10-11-2012, 07:46 PM
I think that Lee made some nice recommendations above. He has a nice format with HydrOx, Punch and DS.
Sounds like a tough one! 40 year old carpet that has not been cleaned in 7 years is in a state of serious neglect. In fact, it's quite likely entered the realm of being damaged beyond the level of restoration. Commercial carpet should typically be cleaned yearly, and in many cases more frequently, depending on traffic, soiling conditions, etc. If the carpet has been as neglected as what you're describing here, it realistically should be cleaned with HWE first since the carpet is fully loaded to the saturation point with soil. And then it may still need further remediation with subsequent low moisture cleaning attempts such as with encap shampooing following the initial HWE cleaning.
Now regarding proper encap shampooing... do yourself a favor and get a shampoo tank. Proper encap shampooing can not be accomplished by pre-spraying the carpet with a sprayer. You need to shower feed it to see optimal results. Using Encap-Clean DS2 with a shampoo tank and FiberPlus pads will turn most any challenging commercial carpet into a walk in the park. Spraying the solution is not a good option - there's simply no good way to control the solution properly. Shower feeding gives you the control over the solution that you need in order to regulate your usage, avoid over-usage, and achieve superior cleaning. To do it right you really need a shampoo tank. To illustrate; it'd be like trying to paint a house using an artist's paint brush - technically it can be done, but it would be frustrating as all get out and the appearance would be terrible. Using the right tool will make it possible for you to do the job properly. So don't give up yet, simply make some tweaks to your method - encap can open some pretty awesome doors for you.
Hope this gives you some ideas to work with.
Sounds like a tough one! 40 year old carpet that has not been cleaned in 7 years is in a state of serious neglect. In fact, it's quite likely entered the realm of being damaged beyond the level of restoration. Commercial carpet should typically be cleaned yearly, and in many cases more frequently, depending on traffic, soiling conditions, etc. If the carpet has been as neglected as what you're describing here, it realistically should be cleaned with HWE first since the carpet is fully loaded to the saturation point with soil. And then it may still need further remediation with subsequent low moisture cleaning attempts such as with encap shampooing following the initial HWE cleaning.
Now regarding proper encap shampooing... do yourself a favor and get a shampoo tank. Proper encap shampooing can not be accomplished by pre-spraying the carpet with a sprayer. You need to shower feed it to see optimal results. Using Encap-Clean DS2 with a shampoo tank and FiberPlus pads will turn most any challenging commercial carpet into a walk in the park. Spraying the solution is not a good option - there's simply no good way to control the solution properly. Shower feeding gives you the control over the solution that you need in order to regulate your usage, avoid over-usage, and achieve superior cleaning. To do it right you really need a shampoo tank. To illustrate; it'd be like trying to paint a house using an artist's paint brush - technically it can be done, but it would be frustrating as all get out and the appearance would be terrible. Using the right tool will make it possible for you to do the job properly. So don't give up yet, simply make some tweaks to your method - encap can open some pretty awesome doors for you.
Hope this gives you some ideas to work with.