04-24-2015, 09:43 PM
Just to chime in on the chemicals, today the elf and I cleaned a thick shag residential carpet that hadn't been done in seven years. It had well defined traffic zones and the stairs were pretty awful. The customer listened to the choices offered and chose encap, so we did the usual deck clearing, slow vacuuming, prespray and CRB cleaning using HydrOx. On the stairs I used a car polisher as a mini OP, with microfiber towels as pads. Washing and wringing out the towels, they gave up very dark liquid.
Looked lots better, but I could still see the traffic stain on the stairs. So I used Punch and re-did them like before, but when I wrung them out, there was very little dirt! So I broke out the portable HWE and extracted the stairs. The waste water certainly had dirt, but mostly the water was gray from the Encap products. I'd say it was a little improvement over the encap and "bonnet" clean, but not much.
Finally I told the homeowner to let it all just dry (the stairs, not the rest, which was already nearly dry) and see how it all looks to her then.
The point is that the encapping worked at least as well as if I'd done a normal hot water extraction. I put enough to do the shag, let it dwell and gave it a real good scrub, then a recovery pass (with the Duplex 420). It worked pretty well, "apparent dirt" notwithstanding.
However, just to be sure, if she calls and isn't happy I'll go back in with a strong detergent and HWE, to see if that does anything new. If it doesn't change, then I wasted time but kept my word. No one technique works for every situation, Right? The takeaway is to confidently use Releasit products, have a plan B and you are going to give great service.
Looked lots better, but I could still see the traffic stain on the stairs. So I used Punch and re-did them like before, but when I wrung them out, there was very little dirt! So I broke out the portable HWE and extracted the stairs. The waste water certainly had dirt, but mostly the water was gray from the Encap products. I'd say it was a little improvement over the encap and "bonnet" clean, but not much.
Finally I told the homeowner to let it all just dry (the stairs, not the rest, which was already nearly dry) and see how it all looks to her then.
The point is that the encapping worked at least as well as if I'd done a normal hot water extraction. I put enough to do the shag, let it dwell and gave it a real good scrub, then a recovery pass (with the Duplex 420). It worked pretty well, "apparent dirt" notwithstanding.
However, just to be sure, if she calls and isn't happy I'll go back in with a strong detergent and HWE, to see if that does anything new. If it doesn't change, then I wasted time but kept my word. No one technique works for every situation, Right? The takeaway is to confidently use Releasit products, have a plan B and you are going to give great service.
With Respect,
Stephen
Stephen