation.

3) Rinsing with such low pressure and low volume effectively removes the majority of the now suspended "soil load" from the tip to about 60 to 70% of the way down the fiber. The remaining 30 to 40% of the suspended soil load that I can't effectively remove with this low pressure/low volume extractor should be trapped in the Releasit DS' crystalline polymer and eventually work its way out of the carpet with future repeated thorough vacuumings. Hopefully, this polymer will also retard any wicking. So far it seems to have done so.

Also, because the rinse uses such a low volume of water, "dry stroking" the carpet really does work effectively to decrease the surface drying time.

Ron,

In my business, I have cleaned carpets with just about every system out there except:

1) DAM (dry absorbant media - Host).

2) High pressure truckmounted Steam Cleaning.

3) Dual Cylindrical Scrubbing Systems (Whittaker, X2, DynaChem, OrbiTec, etc).

4) Auserailian System (submersion rug plant operation).

5) Dry Foam Extractiom (Von Shrader, DuraClean, Advance Carpetron etc).

6) Chemstractor.

I have nothing against these other systems. Actually, I'll probably own one of each, eventually. No matter what system I use at the time, there are always TWO GOLDEN RULES that must be obeyed (Lonnie's orders!):

Get It Clean and Get It DRY!!

That way, everything ends up VLM anyways! Does that make me a VLM guy?