I am very seriously considering a Cimex for my business. I am a hot water extraction guy- but I do see the need for the Cimex for commercial accounts. I have used several of Ricks products and they work great. I know the Cimex is a great machine- never used one- but everyone says it is. My question is this- I maintain numerous apartment complexes with many units being up stairs. I am an owner/operator so is it possible- by myself to get the 19 inch up those stairs? I know for many of my commercial accounts with elevators it won't be a problem- but I am wondering if I can use it on some of my apartment complexes, where encapsulation will work- any answers greatly appreciated.

Ed, you can put on a wheel kit you can do it. Search for the one Shorty put on his, he used golf cart wheels. I drilled a hole thru the plastic wheels and ran a threaded bolt rod thru them and attached two rubber tires I bought from Northern Handyman. I left the smaller wheels that come on the Cimex on the machine and mounted the rubber tires outside of the exsisting Cimex wheels. Total cost, about $19

Ed,

Search for my post titled- "Big Wheels FINALLY done on my Mex" on Jan 4, 2009.  It should answer your question.

Make your own luck,

Del Scrivner
Owner/Operator
Cowboy's Carpet Care

I think a better option would be to get the HOS Orbot! The reason I say that is if you are doing quite a few apartments, you may want to option of bonnet extraction. Reason Being there are different types of carpet you will encounter and you have the option to use a different type of pads for each.
Also the machine is only 80 pounds instead of 110 pounds, but most of all it is Fun to use!

Thanks for the info. guys.

an op and crb combo for apartments is is killer.