Beating the Poly

I was cleaning some apartments this week for a new client.  The former cleaner ended up being fired and from what I have been told and seen, he shouldn't even be in the industry.  Seriously, left the carpets soaked for 2 days, spent 20 minutes from start to finish, told the manager that nobody can get red stains out, and believed that you really didn't to prespray...just crank up the heat.  I had a very surprised manager on my hands this week, but that is another story.

Here is the point of this posting.  I have always reached for the high ph cleaners (Extreme mostly) boosted with energy or another solvent along with generous scrubbing of the prespray to clean trashed poly carpet.  Getting rid of those bluish-black discolorations left by high traffic has always taken a lot of scrubbing to get decent results...never great, but acceptable.  You know what I am talking about, that fabric is such junk and after 10 years and 3 tennants, it is a chore.

Well, after doing a few using that formula of boosted Extreme, scrubbed with new CRB, rotary extracted with the Hoss, and edged out with a wand, I decided to experiment a little...mostly because I don't like the lingering smell of those products.  On the last apartment, I mixed S/O (12 oz), S/O/E (12 oz) and some peroxide (6 oz) in an inline sprayer.  My thinking was that I would get the oil release benefits of the S/O when I was extracting with the Hoss and then get the encap benefits of the S/O/E when I was going back over the floor with the Hos dry extracting similar to using S/O/E as a rinse, but putting it down as the prespray. After-all, when the trigger wasn't being pulled, the Hos is just scrubbing, so why not an encap with that step?

So, I sprayed the floor with this combination and then extracted with the Hos (both wet and dry), wanded the corners, and left the CRB for grooming duties.  The results were FANTASTIC!  I really need to start making a point of documenting this stuff, because you wouldn't believe it unless you saw it.  Those horrible dark areas were gone, the carpet was bright (beige) and there was no odor issues....even dried faster.  I'm telling you, this blew the poly out of the water.

Here is the results before grooming:

I should note that the area picured was horribly trashed when I started...you can see the matted areas, but what a difference.

is that a video

No, just a cheaply hosted picture.

Seriously, I am going to have to hire someone to walk around with me filming these jobs. I keep walking away wishing I had more documentation to show this stuff. It really impressed me and will be my new method on poly from now on.

It sure does look good too bad there was no before pic. Wait till that encap fully cures it it will really blow you away

I know Mo, I was kicking myself for not doing that when it turned out so nice.  I wasn't sure what to expect at the time....sure can't see the sofa pattern anymore or the pattern leading to the hallway, but brother it was there.

Living room from a different angle:

You just copied the thumbnail link

Not saying I was brght...need to start using photo bucket I guess.

You can use the same Host just don't  use the link that says "Thumbnail"

Got it...I was educated old school, our globes were actually flat.

I won a small claims case once cuz I had a picture of the Before. 
I was advising the slumlord to replace it, too many soda/beer spills. Got the usual 'clean it anyway.'

So I took a picture before I started. (long since trashed, sorry, but you can imagine).

He locked it up after I left, no ventilation. Wicked. Wouldn't pay cuz I wouldn't come back.
Took him to court. Judge took one look at the picture and said 'I can see why you would advise against cleaning this carpet.'  Told Mr Slumbucket to pay up.

Good work rob

Joe Bristor wrote:I won a small claims case once cuz I had a picture of the Before. 
I was advising the slumlord to replace it, too many soda/beer spills. Got the usual 'clean it anyway.'

So I took a picture before I started. (long since trashed, sorry, but you can imagine).

He locked it up after I left, no ventilation. Wicked. Wouldn't pay cuz I wouldn't come back.
Took him to court. Judge took one look at the picture and said 'I can see why you would advise against cleaning this carpet.'  Told Mr Slumbucket to pay up.

I have lots of before just for that reason. I'm always worried people will forget the crap they were living in before I started.   

Can't believe you had to take that guy to court

I will be keeping far greater records from now on...lots of good reasons.

before and afters are great to cover your Arse like Joe did

always keep a digital camera in the truck

looks really nice, especially for poly

im trying to take pictures and videos of as much as possible or anything that might be worth it, it sucks when you walk into a job not expecting much but then it comes out looking new and you didnt grab pics... ive done it too many times

im collecting now so I have a lot to pick from when we make our commercial at the end of this month

S/O kicks polys assss.

My blend is two cups of S/O with a half cup of easyxtract.com and a cup of Super Charger or similar peroxide booster.

Joe Bristor wrote:I won a small claims case once cuz I had a picture of the Before. 
I was advising the slumlord to replace it, too many soda/beer spills. Got the usual 'clean it anyway.'

So I took a picture before I started. (long since trashed, sorry, but you can imagine).

He locked it up after I left, no ventilation. Wicked. Wouldn't pay cuz I wouldn't come back.
Took him to court. Judge took one look at the picture and said 'I can see why you would advise against cleaning this carpet.'  Told Mr Slumbucket to pay up.

Did he pay you ??
We won 2 judgements many years back, one was $ 700+ and one was $ 230, both no show, got the win and still no $$, that's why we stopped taking checks.

milspec6 wrote:I will be keeping far greater records from now on...lots of good reasons.

Yea for good reason, and once you get in the habit of taking BnA pics, it will be the first thing you think of when you see a challenge.

I take pics of prob 50% of the jobs I do, just to cover my A$$ and to show off.   .........that red 3 ring binder full of BnA pics comes in handy that always sits on my van dash, when a customer is asking you if their mess is 'cleanable'!   I can open my book of 8x10" pics and say look at this one I made look good last month!   

I tell you all what....

I am blown away by what SnO's does. You hear about every other cleaner squawk about flex or this or that other large disty's cleaner. How NOTHING works but these toxic soups to nuke clean carpets in their words.

Well, it's bologna. I have not come up to anything yet that SnO's cant DO well. The only problem I have ever had has been heavy grease on one job. So, I bought some hood cleaner for next time I run into that issue.

Just last night I cleaned an area rug that had petroleum grease on it. It was my first area rug. SnO's made the oil, GONE.

Freemind1 is spot on...literally. The hard part is letting go of what you normally use on those jobs. Over the years , we all develop our own mixture for each job condition and feel that we have the right mix. Letting go of that thinking and letting the S/O replace those mixes is the hard part.

Cleaning results with the S/O is the easy part?

That S/O/E works wonders. Instead of it being an optical brightener it's more of an optimal brightener. I think it coats the fibers that are dull and abraded with the polymer and that causes the pop effect. It works well however you look at it.

There's a lot of poly around here and I've found 3oz per gallon S/O with 3oz per gallon 27% peroxide agitated with a CRB works wonders. I rinse with S/O/E 2oz per gallon at 2 gph. I just did a place that the client thought their carpet was a light gray and it came out a light beige after cleaning. They were floored and really enjoy how much better their place looks now. S/O is a great product and with the CRB lifting the pile and making the carpet soft and fluffy again after agitating is a win win.

There's also another really good reason to use a S/O/E rinse on poly/olefin carpet..........

And that is because poly is so much more likely to have wicking as it drys (especially if you aren't speed drying it with a fan), because of the lack of absorbency.

Using S/O/E rinse on that type of carpet eliminates that wicking prob, or worst case greatly reduces it from what I've seen.   

I've basically gotten in the habit of always using a S/O/E rinse on poly/Olefin carpet, or any carpet that I know to have had wicking probs in the past.