What do you guys think is the best way to clean tile & grout? I have been using a rotovac 360 with brush head but since my portable extractor is only 500 psi I don't think I am getting the best possible results? Before I invest in a water otter with spinner type setup what do you guys that do alot of tile think? How well does an op machine do? Thanks in advance....

Geoff

I don't do a lot of tile and grout, but the general consensus is that you will often need to use a grout brush on a pole to really get into the grout lines. Machines, even with specific grout brushes just can't get deep enough into the lines. The machine is great for the tile itself, especially if it's pitted type tile.

However, with good chemicals and dwell time(alkaline then acid ), the manual scrubbing isn't that hard.

I'm pretty sure your portable has auto fill and pump out. Water usage is very high with T&G as you already know.

Do you clear seal or color seal?

I tried several different ways to clean grout with various pieces of equipment I had. Rotary, Cimex, pole brush, extraction with portable, steam machine, various types of chems.... It wasn't until I got my truck mount with a spinner tool that I really started to effectively clean tile & grout. It's really all a combination of chemical, agitation, dwell time, heat, pressure and extraction. There are some high psi portables that people claim work OK, although I wonder if they will provide the heat.

I'm not syaing that you absolutely need a truck mount, but my experience was that I was never happy with the job until I got one. Now I feel like I'm giving my customers what they pay for when I clean their grout.

Glad you posted this, we were just about to pull the trigger on some 360's

A truckmount with heat that can keep up with the flow rate would be great. Much faster production rates as well.

Any portable just will not be able to provide heat that will keep up with the water flow, unless you are running a LP heater.

However, many have gotten great results without heat. Just might take a little longer to get there.

Sounds to me like the first option for me to try is a water otter type pressure washer with spinner tool. Currently I am using a portable (recoil xps) with 500 psi and eventhough the recoil is great for carpet the 500 psi is just doesn't seem to be enough for tile and grout(even with my grout brush). Now what about heat? I am using a little giant propane heater with my recoil but if I bump the psi up to 800-1200 psi that will be to much for the little giant to handle so hopefully the extra psi will make up for the lack of heat. I actually don't have auto pump out however I do have a 45 gallon aux waste tank that I use which helps but big jobs are still obviously difficult. Maybe I should just breakdown and buy a truckmount but man I really love this recoil and it sure if cost effective. Thanks for all the replies they really do help. I will do some more research and if someone has anything else to add I am all ears. Actually before I do anything else I will probably wait until the orbot arrives and see it's capabilities and go from there. Thanks again for everyone's input. There are a couple of great carpet cleaning boards and this is definitely one of them.

ps. Not Me: I am not saying a rotovac 360 will not do the job on tile I just don't think it works as well as it could due to the fact I am only running at 500 psi(max). If you are capable of a higher psi the 360 will probably do just fine. That being said I think the rotovac 360 is fantastic tool for residential carpet and I absolutely love it. I will always have a 360 even if I never use it on tile again.

Geoff

If you have heat use it to you advantage.
I would use a tool to agitate the T&G CBM rotary Cimex Orobt
what every you have.

Mop down the chemical nice and hot scrub the floor
then rinse with a spinner tool with the Recoil at 500 PSI

You can also run the heater so it goes through what ever pump you are using after the water is heated, but then you can only go so hot

Geoff,

How does a Rotovac work with 100 psi on carpet? (cgd or resi)

Thanks
Your Servant Alex

Cultivate the "OCCD" you had at first for the industry!

Alex I am not 100% sure how the rotovac 360 would do at 100 psi but I would guess it would work fairly well on residential carpet especially if it wasn't extremely trashed. My first job in this business a few months ago I used a ninja 150 psi portable(cold) with my rotovac 360 on a moderately soiled plush residential carpet and it turned out fantastic. I really like my rotovac and rarely do residential without it unless it's a berber type carpet.

Geoff

Encouraging Geoff!

But I have to know Geoff,: Why the 360 over the power wand?

Thanks
Your Servant Alex

Cultivate the "OCCD" you had at first for the industry!

Alex, when I started in the business I fell for the rotovac ad's for a business start up package and after some research I decided it was a pretty good deal and not a bad way to start. To this day I do not regret my decision eventhough I did upgrade to a recoil xps extractor instead of using the ninja portable that came with the package. I love the rotovac 360 but that's why I have it instead of a different power wand. Just curious but why do you ask?

Geoff

Well,

when i said powerwand I was actually speaking about the Rotovac's original powerwand.

Ive heard some say they prefer the forward back passes, over the swing motion(360). I was wondering why you chose the swing over the forward passes as if you were vacuuming?

Thanks
Your Servant Alex

Cultivate the "OCCD" you had at first for the industry!

Alex, sorry man it just didn't dawn on me what you meant. I never really considered the powerwand I guess because when I started I figured the 360 was a newer model so it must be better. For all I know the powerwand may be superior because I have never used one to know. That being said I have never heard anyone say they liked the powerwand better. I do wonder about the powerwand having that little gap in the middle and it seems like there wasn't a tile brush head available for the powerwand and that was important to me at the time. I may be "misremembering" or just had it in my mind that only the 360 had a brush head available. It does take a while to get used to using the 360 as it operates like a floor machine but once you get it down it's easy. Also until your used to it the rpm's can be turned down which makes the operation a bit easier.

Geoff

I use my 360 with a truck mount. I find that it minimizes my use of chemicals. Dry times are reasonable. usually 2-4 hours. I clean carpet with it at 500 PSI. i dont like using low psi. I feel it cleans better at 500. More rinsing. I will not clean residential carpet without it. Unless is for a cheap slumlord that wants clean looking carpets but dosnt want to pay to have Rotovac used. Rotovac is not faster then a wand. But it cleans way better!!!! I will also agree that i dont like using it on Berber or cgd either.


OOOPS i forgot. I also use the Tile head for cleaning Tile and grout. I find that my results are basically the same if not a little better with the RV360 @ 700 PSI. Then using a spinner at 1100 psi. I also use a gout brush regardless if i am using a spinner or th RV.