Guest Blogger: Joe Rogers writes about commercial carpet cleaning using Bridgepoint products!

Joe Rogers owns Quest Floor Care in Christiansburg, Virginia and he is a Bridgepoint chemical customer of Interlink Supply.  After working as an employee in the cleaning industry, he started his own company and is now ranked high on Angie’s List in his region. He is a follower on my blog and recently started his own at https://www.facebook.com/QuestFloorcare.  Joe is a true southern gentleman from the southern region of the United States.

Joe wanted to share some cleaning tips for doing commercial glue down carpet. Many of us have our own methodology, but Joe will show that when you use Bridgepoint chemicals from Interlink Supply and have a ‘can do’ spirit, you can control the results of your work and influence the quality of the cleanings no matter what method you use.

Joe is also a Dr. Who fan…so my Dr. Who related question to him is what type of flooring is in the  TARDIS?  Dirt from so many centuries…who cleans it up? After so many seasons I have yet to see a housekeeper…

Commercial Glue Down:  Cleaning so that you have little or no wicking, even months later by Joesph L. Rogers.

 I remember when the thought of cleaning a Commercial Glue Down (CGD) carpet would stress me out hardcore.  All the pre-qualifying, trying to make sure the customer knew that some of the spots might come back, and if they DO, to let me know…and then wondering if they’d actually say anything to me or not.  What made it worse was when I was working for another company, and had to “Hurry, Hurry, Hurry, Rush, Rush, Rush”!  I’ve been running my own business for one year, now (papers came through in February of 2012), and thankfully I’ve had a couple of clients with CGD who were willing to give me some time and space to experiment.  It took a little experimentation, and a LOT of talking to other cleaners and gurus like Bridgepoint’s very own Scott Warrington to figure out what works best for me, but I’ve had great results since I got comfortable with the process.

Equipment:

I currently use an unheated 500 psi portable with auto-fill/auto dump, two 3 stage vacuums, a Cimex machine, a Hydramaster RX20, and a normal 2 jet portable wand.  (all of which can be purchased through an Interlink Supply near you)  For cleaning CGD I prefer to use the wand, but I would not want to be without the RX20 for residential carpet cleaning.  You could substitute a regular rotary style floor machine with a pad for the Cimex, but the Cimex comes with carpet brushes, and you can purchase pad drivers to go on it. I prefer to use both the pads and the brushes at different stages of the process.

I consider the Cimex to be an absolutely integral part of my cleaning arsenal, whether I’m doing carpet of any kind, rugs, tile and grout, and even stripping and waxing floors.  This is the single most versatile piece of equipment I own, and it is capable of cleaning multiple fiber types and situations, and provides a better, more impressive looking job for your clients.  If you do not currently have one, I suggest you begin budgeting for it as soon as possible.  The good news is that a rotary buffer with a pad on it will do the same things on CGD, just not as fast.

Cleaners:

Bridgepoint Traffic Slam (Prespray)
Citru-Solv (Booster/Degreaser/D-Limonene)
Boost-All (Oxygen based booster)
EncapuClean (used for Post Encap, any one of the Encapuclean family products will work here, such as Encapuclean with Maxim, or Encapuclean with O2)

Location:

Recently, the local country club asked me to do a demo for them on both a section of their carpet and on some of their tile and grout.  Nothing makes me happier than a potential client asking me to do a 10’ x 10’ area.  I’ll even let them pick the area because they always pick one of the worst areas.  This makes the contrast between clean and dirty stand out starkly, and they are always impressed with the results.  It is my understanding that to that point they’d been using a Rug Doctor to clean the carpet themselves for the past 4 years or so, and a week or two later, you wouldn’t be able to tell a difference.

The Job:

As always, pre-vacuuming is a crucial step in the cleaning process.  The bar area had been vacuumed the night before by the staff, but there were little bits of paper and what-not scattered here and there throughout the room.  After I vacuumed myself, I mixed up the Traffic Slam with Citru-Solv and Boost All in the Hydroforce at 1:8 dilution (yellow tip).  That’s 44 oz of Traffic Slam, 2-4 oz of Citru-Solv (depending on greasiness level), and 1-2 scoops of Boost All in the Hydroforce.  Then you fill the Hydroforce the rest of the way with water.

When applying prespray, especially without heat, don’t be afraid to apply it liberally.  You’re simply going to need more in the dirty areas in order to break loose the soiling and suspend it for extraction.  After prespraying, I take the Cimex with the white bristle carpet brushes, and give it a good scrubbing to help break loose the soiling:

If you encounter an area that seems to foam up excessively, or where water is pooling heavily in traffic areas, it’s very important to go over that area several times, as it is a key indicator of heavy soiling that has been packed in.  To demonstrate what I’m talking about, run your wand over an area close to a wall while holding the trigger.  These areas tend to have far less soiling, and the carpet fibers will absorb the water quickly, and it will not pool up unless you’re holding the wand in one place.  In the heavily soiled areas, though, it will pool up very quickly, even if you’re moving the wand.  I’ve found that running the wand over these areas anywhere from 3 to 6 times will show a significant improvement in how much water is pooling behind the wand.  (Keep in mind, I’m not suggesting that you make 3 to 6 clean passes over the entire carpet, but you are most likely a carpet cleaner if you’re reading this, and the point is to get the carpet CLEAN, right?).  Click here to see a video of this.  The video is not from this particular job, but the carpet was horribly dirty, and is a great example of what I’m talking about.

So now, after wanding out a section of the carpet, this is what it should look like:

As a one man operation I have to do this a section at a time otherwise I risk the prespray drying out on me.  My lovely office manager, whom I have been married to for the last 8 years, will occasionally come out and push the Cimex around for me.  Having a second set of hands on the larger jobs will really make a big difference in your production per square foot.  I usually average anywhere from 300 to 600 square feet per hour on jobs like this using the processes described in this article.  As you finish sections, be sure to set out fans to speed the drying process and don’t freak out if the carpet starts to bubble or wrinkle after you get it wet.  That happens sometimes, and it will self-correct as it dries.

Now for the last step, and the one that’s going to set you apart from the other guys that do this.  Time for the post-HWE encapping.  I put the pad drivers on the Cimex, grab some tan pads, and fill up the Cimex tank with some encap juice.  There are 3 choices, usually.  Encapuclean is just a normal encapsulating cleaner, but you can also use Encapuclean with Maxim, or with O2.  Encapuclean with Maxim with actually leave a fluourochemical protectant on the fibers, the same as when you apply Maxim on a residential carpet after cleaning, and Encapuclean with O2 will give lighter colored fibers some “pop”, making them look brighter and better than they had before.  Encapuclean with O2 also makes a crazy good spotter.  Experiment with it some, and see what YOU think.  It’s not necessary to use a lot of the encap juice here, either.

Several months later, this carpet still looks great, and I’ve cleaned another section, with several more areas scheduled in the future.  Another satisfied customer!

Joe has a very satisfied client on his hands. Joe approached the country club for a testimonial and this was what he got…

“It was a pleasure to work with Quest Floor Care. Joseph took extra care to make sure that the carpets and tile were impeccably cleaned around our hectic schedule. It is rare to have a company pay such close attention to detail and do a job very well the first time, versus just “getting it done” to make the sale. I would highly recommend Quest Floor Care to any homeowner or business in the NRV.”

E.W., Blacksburg Country Club

The morale to this story is that whether you use a portable or a truckmount, if you pay attention to the needs of the client you can be a success.  Are there some things some of us would have done differently, sure, but the point is that as long as we follow the basic principles of cleaning and use high quality products like those available from Bridgepoint at Interlink Supply we can overcome obstacles and turn stumbling blocks into stepping stones.

Joe shops with Sandy out of our store in Greensboro, North Carolina. The store there is located at:

Interlink Supply – Greensboro

616-F Guilford College Road Greensboro, NC 27409 336-299-2299

There is another store in Richmond, Virginia that borders that territory:

Interlink Supply – Richmond

3309 West Marshall Street Richmond, VA 23230 888-743-8690

If you are like me and you like the best of everything then, like Joe, you should shop with Interlink Supply. We have the best products, the best customer service, the best mechanics…the list could go on, but you get the idea. We don’t go through the trouble of keeping a brick and mortar store open so you can have a crumby experience. Every employee of Interlink is an ambassador of the best that the world of cleaning and restoration has to offer.

If you would like to be a guest blogger too, then feel free to email me your blog idea. My blog reaches over 100 countries and has thousands of readers, so you can get a chance to let the world know about your cleaning prowess.  The rules for blog submissions are simple:

1: The topic must be about cleaning and restoration.

2: It must be well written with pictures to keep it interesting. It may be edited for content and structure. I ain’t gonna tolerate any bad Englush.

3: It must be all about Bridgepoint products and products sold by Interlink Supply. Make it a love letter. I know that sounds biased, but too bad, Interlink pays my mortgage…

4: Don’t try to suck up to me by degrading my competitors, they have enough problems. Focus on the positive.

5: Re-read step 3.

If you really want to be published, you can make your own blog like Joe. Make it interesting and use it to reach out to new clients and also to maintain your relationship with existing ones.

Of course, when you use Bridgepoint products from Interlink Supply and take advantage of the education provided at our stores, then you will always have a successful job to write about.

Thank you for all your questions and comments. I will get to them all. I’m sorry if it seems like there are delays, but I only do this part time.

Thanks for reading this blog. I have some really interesting articles coming up on residential wood floors, mold restoration and air duct cleaning. Thank you for your patience.

Robert Falzone, Interlink Supply of Las Vegas