I have completed the first 10 big box store cleanings with the Cimex twins. All has been going well, the crew picked up the use of the machine quickly and with the desired results in speed and quality.
There are some sections at the front of the store that we have had to double pass and prespray with DS, but that is to be expected.
Last night on cleaning #10 I had my first real scare. To this point I have not been able to over wet a carpet using DS at 4oz/gall and fiber plus pads.
During the cleaning last night the first 25 feet of the front power isle was so stained and dirty I thought it was a good time to try my sample bottle of Punch as a prespray.

On one side I used my normal prespray, DS at 8oz/gall, applied with a pump up sprayer and FP pads. I apply the prespray with a pump up sprayer just enough to darken the carpet. I let the prespray dwell for 3-4 min and scrub with Cimex at normal delution rate. It took two seperate passes, each about 3 hours apart, to get it all even as I have become accustomed to.

On the other side I presprayed using Punch mixed at the heavy traffic rate applied with the same method and pump up sprayer. The more I scrubbed the more it spread so that at one point I had a 15 foot long 3 foot wide dark strip down the center of the isle.The beige pads all turned dark with dirty liquid from the floor. The carpet was officialy too wet I assume, if I ran my hand accross the carpet dirt clung to my hands. I checked the truck and I did not have the cotton "mop" for my buffer that I meant to pack away. I looked around the truck and found three new/dry floor mop heads. I put them on handles and hand mopped the dark carpet with the three dry cotton mop heads and it come out better. You do what you have to do!!
I am not sure if I misused the Punch presray or if we over wet the carpet because we were not used to the Fiber Max pads, most likely there is a good deal of operator error.
First lesson, if it works, and its not broken, dont try to fix it. The DS was working great as a prespray and cleaner solution.
Second lesson, be prepared for wet situtations. I will now have some cotton mop heads or cotton pads for the buffer or Cimex in case we ever over wet again.
Third lesson, test on a small area
Fourth lesson, ask Rick how to use his chems before I test them in the middle of the night.
Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

Extremely soiled carpet needs to be extracted before you can encap it properly. Use HWE, expect wicking, and treat accordingly.

It sounds like you may have applied too much solution in a highly soiled section of carpet. I would suspect that wicking may occur after this section dries.

More is NOT better. If anything, using LESS moisture/product is better in highly soiled situations works best.
Applying pre-spray means that you can apply LESS solution as you scrub the carpet with the Cimex.

Scrubbing Normal Soiled Carpet:
Make 1 quick "Wet-Pass" and 1 slower "Dry Pass" on normal soiled areas. On the "Dry Pass" you can feather the solution valve lightly every couple of steps to keep the pads damp. You should see an even light whitening of foam on the carpet during the "Dry Pass".

Scrubbing Heavily Soiled Carpet:
You may apply pre-spray (either a stronger dilution of Encap-Clean DS2 or Encap-Punch). After applying pre-spray, you can compensate by actually applying a little less solution while scrubbing with the Cimex.
Make 1 quick "Wet-Pass" and 2 or 3 slow "Dry Passes" on the heavily soiled sections. On the "Dry Passes" you can feather the solution valve lightly every couple of steps to keep the pads damp. You should see an even light whitening of foam on the carpet during the "Dry Passes".

As you can see with both of these scrubbing methods, you are applying the same amount of juice on the "Wet Pass". You're NOT applying a lot of solution. Again, "more is not better".

A final thought is to post-bonnet the "rat nasty" sections immediately after the carpet has been scrubbed with the Cimex. Running over these trashed sections with a bonnet can extract some extra soil and finish off the areas nicely. You can run a rotary with bonnets, or you can apply the 8" bonnets to the Cimex. The Cimex bonnets won't pull as much soil as bonnets on a rotary, but they're handy to use without having to bring in another machine http://www.excellent-supply.com/Tuway-Thin-One-Carpet-Bonnet-8-inch-Case-of-12-Carpet-Cleaning-Bonnet-and-Floor-Buffing-Cimex-Machines_p_82.html

So keep in mind LESS is better. Don't over-apply the product. Your results will be better if you truly keep it a "low moisture" system. Follow the suggestions above and you should be able to get good results on most carpets with the encap system. Yet if parts of the carpet are severely soiled, HWE is recommended for a pre-extraction and then the section(s) can be post-encapped with the Cimex to control the inevitable wicking that will occur from performing HWE on a heavily soiled CGD carpet.

Wishing you success as you tackle these big box stores. If you need more information let me know.





Rick Gelinas

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Your fourth lesson to yourself made me laugh. Been there, done that.

We bought the small 8-inch bonnets from Rick just for those instances. Saves bringing another machine along, although if you had a large area a 175 and bonnet would be faster.

I might even prespray and hit it with the bonnets first to pickup as much heavy soil as you can, then finish up with the Cimex.

Thanks for the comments, funny thing Rick, I had your directions with me....I guess that is another lesson....read the directions first...
I think I will order some 8 inch cotton pads for the times when they dont have the 175rpm buffer with them.
I just purchased two new Cimex along with other assorted supplies so I have to pay that off before I can buy the portable HWE. I should be ready for that in July.
I am heading out to bid a 4 story apartment building, they want the hallways and common area done more often, and they have no water...easy enough with a few buckets to bring my own water and a Cimex...they said the truck mount guys were all very expensive becuase they did not want to run the hoses up 4 stories. I plan on doing the stairwells as well, prespray with DS and buff with my 8 inch low speed car buffer, it has a pad holder that works with the Cimex pads....Its a little dareing but why not use the advantages of VLM to make more money!

Hi Paul,
re; your last paragraph... "I plan on doing the stairwells as well, prespray with DS and buff with my 8 inch low speed car buffer, it has a pad holder that works with the Cimex pads".


By all means, try what you have at your disposal first, if it doesn't work so well, look at something different.

I had a slow speed car buffer and found that it used to "bog down" on some carpets, too slow and not enough grunt.

For stairs, I like to use the Orbot Hos Micro two brush tool.

The brushes, (although small), come in different grades and are counter rotating.

It also accepts pads/bonnetts.

It comes complete with two different length handles.

After vacuuming and pre-spraying the stairs, I attach the long handle, start at the bottom and go up the stairs cleaning the risers.

When I get to the top, I change to the shorter handle, and come back down cleaning the treads.

This is a somewhat rattley machine, but is very light and comfortable to use with very little torque on start-up.

Delia loves using it.

We also use a Makita variable speed polisher for upholstery, this has a velcro base and will take both the standard Cimex pads or bonnetts.

Here's a few pics of the machine in it's carry case.

Business end:

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Side view:

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Side view with poles, only use one at a time, choose your angle:

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I like to keep my investments safe and secure so they don't get damaged:

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Hope this helps.

Shorty.

Get a Flex car polisher or random orbit polisher. At 7 amp they won't bog down. They look and handle like an angle grinder. My RO is a Gariot Garage cost $140 on Ebay. Encaps stairs and commercial upholstery fine. I've been known to cut up a white pad to fit if my other pads give up the ghost.