I'm bidding a job at my church that has a good sized building that's used as a nusery, preschool, and daycare (depending on age and day)

I plan on stright encap for everywhere else but what should i be doing for these areas?... they are all cgd with a few stains and spills (last cleaners where HWE)

i'm not sure i'm 100% confident in encaping these... maybe just padcap em with punch?

thanks
mark

Padcap with Punch or Pad/Bonnet with Procyon. Procyon is Green Label and you could drink it, I wouldn't recommend it as it taste terrible. You should be concerned where small babies crawl on the carpet. I am doing more and more DayCare Centers now and that is the combo I am using. Children have more allergies now than ever before, (the lousy diet these kids are on has ruined their immune system) so be careful.

thanks... i was thinking bio based for the crawling aged kiddies... beyond that thinking pad-capping for the rest of the rooms.

Rambo, I agree about Pad-capping with Punch (have never tried Procyon). You bring up a good point concerning allergies. I'm inclined to believe that encapsulation technology is beneficial for those with allergies. Helps to remove some more of the microscopic soiling. I personally feel comfortable with the safety of Punch & DS.

Rich

I believe in Encapping but I don't understand how It would be beneficial for allergies. Aren't we adding even more particulates to the environment? at least until its vacuumed and only assuming the vacuuming is done well.

Hi Dion,

It has to be vacuumed.

My thinking is that no matter if you are HWE’ing with Punch or bonnet cleaning with Punch or DS you are leaving a good residue behind. To get the proper benefit of encapsulation cleaning a proper vacuuming must be performed. I explain this to the client if there are allergies issues and or children involved. If not, I don’t worry about telling them to vacuum when dry, I just tell the client that more of the microscopic soil will be vacuumed away during their next scheduled vacuuming.

I do mainly residential work so kids and allergies are a large part of why we are there. I explain to the client how my encapsulating residue goes one step beyond the next guy’s cleaning.

That’s my thinking anyway. I’ll be interested in the views of others.

Rich

We have nurseries, preschool, and a private school at the church where I work. We now use encap with CRB machine, previously we extracted with a self-contained with a carpet sanitizer. During summer and other periods of high humidity we would follow with dry bonnet and blowers. Vacuuming is a given, we actually are more concerned with the moisture and getting it dry which is another plus to encap. We also use a steam vapor machine (Karcher) on some spots, surfaces. The tea tree oil products are nice, also like the Procyon and Bi-O-Kleen products. The Bac Out in the diaper pails is very nice. I tend to think we are more concerned about getting the carpet dry, the room turned over. Kawasaki syndrome is more our focus, we are in a high humidity area and they don't run the HVAC for just us maintenance types needs. As long as the chemical is okay, there is going to be soiling/particulates carried in everytime someone comes in. Vacuuming and dry is more the key in our operation. Then again, nobody watches or asks what we do, compared to a contracted entity.

Dion,

Actually we should be able to REDUCE the exposure to allergens through encapsulation since the encapsulated contaminant is no longer an airborne irritant.
Once a contaminant is wrapped in plastic (polymer) it becomes inert; just as a sliced onion wrapped in plastic won’t stink up the other food in the refrigerator.

I'm not a scientist. (but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night)
I'm simply basing my comments on practical common sense reasoning.
However, here is some interesting data that was provided for us by a scientist...

http://excellent-supply.com/Polymers_role_in_reduction_of_mold_in_carpets.pdf





Rick Gelinas
encapman

Very interesting Rick, thanks for posting that. I know Racine Industries (mfg. of Host, dry extraction sponges) have done/ and published many white papers on dust mites and their products after it was rumored that the Host particles left in the carpet were food for the dust mites. After all, it is made from corn.

Concerning allergies. The type of vacuum being used to vacuum up the encapsulated soil either by you or by the customer/ client. Is it HEPA? I always ask and then explain the benifits. One thing about encapsulated soil, it is going to be harder to get it airborne because of it's weight. Let me explain it this way; We have had clients of ours (with bad allergies) on the recommendation of their Doctors, take out the carpet in their homes and put down a hard surface such as wood. Do you think their allergies got better? They actually got worse. Dust mite and dust mite fecal matter are the biggest offenders for any one with allergies. Inhalation is the most common route for allergens to enter the body. Other allergens enter the body through ingestion (food allergies), skin contact (dermatitis) or injection (drug or bee sting allergies) Over 10 years ago Sweden banned carpet in all public buildings. Do you think that solved the allergen problem? No way!. During that time period, allergic cases increased 600 percent! Remember, carpet acts as a trap for dust mites and Animal dander, cat saliva and a host of others, until we clean it. If there is a hard surface, what is going to keep the dust and dust mites from becoming airborne when we walk across across the surface? Does encapsulated soil encapsulate the dust mites? I have not read of any studies on this, but I am sure it does. So, the VACUUM is the biggest single item in controlling the allergy causing airborne dust. Most allergy Doctors will tell you that two hours after vacuuming, is the worst time for someone suffering allergies to be in that space, be it residential or commercial. We use the Hoover Conquest with the Anti-Allergen System. Never use the dust cup in residential or commercial. Several of the Daycare Centers we are now doing have Central Vac Systems. This is the best IMO. ALL of the dust is carried to the outside through the exhaust on the system.

Despite being an encap enthusiast, I continue to do all of my residential work using non-encap natural products, either Orbit Natural from Challenger Pad Systems, or Outsolve from Bioforce-Envirotech. In conversations I've had with Glen Nelson, president and chief scientist at Bioforce, his concern re. encap technology is the residue from the cleaning process becoming airborne. We know that vacuuming is both done poorly (thereby leaving encap residue in many areas of the carpet) and done with poorly maintained vacuum cleaners. So I think Glen has a point. Perhaps a major manufacturer/distributor of an encap cleaner (hint, hint) should arrange to retain a credible IAQ scientist/analyst
to study what actually does occur in the aftermath of encap cleaning. My nominee for this job would be Jeff May, author of several books on the subject, including "My House is Killing Me" (www.mayindoorair.com)

Mark, I commend you for using natural products in your residential cleaning. I know for a fact that many cleaners out there don’t have the concern for their clients or themselves as to what they are using to clean with.

As I mentioned above, I mainly focus on residential using encapsulation via bonnet or HWE. I do service a fair amount of clients that have allergy issues and because they fight these allergies daily they are very aware that they need to vacuum very well on a regular basis and they understand the importance of a quality hepa vacuum in good repair. So for the most part I think these folks are doing a good job. All comments from these clients have been positive and because they realize the importance of I.A.Q. they clean often. So far I have had success using encap for those with allergies. No negative feedback.

Based on what I know right now (the way my brain is processing cleaning chemistry) I use encapsulation cleaning products as my main method and natural cleaning products for those with chemical sensitivity.

I do understand where you are coming from Mark.

Enjoy the weekend!