....when you're using a CRB.

I always, always pre-vac resi and commercial. I also always post vac resi. Pretty convinced that I would save oodles or precious time if I could somehow skip this.

Will the CRB I just bought allow me to?

I decided a couple of weeks ago to add vlm to my arsenal mainly for commercial work.

I went in thinking cimex all the way but as I started researching (reading the boards and watching YouTube videos) I started bouncing around in my head from cimex to orbot to crb to low boy.

The thing that started moving me away from the cimex to these other machines was the thought of being able to get some use of them in residential setting whether as a pre scrubber before extracting with the truck mount or as a stand alone vlm cleaner to use in place of my portable on high rise condos.

Anyway I came full circle back to the cimex because I wanted the option to shower feed or on board sprayer, limiting me to orbot or cimex. Settled on cimex because I believe it to be the commercial king (main my reason for equipment purchase) plus I just couldn't justify $3500 for the sprayborg plus I'd still have to spend another $300 or so on pads.

My next purchase will probably be a low boy for the ability to vlm the high rise condos.

I'm hoping to keep the cimex on the van full time so I can swing in and do demos with any free time I might have but in order for it to earn a full time spot on my van it'll have to do the job of replacing my 175 for pre scrubbing residential. Does anyone use a cimex for that? Is there any reason it will not fit the bill for that purpose?

PS I bought the 19 inch with the big boy wheel kit.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Kevin,

Since you are the Pro drying guy on the board, how do you eliminate the smell after a flood.
I am in upstate NY and our towns were under water. Some people might want to have the mold & stink smell cleaned out. These are not insurance jobs cause no one has flood insurance. What is the going cu ft price around .15 ? Have you ever used the Odorox machine? Any info will help . Thanks to all who chime in.

Ok i am confused - who is cleaning residential carpets with VLM rather than HWE?

I am just getting started and don't have a truck mount, just a portable, but i would really like to just do VLM.
I understand that the situation dictates method such as pet urine is HWE, but can i clean residential carpets with VLM using a 175 with scrub brush and then bonnet?

I read on here some guys moving away from their truck mount more and more on residential. I would like to do commercial more and more but right now getting started my first customers are residential and i want to do a good job for them but having a portable is definately a drawback especially when you have to do an upstairs.

Any thougts or suggestions?

Thanks!

anyone else get worn out FAST when they are working in a home/facility with little to no air conditioning? or is it just a sign of how out of shape i am??

the last couple weeks i have had a few big accounts that were 10+ hours.

today's account was only about 7 but i was shot at about the 5 hour mark because they had the A/C off for the long weekend. sweating like a fool. maybe i just need to bring some Gatorade? i reckon the iced coffee didn't help, being a diuretic and all



not an important thread but i wanted to share my misery could be worse i know. at least i wasn't working out doors.

Arrived on my doorstep around 3:30pm PST.

Have some questions for you CRB pros:

-Can I leave the renovators on at all times or do I actually need to switch between those and the dust covers?

-There is no power cord. What type and gauge cord do I need?

-Can I run this dry or does the carpet need a pre-spray first?

Thanks!

I've HWE this job maybe 6 times in the last 2 years and never got it to look this good!



Here's a before/after

Something is wrong with me....(I gripe about this all the time, so please forgive me....)

As much as I try, I simply cannot get resi jobs done as fast as I'd like. Here's how it went today:

12:00pm - Arrived at job with vacuum in hand, walked the home (move out, repeat customer) agreed on price.

12:15pm - Started to vacuum entire upstairs. Place was hit and miss in terms of condition, needed pre-vac regardless. Job consisted of upstairs, stairs and one small hall downstairs.

12:40pm - Done vacuuming, go to van to mix chems and start pre-spray

12:55pm - Half of upstairs pre-sprayed, back to van to get Orbot, pads, drop cloth, rag bag, stair tool, etc while chem dwells.

1:10pm - Everything lugged upstairs. Start padding.

1:35pm - First two rooms and main hallway padded. Pre-srpay loft (big loft), small hall and master bedroom. Dwell while I move machine over, set up, etc.

2:10pm - Master, loft, top landing all cleaned. Entire upstairs cleaned

2:35pm - Post vacced etire upstairs. Run cords for vac and multi sprayer down stairs along with pads and rag bag.

2:55pm - Stairs vacced (trashed)

3:05pm - Stairs pre-srpayed

3:25pm - Orbot landings (Oreck would not work, they were too rough)

3:50pm - Used Orbiter on the rest of the steps. Stairs complete

4:00pm - Vacced, pre-sprayed small hall downstairs

4:15pm - Cleaned and post vacced.

4:30pm - Collected payment, rolling everything to the van.

Done - finally. Upstairs was probably about 800 - 900 sq. ft. (closer to 900 I think), 16 steps with two landings midway.

Now in fairness, I did have a couple of phone calls and I had to move the van for the gardener and little things like that. So maybe 15 minutes wasted. The rest is accurate.

Lots of VLM'ers say they can bang this out in way less time.

Tell me how. I want to save time!

Here's an idea of how the carpet looked. Was like this in most, but not all areas:

I use a ford escape and tow a 5x8 trailer if needed. When I converted from hwe and gas powered truck mount I got rid of my 8-9 mile a gal van and decided to truly make an effort to be green. Now that I have my new low boy I was wondering if cleaners keep them upright or lay them down in your trucks. Also with the cimex do you keep it in the running position or transport position. I wonder if the bouncing around damages the drive plate or shaft.. Thanks

I wanted to see what you guys thought about the Micro. I am thinking about getting one for doing both stairs and upholstery. Thanks, Mike