new to the business

[fantastic floors]

Hello - i am rather new to carpet cleaning and looking to grow my business more into VLM. I have a portable but it is a drag to set all of it up, get in and out of vehicle, clean upstairs due to hose lengths, hook up to water, etc. Basically i don't have the money for a truckmount! haha.

I have done a couple VLM type jobs, i have a good vac, a 175 with carpet brush, and a small CRB machine. I need to get some bonnets and want to try Releaseit products. I do believe that good chemicals are a major part of a good cleaning.

Question to you all - when talking to my wife and telling her about VLM, she says from her perspective as a housewife, she feels better with steam cleaning because it is like rinsing and vacuuming all the nasty germs and dirt out of the carpet and VLM to her doesn't sound like it does that. Basically she thinks where does the dirt and germs go? They aren't getting killed by steam and sucked out with the large TM in the driveway?

How do i/you explain to a customer who thinks like this the benefits of VLM vs. HWE?
I am sure there are probably several posts that answer this so if someone wants to just point me to those to read through it would be great.

Thanks guys and appreciate the forum.

[Rob D]

Go under blog section on excellent supply website there is a comparison of encap and hwe. Probably not all that you want to hear for residential but a fair comparison. I used hwe for 12 years and now used encap most of the time. I prefer encap with cimex now over hwe and so do my commercial clients. As far as residential I believe it takes a crb machine and an op machine to get good results. It takes some traing and research to get great results and there are many great people on this forum to help.

[encapman]

I believe this is the EncapBlog post that Rob is referring to...

http://www.excellent-supply.com/Comparin..._b_10.html

I hope this info is useful to you. If I can help in any way let me know. And I'm sure the guys on this board will jump in with great advice. A lot of ace cleaners roll through here.

[fantastic floors]

Thanks for the replies guys. Is it not a good expectation to think of using VLM for residential work? It sounds like it is mainly geared to commercial? I am really looking to start using it on residential first until I get some commercial.

Encapman I will be contacting your company soon to discuss ordering some starter chemicals and pads. I am excited to try your products and hopefully get some outstanding results!

[encapman]

Straight encap is ideally suited for commercial carpet. That's where encap shines! I'm talking "straight encap" no bonnets here. As a standard rule at Excellent Supply, we don't recommend straight encap as a stand alone method for residential carpet. That being said, there are folks successfully using Bonnet/OP/Pad methods of VLM cleaning on residential carpets. With Bonnet/OP/Pad methods there is a measure of soil removal, not as extreme as with HWE, nonetheless it makes more sense than straight encap for residential carpet. So there are some situations where some cleaners might consider certain forms of VLM cleaning for residential carpet. Bottom line though - our position at ES is and always has been not to recommend straight encap for residential.

[fantastic floors]

Question - do the carpets have to be totally dry before you should post vacuum? If the carpets are still damp and you post vacuum are you pulling any encapped dirt out? Thanks.

[Rob D]

No post vac until completely dry IMO. Carpet rake or crb to groom

[encapman]

Rob nailed it. Most cleaners leave it to the building owner to perform normal routine vacuuming in the days following the cleaning (after the carpet is dry). The freshly encapped carpet will look good immediately after it's been scrubbed and it will continue to look good as the encapsulated soil continues to be extracted during subsequent vacuumings.

[fantastic floors]

Question - customer spilled a pork roast on berber style carpet and now has a large pork grease stain on the carpet. The carpet is lighter gray color.
Any recommendations on how to clean this? Can i use a releaseit product or should i get a grease eatting HWE chemical?
I am thinking prespray, scrub with 175 carpet brush then HWE with portable and maybe post bonnet. Suggestions please? Thanks.

[BGCD]

Go under blog section on excellent supply website there is a comparison of encap and hwe. Probably not all that you want to hear for residential but a fair comparison. I used hwe for 12 years and now used encap most of the time. I prefer encap with cimex now over hwe and so do my commercial clients. As far as residential I believe it takes a crb machine and an op machine to get good results. It takes some traing and research to get great results and there are many great people on this forum to help.

Rob are you saying you need to use both a CRB and OP on the same job. Just to get good results?

[encapman]

Question - customer spilled a pork roast on berber style carpet and now has a large pork grease stain on the carpet. The carpet is lighter gray color.
Any recommendations on how to clean this? Can i use a releaseit product or should i get a grease eatting HWE chemical?
I am thinking prespray, scrub with 175 carpet brush then HWE with portable and maybe post bonnet. Suggestions please? Thanks.

Pre-spray with Encap-Punch mixed at 12 oz per gallon. Agitate the spot. Extract with HWE using HOT water. Speed dry with an air mover. Then post-bonnet with Encap-Punch mixed at 12 oz per gallon (use minimal moisture). Should take good care of it.

[fantastic floors]

Thank you I will give the punch a try.

[Rob D]

Thank you I will give the punch a try.

Punch is awesome !i use it on most my restaurant jobs.