Commercial Carpet Cleaning
The Process - Overview
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Prevacuum- What the janitor did last night doesn’t count!
Spotting – Some stains are best removed before cleaning.
Prespray – Powder or liquid? Which product for this job?
Agitation – How much agitation is required?
Extract – Is fresh water rinse OK?
Post Cleaning – Do I really need to do this step?
Protector – Which carpets need protector?
Pile Setting – When is this necessary?
Drying – Should I leave an air mover?
Selecting the Best Products
• After we look at the basic steps of
commercial cleaning, well look at
choosing the most appropriate
prespray, boosters, rinses and other
cleaning agents.
The Process
1. Prevacuum- No! What the janitor did last
night doesn’t count!
Commercial carpets are often heavily
impacted by tracked in soils.
Consider using a counter-rotating brush
machine like the Brush Pro to open the pile
and loosen soil followed by thorough
vacuuming for best cleaning results and to
reduce wicking.
The Process
2. Spotting – The majority of stains will be
removed in your regular carpet cleaning
process. But, some stains are best removed
before cleaning. Damp carpet has the effect of
diluting stain removal agents.
Your experience will tell you what stains require
prespotting.
The Process
2. Spotting before cleaning Use RedZONE for artificial food
coloring dyes from Kool-ade, Gatorade
and the like.
Use StainZONE for mustard and hard to
remove stains from organic sources.
The Process
3. Prespray – Powder or liquid? Which
product for this job?
In general, powders are more economical; Liquids
are more convenient and can contain more grease
busting solvents.
We will compare presprays later in this program.
The Process
4. Agitation – How much agitation is
required?
Agitation can be accomplished in a number of
ways depending upon the carpet’s construction
and the soil load.
Let’s look at a few options.
The Process
4. Agitation This may be as simple as a Grandi
Brush or as aggressive as rotary floor machine
with brushes or pads.
However, many carpet manufacturers frown on
rotary methods. A counter-rotating brush
machine like the Brush Pro provides great
agitation while really opening up the pile for
better cleaning and better final appearance.
The Process
5. Extract – Is a fresh water rinse OK?
If there are areas that were covered by furniture or for
some other reason did not get presprayed an
extraction detergent allows you to clean those less
soiled areas. Just water won’t cut it.
What about heavily soiled traffic lanes? After 1 or 2
wand strokes your cleaning agent has been extracted.
Extraction detergent means you are still cleaning
when additional scrubbing is required.
The Process
5. Extract –
Get additional cleaning boost by rinsing with
White Lightning or End Zone!
The Process
6. Prevent wicking, Protect & Neutralize
– Now you can do all 3 in 1 step
Wick back of coffee spills, tracked in soils, etc. can be a
nightmare on commercial accounts.
Encapuguard Green neutralizes alkaline residues, while
preventing wicking and slowing resoiling. The carpet will be
cleaner when you return in 30, 60 or 90 days!
Spray on Encapuguard Green after every commercial HWE
cleaning!
The Process
7. Protector – Which carpets need protector?
All carpets benefit from protector which add resistance
to dry soils, water based soil and oily soils. Olefin
especially benefits from resistance to tracked in oils
from parking areas and food service areas.
If your client’s budget doesn’t include a full
application of Maxim Advanced Carpet Protector,
Encapuclean Green provides excellent protection
between cleanings!
The Process
8. Pile Setting – When is this necessary?
Much commercial carpet uses loop pile
construction. Most of these carpets won’t need
pile setting.
A Grandi Brush is a great help when pile setting
would improve the appearance!
The Process
9. Drying – Should I leave an air mover?
Commercial buildings likely have no open
windows; they may shut down A/C and
ventilation. Cleaning large areas adds a lot of
moisture to the air. This can be a bad
combination! Musty odors, even ripples may
result. Arrange to keep HVAC operating if
possible.
Air movers to speed drying are often a necessity!
Choosing a Prespray
Flex is Bridgepoint’s strongest prespray. It
works great on most commercial carpet.
Does that mean it’s always the best choice?
If the only tool you have is a hammer, every job looks like a nail.
Choosing a Prespray
Factors to consider:
• Soil Load – a less aggressive, less expensive
prespray may be fine if the carpet is not extremely
soiled.
Zone Perfect will work fine and save you
money.
If the only tool you have is a hammer, every job looks like a nail.
Choosing a Prespray
Factors to consider:
Frequency of cleaning – Carpets that are
cleaned frequently will have less soil build-up.
Carpets that are cleaned infrequently are more
likely to need the hard hitting grease and soil
removal ability of Flex.
Choosing a Prespray
Factors to consider:
Type of fiber – Traffic Slam is formulated
specifically to remove tracked-in particle soiling
that often bind tightly to olefin fiber. Traffic Slam is
highly concentrated to save you money and may
work as well or better when cleaning olefin.
•
Using Flex on residential carpets could damage the
stain resist properties or void a stain resist warranty.
The Strengths of FLEX
• High pH – Why that helps
– Better and faster emulsification and saponification of
greases and oils.
• Solvents – What do they do?
– Dissolve both petroleum and vegetable oils.
– Some presprays leave out solvents due to
environmental or regulatory concerns
• High Cloud Point
– Maximum effectiveness is reached above 200OF!
Cautions When Using FLEX
• High pH – Requires safe practices and PPE; Flex may
void stain resist warranties for residential carpets; Flex is
not suggested for natural fibers including wool, jute or
cotton; Flex will accelerate cellulosic browning if plant
fibers are present (jute or cotton)
• Solvents – Produce VOCs, which may be regulated,
have some odors and can pollute the environment if not
disposed of properly.
• High Cloud Point – is not as beneficial if high
heat is not available.
Alternatives to FLEX
• TRAFFIC SLAM is a good choice for
– Olefin carpets and tracked in soils which are common in
commercial settings
• BIO BREAK a good choice
– When enzyme action is needed to break down tough food spills,
including food oils and protein, is desired.
• POWER BREAK a good choice
– If the economy of a powdered prespray with 100% active
ingredients is desired for cleaning apartments, restaurants and
restoration situations.
• ZONE PERFECT is a good choice for
– Light to moderate soils on commercial carpet and Residential
nylon carpets with a stain resist warranty
Choosing an Emulsifier
• Your emulsifier helps assure thorough rinsing and
removal of cleaning agents along with the soil. It
does this by lowering the surface tension of the
rinse water allowing it to penetrate every abrasion,
nook or cranny in the carpet fiber and flush away
loosened soils.
• It also assures you have cleaning ability for areas
where no prespray is present or when prespray has
already been rinsed away by scrub strokes.
Choosing an Emulsifier
• White Lightning is a super effective,
highly concentrated powder for extraction.
It dissolves quickly, blasts away heavy soils
while leaving almost 0 residue.
• White lightning has a high cloud point, is
non-ionic and is economical. The ideal
choice for grimy apartments and other
heavily soiled commercial carpet.
Choosing an Emulsifier
• End ZONE is a liquid emulsifier with good
cleaning ability. Its powerful surfactants
help rinse away sand and other particulates.
• End ZONE also neutralizes alkalinity to
leave carpets softer and residue free.
• End ZONE works in any temperature
water. It contains corrosion inhibitors to
protect your equipment.
Choosing an Emulsifier
• Power Point is a versatile liquid
extraction formula that is effective on all
types of carpet from greasy restaurants to
residential carpet.
• Power Point leaves no soil-attracting
residue behind. A great choice is you
prefer to keep it simple and use one
emulsifier for every situation.
Boosters
• Boosters help your prespray cut through
heavy greasy build-up while providing other
advantages as well. But boosters are not
needed on every job.
• Let’s look at two popular boosters and see
what they have to offer.
Boosters
• Citrus Solv is one of the most
popular products in the industry! The
addition of 1 or 2 ounces to each
gallon of your prespray cuts through
the worst greasy and oily soils to
avoid recleaning or additional
scrubbing.
• Citrus Solv is 100% active
ingredients, the most powerful citrus
solvent available.
Boosters
• Boost All adds the power of oxygen to your
cleaning solution. The increased alkalinity
allows your prespray to continue working
longer in the presence of heavy soil.
• The oxygen in Boost All whitens and
brightens dingy traffic lanes. Colors and
bold patterns really pop!
Cleaning Options
Be sure to watch for
Commercial Carpet Cleaning
Encapsulation
Coming soon to www.CleanWiki.com