Most of the cleaners here on MikeysBoard are heavily weighted on the residential side of the business. There’s certainly nothing wrong with that equation. However I’d like to share a few good reasons to at least consider expanding your service offerings to include more commercial work.

1. Ease of Training

The most common method in our industry for residential carpet cleaning is to use truck-mounted hot water extraction equipment. And while a truckmount will make Mrs Piffleton’s carpet shine, you’ll most likely find that other methods such as encap cleaning will be used more often in a commercial setting. And that’s where it gets tricky. A truckmount requires a fair amount of training and supervision. You’re not likely to cut a new guy loose until he’s racked up considerable time being trained. And once that new hire has been sent out to clean a commercial account on his own, there’s greater potential for problems to occur using a truckmount system than with low moisture systems for commercial carpet care. On the other hand, a commercial carpet cleaning set up is generally simpler and easier to train, so a technician can go out and consistently produce excellent results with far less training and supervision.

2. The Truck’s In the Driveway

When a residential carpet cleaning truck rolls in after the last home is cleaned, the vehicle normally sits there through the night feeling lonely. Poor truck. Trucks need love. They want to be driven. They want to get out and make you money! What would you think about running it for a few hours a night? Those few extra hours can roll in a tidy profit (we’ll cover that in a moment).

3. Avoiding Traffic Jams

“How I hate to be late. It hurts my motor to go so slow. Time I get home, my supper’ll be cold.” Borrowed a line from an old James Taylor song there. But it’s true. I HATE driving around in daytime traffic, especially when I’m late for an appointment (a.k.a. getting to the next customer’s home). But driving down the interstate at night is a breeze. The traffic is light and it’s pretty stress free. I know this is a small thing, but I think it’s fairly significant. Less stress on the driver, and in fact less stress on the vehicle.

 4. Avoiding the Song & Dance

When I was doing residential carpet cleaning I would invariably have to first make friends with the yapping terrier while making trivial conversation with the chatty home owner. Then I’d have to address each of their cleaning concerns – there’s a coffee spot here, the dog peed there, can you get out this red wine stain, and do you think this rust stain will come out? Then after doing a terrific job, carefully grooming the carpet, and putting tabs under all the furniture, I’d get to go through another 10 minute conversation as I finished up and collected my check. By comparison when we get to a commercial job there’s very little song & dance – we jump straight into hustle mode. It’s time to boogie, there’s money to be made.

5. Auto-Pilot System

I touched on this above in the section about training, but it can’t be overstated. Setting up a duplicatable system that produces consistent results with commercial carpet is dead  on simple. A commercial operation requires little oversight on the part of the business owner. I call it “running on auto-pilot”. Developing a clear and simple format for handling the customers and cleaning their companies carpets efficiently is what I’m talking about. And this is easier than you might be thinking. For example, there are guys out there who are setting up and successfully running Encap Routes. They’ll line up accounts and send out a vehicle that goes from business to business performing encap cleaning over the course of an evening. It’s simple and it’s profitable. Which brings me to my next point.

6. Ample Profit

Encap cleaning can be accomplished at high production rates using the Cimex along with a good encap detergent. The Cimex has a normal operating range of 2,000-3,000 sq ft per hour. So if we factor a baseline of 2,500 sq ft per hr and you were to charge a moderately low rate of 10 cents per sq ft – a single machine will yield $250 per hour. Of course, if your rates are higher than 10 cents per sq ft your profit will increase accordingly.

Let’s do the math: If you had one technician running one Cimex, cleaning 3 hours per night, 5 nights per week – you’d be able to generate $3750 per week (that’s with one guy and one machine). Go ahead and check my math, that’s NOT a typo – 15 hours of Cimex pushing can generate $3750. If you maintained that average of working 3 hours a night, 5 nights a week – you’ll add $195,000 to your annual sales (per technician). And as mentioned above, this is all happening without a lot of oversight from you, at a time that your truck would otherwise be sitting idle in your driveway.

7. Low Operating Costs

You can buy a Cimex or CRB machine for less than $3,000. That’s peanuts compared to purchasing, maintaining, insuring, and fueling a truckmount. The cost of  performing the actual cleaning is low too. For example a case of the best encap detergent on the market can clean 39,900 sq ft of carpet – with an end use cost of just 3/10ths of a cent. Looking at it another way, if you were charging the 10 cents per sq ft we mentioned earlier, that case of detergent would generate $3,990. That’s a 27 to 1 increase. See if your cousin Bob the day-trader can match that kind of return.

8. Employees Who Love What They Do

With the kind of money outlined above you comfortably have room to pay your employees handsomely, while having plenty left for other operating costs and profit. In my cleaning business we’ve made it a practice to pay between one to two cents per sq ft. And we pay them through a payroll service that handles all of their taxes and worker’s comp. On the average a man cleaning 2500 sq ft per hr at a penny and a half per sq ft will earn $37.50 per hour. Yeah, that’s some nice money. You know what kind of worker that money will get you? A loyal and generally problem free employee. One you can expect to represent your company like a true professional. And one that can be held accountable for screw-ups.

9. Repeat Business

Many residential carpet cleaners have a nice set of routine customers who hopefully use their services again and again. However there’s also a natural rate of attrition, where old customers fall off the list and new ones need to be added. With commercial work, accounts can last for years or even decades. Once you’ve filled your coffers with a quiver full of commercial accounts it rolls along like clockwork. And don’t forget that a business with a database of regular repeat accounts can be sold at some point when an owner wants to cash out.

10. More Time For What Matters Most

Let’s face it, money is important – we all need it. But what has even greater value than money? Time. Ask a dying man if he’d like a few thousand dollars or a few more days to live. His choice will be obvious. Our time is valuable, it’s the stuff life is made of. Commercial carpet cleaning makes it possible to buy out time for important things.  Having a business that runs on auto-pilot, with technician(s) out working while you’re home with your family makes sense to me.

10.5 The Jimmy Thing

Well here’s reason number 10.5 for loving commercial carpet cleaning. And this may be the best reason of ‘em all. As a commercial carpet cleaning superstar you’ll be able to go onto Mikeysboard and spar with none other than the infamous Jimmy. And you’ll get to hear him say “you’re a shampoo hack”. You’ll help elevate his blood pressure into the red zone as he watches yet another cleaner enter the commercial fray. What could be better than that?

PB&J

OK so I’ve outlined 10.5 reasons for you why I love commercial carpet cleaning. In fact I could go on all day expounding the merits of commercial carpet care. I hope the ideas I’ve shared will get you to think about ways that commercial carpet cleaning can add to your bottom line. As we speak with cleaners around the country at Excellent Supply we’re seeing that more and more residential guys are getting it. They’re seeing the value of expanding their commercial focus, in fact some are going “full commercial”. Residential carpet cleaning is a great business. Expanding into commercial simply opens another window of opportunity. When I was a kid I loved PB&J sandwiches. Around our house we called ‘em “choke & slide” sandwiches. The jelly made the peanut butter slide down and added the sweetness a kid craved. The same idea applies here. Why not add a nice scoop of commercial carpet to your residential sandwich and see how yummy it can be?

Rick Gelinas cleaning a cubicle farm with the Cimex and Releasit

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A fine fabric specialist recently asked me how to remove red wine from both a white linen chair and white cotton couch.  (It must have been quite a party!)

A supplier recommended a strong peroxide based stain remover that is designed for wool rugs.  While such a product may work on wool with pretesting and care, these are the risks involved when using peroxide based stain removers on cellulose fibers like cotton and linen, as well as some far safer things to try first:

Strong peroxide stain removers often “overwhiten” and weaken cellulose fibers.  Cleaners and stain removal products that contain reducing agents are safer than bleaches, but in some cases may leave a difficult to remove residue from the fabric.

Before using oxidizers or reducers, do the following:

1. Make sure the customer takes full responsibility for the issue, as what you are trying to do can bleach, weaken, or distort the fabric. Get the understanding in writing.
2. Spray the affected pieces with distilled water.  Distilled water should prevent water marks from occurring due to the spotting process.
3. Apply an acidic detergent like Sapphire Scientific Natural Fiber Cleaner or spotting agent, such as Bridgepoint TCU.
4. Brush the solution in gently, and then blot the stained areas carefully.
5. If you see color transfer, continue to gently blot (very gently…be patient) until you quit seeing any color transfer.
6. Rinse with clear, warm (not hot) water.
7. Dry the fabric and repeat again until no more stain remains. Often wine will come out completely with acid detergents or spotters without the need to bleach or use reducers.If it doesn’t work, allow the fabric to dry, then apply distilled water again, and follow with a mist of hydrogen peroxide (3%). Allow it to dry and see if you need to go further. This takes care of wine stains without resorting to stronger products that may over whiten and weaken the fabric.

As always, the risk is your customers’, not yours.

~ J.Pemberton

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Carpet Cleaners and Restorers Define What Kind of Job They Would Never Do without Their RX-20 Rotary Extraction Tool from HydraMaster-

5/8/13

The HydraMaster RX-20 is a tool that every cleaner and restorer should own. It revolutionized the way that carpets are cleaned, and remains the standard of performance in rotary extraction. With three spray jets matched with 5 vacuum slots, the RX-20 makes over 650 cleaning passes per minute. This super agitation, combined with the unit’s weight cleans a carpet deeper, extracting soil and cleaning solution. The rotating head cleans all sides of the carpet fiber, fluffing up and restoring the pile. Save your back, clean more carpets, and clean them better.

We asked some professional cleaners and restorers on our Facebook Page, what kind of jobs they would never try to do without their RX-20?. Here are just a few of their answers…

•  I just did a 20,000 square foot building in Washington DC, 10 floors with the Titan and the RX20. Of course the customer was amazed.

Ryan G.

•  EVERY SINGLE CUT PILE CARPET I HAVE EVER DONE! Love that machine!

Joseph R.

•  Three story court house in Tupelo, Mississippi – Elvis’s birth place. Used my Boxxer and my RX20 and did an unbelievable job. I love my machine and my RX20.

Stephen H.

•  Long hallways in a retirement center. Well truthfully, all our jobs!

Ed H.

•  Every job!

Shawn M.

•  It is like that famous battery bunny. It just keeps going and going and going. It does not poop out even after I have, which means I clean consistently the same way throughout the job and the day.

Bruce D.

For more information on the RX-20 Rotary Extraction Tool, contact your local HydraMaster Distributor, visit our web site at www.hydramaster.com  or call us at 1-800-426-1301. You can visit the HydraMaster Facebook page at www.facebook.com/cleansolutions.

Regards,

R. Doyle Bloss

Marketing and Brand Manager

HydraMaster/U.S. Products

11015 47^th Ave W

Mukilteo, WA  98275

800-426-1301, x 1728

www.hydramaster.com

www.usproducts.com

www.cleanmaster.com

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May 6th, 2013

New Complete Guard Carpet and Fabric Protector from CleanMaster provides 3 levels of stain protection and soil resistance.

Complete Guard Carpet and Fabric Protector represents cutting edge technology in carpet protectors today. It uses state-of-the-art, environmentally preferred short-chain fluorochemical technology to protect against damaging dry soils as well as both water-based and oil-based spills. Even better though is how Complete Guard coats fibers with a dye-blocking stain barrier to protect them from dye stains and common household food and beverage spills. Complete Guard protects the fiber completely, not just at the top like conventional protectors. Conventional protectors rely on a repellency barrier across the top of carpeting to protect carpet fibers, and while such protectors perform well, especially when spills are cleaned up immediately, once a spill penetrates the protective barriers of repellent protectors they immediately bond to the fiber, creating difficult to remove stains. CleanMaster Complete Guard also contains polymers too – providing three different levels and types of stain protection and soil resistance. Complete Guard protects the carpet by providing a surface tension across the top of the carpet, and protective additives which protect the carpet from staining both working from the inside to the outside and the outside to the inside.

That is the highest level of stain prevention technology available. Complete Guard also reduces or eliminates extended drying times you experience with conventional protectors, because it uses half the water of most other protectors. Special dispersing agents make sure that the carpet is thoroughly protected without soaking the carpet with more water. Your customers will love how easily spills are removed and how great their carpet will look between cleanings. Complete Guard is recommended for application to nylon and wool carpets, and greatly enhances the oil based soil repellency of olefin, polyester, and triexta carpet.

For more information on Complete Guard, and the complete CleanMaster line of products, contact your local HydraMaster Distributor, visit our web site at www.hydramaster.com/cleanmaster or call us at 1-800-426-1301.

For more information on this press release:

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If you look up the term “Green”, it really means “do what you need to do to do your job correctly, but make sure that you do the least amount of damage while doing so.” This is pretty much a compressed version of a big statement (below).

Green cleaning refers to using cleaning methods and products with environmentally-friendly ingredients to preserve human health and environmental quality.
1. Green cleaning techniques and products avoid the use of chemically-reactive and toxic cleaning products which contain various toxic chemicals, some of which emit volatile organic compound. Green cleaning can also describe the way residential and industrial cleaning products are manufactured, packaged and distributed. If the manufacturing process is environmentally-friendly and the products are biodegradable, then the term “green” or “eco-friendly” may apply. Green cleaning is behavioral as well as simply using healthy and environmentally-friendly products.
2. Consumers are being made aware of the ways in which green cleaning is most-effectively used

So, if the above explanations are true, then being Green is a process.  It is a moving target, that is constantly changing.
Dr Michael Berry wrote an excellent article last year that gives you even more details.  I encourage you to read that as well.

In 2013, California Air Resource Board (CARB) came up with a production ban on alkylphenol ethoxylates (APE, APEO, N-9 N-6, etc).  All liquids in our industry contain APEOs, or at least used to prior to 2013.
Lets first try to understand what APEOs are.  APEOs are so-called “hormone disruptors” that can interfere with the body’s natural chemical messages, either by blocking or mimicking the actions of hormones. Possible health effects include decreased sperm counts, increased rates of male birth defects such as cryptorchidism (undescended testicles) and hypospadias (where the urethra is on the underside of the penis), and increased rates of some kinds of cancers. The alkylphenol ethoxylates (APEs) used in some detergents and cleaners have been shown to mimic the hormone estrogen; one APE, p-nonylphenol, has caused estrogen-sensitive breast cancer cells to multiply in a test tube study. 

In Britain, researcher John Sumpter, discovered that male fish exposed to APEs in rivers were producing female egg-yolk proteins.
So, according to our definition of “Green”, if your product contains APEOs, then you violate the definition of Green.
Almost all powdered chemicals in our industry use some form of Phosphates.  Let’s look at what phosphates do.  
When phosphates enter (even after they are treated in a sanitary sewer treatment plant) our lakes, oceans and streams, they act as a fertilizer, spawning overgrowth of algae. This overabundance of aquatic plant life eventually depletes the water’s oxygen supply, killing off fish and other organisms. 
So, according to our definition of “Green”, if your product contains Phosphates, then you violate the definition of Green.
For those of you who would like a spelled out translation and also give you the a marketing tool to educate your customers, please read this section on the Organic Consumer’s website.

John Nelson is the current owner of Organic Cleaning Compounds, carpet cleaning chemicals manufacturer and carpet cleaning truck-mount manufacturer.  (He took over three years ago when the old owners retired).  Being a Carpet Cleaner all his life, John wanted to bring the safest products to our industry.  John also franchises Carpet Cops franchises that have a niche of serving consumers that prefer organic products.

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Hard Surface Cleaning Tips

 Installment #2

By Bryan Thompson

In the first installment I outlined the importance of being able to properly identify the type of hard surface material you will be cleaning.  If your read that installment, you know that I stated that it’s absolutely essential to positively identify the flooring material, and determine if there are any pre-existing conditions that will impede the cleaning process, before any cleaning procedure is actually performed.

Identifying the material type will tell you what precautions you need to take to prevent damaging the floor during the cleaning process.

Here, then, is a detailed explanation of the 5 step pre-inspection process that I created to get the hard facts, with an emphasis on why each step is performed, and more importantly what to look for when using the testing procedure.

Step 1: Scratch test. This procedure reveals how hard the material is when scratched with a knife.

The reason why this is important to know, is that all natural stone has specific hardness that correlates to the “Mohs” hardness scale from 1-10. This scale rates the hardness of stone from Talc at #1 to Diamond at #10 being the hardest of all stones.

Softer stones such as Travertine, Marble, Limestone and Slate will all scratch to varying degrees with this test procedure. Slate being the softer around 2-3 and Marble being a harder stone around 4-5 on the Mohs hardness scale.

Manmade surfaces like Ceramic and Porcelain will not show scratches with this test procedure, and are widely used in heavy traffic areas for this reason.

Ceramic and Porcelain are harder then 5.5 on the Mohs hardness scale and are harder than most Granites which are around 7-9. The scale has a dividing point at 5.5; the reason why is that every stone below 5.5 (slate, travertine, marble) will physically show scratches when tested, and every stone above 5.5 like Granite and Quartz, will not scratch when tested with the knife. That is why builders put Granite Countertops in kitchens, because it won’t scratch in food prep, and Marble Countertops in bathrooms, where there is less chance of abrasion, staining and scratching.

 If the tile being tested can be scratched, then precautions MUST be taken not to damage (scratch) the surface of the tile when using a hard surface spinner tool, or if agitation is required as part of the overall cleaning process, such as stripping floor finish or agitating grout lines that are heavily impacted with soil.

If the tile scratched when tested or has a coating that will scratch (epoxy urethane) then the first precaution taken is to make sure to install the brush ring on your spinner tool, that is, if it has both a hard plastic book ring as well as a brush ring attachment. Put the brush ring on FIRST before any cleaning is performed!

The reason why this is extremely important is because the hard plastic boot ring (which is generally used for manmade tile and grout that won’t scratch) can however, get small particles of sand or rock embedded in the hard plastic ring and subsequently, if left on, will deeply scratch the softer stones such as marble, travertine and slate. Also it is very important to remember, that if there is a coating such as an epoxy urethane on the surface to be cleaned, that too will scratch and must be protected by installing the brush ring or, if agitation is required as part of the cleaning process, only use a “medium bristle” brush to agitate the floor.

The moral of the story is this: If it can be scratched, put your “Brush Ring on FIRST” before proceeding with any cleaning process.

If you are going to strip any coatings off a natural stone floor, don’t to be too aggressive with the agitation; meaning how stiff of a brush or scrubbing pad you use on a floor machine to remove finish, or agitate the grout lines. The flooring material (slate, travertine marble) under the coating may be scratched as you remove the coating. It is always better to be “Safe than Sorry.”

Step 2: Scrape test. This test will show you if there is a coating, such as floor finish or epoxy urethane on the surface.

The reason this is important to know is, if there is floor finish on the surface of the tile, then it is absolutely in the grout!

 If it is in the grout this will severely impede the cleaning process and the grout will not come clean until the floor finish is “stripped out” of the grout.

This process can be extremely tedious and challenging because the floor finish is not just on the surface of the grout but “IN” the grout, as well!

This will require extensive labor to get it out of the grout, this procedure is the only way you can achieve a uniform grout appearance. This is extremely important to understand, and too properly “manage the customer’s expectation” when trying to clean grout with floor finish in it, this pre-existing condition will leave the grout looking splotchy (mottled) or uneven in appearance.

I will explain the process of stripping grout in a later Sapphire “Hard Facts” cleaning tip of the month.

Step 3: Acid test. This test will show if the flooring material is acid sensitive which, if it is, means that you cannot use acid/grout brightener in cleaning of the grout. If it is used on acid sensitive flooring to remove staining in the grout, it will get on the surface of the tile and etch or dull the surface. Natural stone such as Travertine, Marble, Limestone and Onyx are all acid sensitive because, they are all calcium carbonate (Lime) based stones.

When performing this test you are looking to see if a “Whitish Fizzing” (chemical reaction) occurs on the surface of the tile when a drop of acidic cleaner is applied. 

If the tile does “Fizz” when tested it is a calcium carbonate-based stone (i.e. marble, limestone, travertine) or a cement based flooring such as Terrazzo.

Remember if acidic cleaners are used, severe damage to polished Marble, Travertine or Limestone will occur and restoration polishing will be the only avenue to restore an acid etched surface.

The alternative chemical to use on acid sensitive surfaces like marble, travertine and limestone will be an alkaline based oxygenated cleaner, such as Sapphire Oxcelerate to brighten stained or splotchy grout.

Step 4: Absorption test. This test will help you identify several facts about the grout. A water droplet test will tell you if there is active penetrating sealer in a standard cement based grout.

This means that if water is dropped into unsealed cement based grout; the grout will absorb the water and turn darker.  To indentify whether or not there is active penetrating sealer in the grout or to identify if it is an “Epoxy” grout. Place a drop of undiluted Sapphire Concrete, Tile and Grout brightener into the grout line and watch for a chemical reaction which will develop as a “white fizzing.” 

If a chemical reaction (fizzing) appears then this identifies two distinct factors:  1. it is a cement based grout, and 2. there is “NO” active penetrating sealer present.

When performing the acid test in the grout line and there is “NO” chemical reaction, don’t assume that it is arbitrarily “Epoxy” based grout which doesn’t chemically react to acids. Here is why; cement based grout with “Active” penetrating sealer will not instantaneously start to “Fizz”, the reason why, is that the sealer is is doing its job and is “actively” repelling away the acid from chemically reacting(fizzing) with the lime in the grout matrix.

Moreover, if you apply the acid to the grout and it doesn’t fizz, take your knife and scratch the grout; if it starts to “Fizz” then it is a cement based grout with active penetrating sealer. What happened is that you scratched passed where the sealer was active/repelling the acid, and got down into the true cement base of the grout and that is why, after physically scratching, the grout it starts to “Fizz.”

 If the grout doesn’t fizz after scratching it when acid is present, then it is an “Epoxy” based grout and won’t fizz because it has no cement (lime) content in it. Epoxy grout is a two-stage product; one part epoxy resin and the second part are primarily glass beads.

Epoxy based grout also doesn’t darken when water is applied to it because it is “non absorbent” grout, and is also highly stain resistant. That is why it doesn’t require, or need to be sealed, with a penetrating sealer.

Step 5: Grout hardness/strength. This test helps you determine the overall hardness of the grout, which is vital to know before setting your cleaning pressure. The usual pressure to clean grout is between 800-1200 psi. with 1000 psi being the standard cleaning pressure; unless your hardness test reveals the grout is weak and has lost some if not all structural integrity (hardness).

To test for grout hardness take your knife or scratch awl and press firmly into the grout in several sections of the floor; kitchen, entrance, hallway ect.

If the knife penetrates into the grout when pressure is applied, how easily did it go in?

Normal grout with good structural integrity(hardness can) can withstand 4000 psi of physical compression (not water pressure), meaning if the knife has a hard time penetrating the grout and the tip of the knife barely goes in then that grout has sufficient hardness to withstand cleaning pressures as high as 1200-1400 psi. of water pressure.

Normally 1200 psi is enough for most cleanings. However, if there is floor finish in the grout and you’re trying to strip it out, then if your test shows it is hard, you can turn your pressure up to 1400 psi.

 Always test cleaning pressures in an inconspicuous spot FIRST before proceeding to clean throughout.

If the grout feels soft when testing, then how soft is it? Does the grout crumble or is it so soft that the knife blade goes in far enough that the knife will stand on its own when you let go of the knife? If so, then the grout may be too SOFT to clean, even at the lowest pressure of 800psi. The average hard surface “spinner” cleaning tools have a minimum cleaning pressure rating of 800 psi and a maximum of 2500 psi. If you try to run the tool under 800 psi the spray bar won’t turn fast enough and will leave swirl marks on the floor.

Here is where I draw the line when testing grout for hardness; if the knife goes in easily or crumbles, I will advise the customer that the grout is too weak to clean and must be replaced.

If the knife goes in but not easily, and won’t stand on its own, then I will advise the customer their  gout is starting to lose it “structural integrity” (hardness) and I can clean it at 800 psi, However I’m not responsible for any grout lose or deterioration.

 I will perform a test cleaning for the customer in the weak area to show them if there will be any grout damage, and then let them decide if they want me to proceed, but only after signing my cleaning disclaimer which states; I’m not responsible for any damage whether real or imagined, from the cleaning process. I use this same wording for cleaning natural stone especial as it pertains to wear patterns and scratches that are revealed after the dirt is removed from the surface of the tile floor.

These 5 steps, if done properly before any cleaning procedure is started, or any cleaning estimates quoted, will save you countless hours of aggravation and assure that you make a good profit on every cleaning performed. This testing procedure will also give you the knowledge to “manage the expectation” with your customer so they completely understand the level of service you can provide.

 Most importantly, it will give you the knowledge to better educate your customer as to why you have to charge more for the cleaning, due to the “pre- existing conditions” that will take more time and most importantly more Labor to finish the job.

Time is money” and the most expensive part of any cleaning is your labor!

 Remember price has “NO” meaning without “Value”!

Value comes through understanding and properly educating your customer in every aspect of the cleaning service. From what type of flooring material it is, to how the floor is actually going to be cleaned procedurally, and most importantly, what should the customer expect the end result to look like. Your customer will appreciate your level of expertise and the fact that you took the time to better help them understand the cleaning process. This will ultimately win their trust in you as a “Professional Cleaner”

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HydraMaster/CleanMaster Cleaning Solutions

What are the components of carpet and fabric protectors?

There are essentially three main components that can be found in most modern carpet and fabric protector formulations–

• short-chain fluorochemicals,
• dyeblockers (AKA acid dye resistors),
• polymers

Fluorochemicals are what essentially provide a surface tension across the top of the carpet. They provide water and oil based spill repellency and soil resistance.  If you are selling the fact that a water based spill will sit on the top of the carpet (beading up) with a coated blotter card demonstration, you are demonstrating the benefits of a fluorochemical. They are the most important element of soil resistance too – keeping the soil from working its way down into the carpet – making vacuuming more effective.

Dyeblockers (acid dye resistors) are actually materials which enter into the dye sites of nylon carpeting and penetrate wool carpeting to provide a much longer protection against a spilled staining material from entering into the carpet. They help the carpet resist stains even when the spilled liquid has penetrated through the surface tension of the fluorochemical and has come in direct contact with the carpet fiber. Dyeblockers help a carpet prevent staining working from the “inside toward the outside” by “filling up” any remaining dyeability in the fiber dye sites. They are the most important element of stain prevention.  When you add dyeblocker to a fluorochemical, it affects the “beading” performance of the protector. The fluorochemical is still working, but on many carpets, the spilled liquid does not as obviously bead up as when using a protector that is only a fluorochemical. Fabric protectors with fluorochemicals and dyeblockers make for a very impressive demonstration because you can pour Kool-Aid right onto a carpet sample, let it soak in, and it will still wash completely out.

Polymers are kind of the new kid on the block. They are a coating material that really came into play with the popularity increasing of low moisture encapsulation carpet cleaning. They keep the soil or spilled material from attaching to the carpet. The “coating of protection” helps the carpet resist soiling and staining by working “from the outside to the inside of the carpet.” When polymers are used in a fabric protection role, there are obviously more of them used than in an encapsulation carpet cleaning solution. Polymers alone are relatively good way to keep spilled materials from soaking into the carpet with a coating barrier. They do not work quite as well as dyeblockers at that though, and do not impart soil resistance through surface tension. If used alone as a protector, their primary benefit against soil is with particulate soiling, not spilled liquids. Some polymers have the advantage of being “green. “ Protectors in our industry that are identified as green usually have polymers, some have dyeblockers, but to be green they cannot contain fluorochemicals at the present time.

How does this apply to the products you can buy?

The last time we tested them, the national branded products from 3M and DuPont contained fluorochemicals only. These products work well at beading up liquids, but are not as effective at long term prevention of staining. Products manufactured by the larger chemical formulators in the carpet cleaning industry contain fluorochemicals and differing level of dyeblockers.  They would not typically “bead up” as well as fluorochemical only products (the surface tension is still there, it is just not usually as visually obvious) but would also be superior at preventing stains in the long run. There are a couple of “green certified” protectors within our industry that are a polymer based protector with dyeblockers that do not contain any fluorochemicals. They have very mediocre performance against soil resistance and good to very good stain prevention. If you are selling fabric protection as a stain preventer, protectors made within our industry have the advantage. If you are selling fabric protection with a beading up blotter card, national branded protectors have the advantage. The good news is that now you can apply a protector that has a higher level of stain prevention performance than any of them. If you want the best protector on the market, you need to consider CleanMaster Complete Guard Carpet and Fabric Protector.

 When HydraMaster set out to reformulate their carpet cleaning chemical solution, there was an advantage to being the newest company on the block to really look at formulating a new protector. We went to the best ingredient producers (short chain fluorochemicals, dyeblockers, and polymers) and worked with them on their very latest and greatest technology. HydraMaster has been working alongside one of the leading short chain fluorochemical manufacturers, as well as a dyeblocker and polymer manufacturer for the past year. We are introducing this new carpet protector called CleanMaster Complete Guard. It contains the latest generation of short chain fluorochemicals and dyeblockers. It also contains polymers too – providing three different levels and types of stain protection and soil resistance. Complete Guard protects the carpet by providing a surface tension across the top of the carpet, and protective additives which protect the carpet from staining both working from the inside to the outside and the outside to the inside.  That is the highest level of stain prevention technology available. The best news is that it is price competitive with the previously mentioned products while containing the newest technology.

What do we mean by a Multi-Level Carpet and Fabric Stain and Soil Protector? 

Complete Guard Carpet and Fabric Protector represents cutting edge technology in carpet protectors today. It uses state-of-the-art, environmentally preferred short-chain fluorochemical technology to protect against damaging dry soils as well as both water-based and oil-based spills. Even better though is how Complete Guard coats fibers with a dye-blocking stain barrier to protect them from dye stains and common household food and beverage spills. Complete Guard protects the fiber completely, not just at the top like conventional protectors. Conventional protectors rely on a repellency barrier across the top of carpeting to protect carpet fibers, and while such protectors perform well, especially when spills are cleaned up immediately, once a spill penetrates the protective barriers of repellent protectors they immediately bond to the fiber, creating difficult to remove stains. Complete Guard also reduces or eliminates extended drying times you experience with conventional protectors, because it uses half the water of most other protectors. Special dispersing agents make sure that the carpet is thoroughly protected without soaking the carpet with more water. Your customers will love how easily spills are removed and how great their carpet will look between cleanings. Complete Guard is recommended for application to nylon and wool carpets, and greatly enhances the oil based soil repellency of olefin, polyester, and triexta carpet.

While the product you select is important, your dedication to selling it on every job is even more important.

The fact is that all of the above types of products we talked about will provide your customer with a higher level of protection than their carpet has now if it is more than two or three years old. Even so called “stain-proof” olefin, polyester, and triexta carpet fibers certainly benefit from the oil based soiling resistance that a fluorochemical provides. There is also no doubt that the extended recession that the economy has gone through in recent years has taken a hard toll on the amount of carpet protector being sold. One recent informal survey of a group of large distributors in our industry who carry several national and industry brands of protector indicated that sales of protector overall have fallen as much as 20-25% in the last few years. Even some of the cleaning companies who have the strongest track record of selling protector to their consistent high end clients report that many have cut back on the amount of money they spend. They still get their carpets cleaned on a regular basis, but may choose not having protector applied as a way to reduce expenditures.

You already know however, that selling fabric protector is the easiest and fastest way to add extra income to take your company to a higher profitability level. If you are a single truck operator, it can mean a fun vacation for your family every year. If you operate a fleet of carpet cleaning vans, it can be the most important cog in meeting your financial goals for the company. Even a one truck operation can add $20,000 or more to your bottom line. So the first thing we recommend is to accept the reality of the present economic environment. Know it might be a little tougher to sell protector than it was 5 years ago.

Then make a commitment to implementing the proven strategies for selling protector that are all around you. Ask your industry colleagues on an industry forum like Mikey’s Board what they have done that works for them. Look at the resources available to help you sell protector – sales brochures; package selling programs which include fabric protection as part of your better and best packages; aftercare programs and self-administrated stain removal warranties; free spotter programs; special offers in your social networking and marketing outreach; blotter cards or demonstrations on carpet samples; sales videos or PowerPoint presentations. It is so much easier to present a sales video now. Just play it for your customer on your smart phone or tablet. Embed it into your website. Link it to your Facebook page. Provide twitter updates on fabric protection specials. What you can rest assured of is that you have a better choice than ever in true stain prevention when it comes to products.

For a complete Interactive Cleaning Reference Guide on CD that provides step by step procedures on how and when to apply carpet protector, as well as procedures for carpet cleaning, upholstery cleaning, spot and stain removal and more, click here.

For more information about Complete Guard Carpet and Fabric Protector, visit http://www.hydramaster.com/Products/Chemicals/Protectant/CompleteGuard.aspx.

For the name of your nearest HydraMaster Distributor where you can purchase Complete Guard, visit http://www.hydramaster.com/HowToBuy/DealerLocator.aspx or drop me an email at doyle.bloss@hydramaster.com and I will help you locate a distributor who stocks and carries Complete Guard.

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…now listen up!

…A slogan is just that. Customers are looking for results and action. Everyone says they are great show them.

This is carpet cleaning. We sell a product that is more of a commodity. We don’t sell I-pads.

There are 6 things that will set you apart in the beginning from the 200 or so guys who probably call themselves carpet cleaners in your area.

I am coaching a guy from TN and he has a competitor in his area that when you Google him his rap sheet comes up. This is sometimes who is in our industry. 

I have never focused on USP. Some would say I have one but I focus on great service for a fair price. We do what we say we will do period! I hate all the theory talk.

Here are the six things I would focus on in the beginning.

1. Show up clean cut short hair, no ink, no fishing tackle on your face, no baseball caps and dressed sharp in a full uniform. A polo with your logo on it, khaki pants and clean shoes. Shorts are ok in the summer months in my opinion. Dress khaki shorts no denim or athletic. WEAR A BELT AND TUCK IN YOUR SHIRT!

2. Answer your phone right away. Price over the phone to make it simple for the customer. Stanley Steamer does this and they became the largest company in the nation. When you show up to clean don’t be all about up selling be all about service.

3. Stand behind your work in print and action. If you had a USP it might fall in here. A guy named Howard Partridge might have sewn up the best one here ” To provide you with the most outstanding service experience ever!

4. Show up in a clean truck lettered up simple and clean. Look at the national franchise companies they have it figured out.

5. Have a selling system you go through with your service call. Plan for what will be happening. Here is a link to an article that might help you. Always ask for referrals if you have earned the right with great service.

http://www.cleanfax.com/articles/104…up-for-success

6. Track the results of everything you do. Know what works from solid data. Do not just guess or say I feel this works. I use Service Monster for this.

We have used door hangers with limited success in our area. We are in the process of using a mailer doing the same thing. This of course costs.

We have done newspaper slot drops in select neighborhoods with limited results. 3 years ago I paid a girl to do this all summer. We broke even.

I would focus on asking for referrals from each of your customers. Did I say ask for referrals?

If you are in a small geography Can you own the internet? Many times you can really win here for cheap.

I love commercial work. I would make up a $50 gift card and go into large offices and ask to leave a stack. Doctors offices, dentists, insurance. You might while doing this have the opportunity to quote some commercial work. Do this in a shirt and tie. Again don’t look like somebody’s home boy, look like a professional. 

Focus on Quality, Service and Price in that order. You want to set you price at start up slightly below where your top competitors are.

Do you know their pricing structure?

People are going to jump in here and say you must know your cost and don’t set your price based on the market. I would disagree you have to know what the market will bear in your area. 

You are trying to gain some market share so pricing is important if you intend to enter the market. Under cutting all the prices you see in print from your competitors is not a pricing plan. You must know what they are charging and why.

If I had it to do again I would hire the top 5 companies to come clean 3 rooms in my house. What you could learn in 2-3 weeks.

Do you know who the top 5 companies are in your area?
What are they doing to advertise?
How are they pricing?
What does their service system look like?
What do their employees and trucks look like?
What does their promotional materials look like?
How do they invoice?

If you have answers to those questions it should give you some idea of what works in your area.

 

 

Tom King and his wisdom and generosity are just two of thousands of reasons why every carpet cleaner should be a MB’r.

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I have a few questions for him…

I know enough bicycle frame (small) manufacturers, mechanics, employees of large manufacturers, racers and shop owners to know that there is more money in carpet cleaning so we won’t go there.

-When and how did you fall into this racket?

-Have you always been flying solo?

-No website that I can find so just how far can being a very well spoken, handsome, elderly white guy, tinkerer, scholar and cleaning nerd take a guy without any sort of marketing these days?

-How many jobs a day could you clean when you were younger compared to today?

-You had your Fox brand truckmount for a long time, how has switching to an ETM affected your cleaning and your bottom line? What adjustments had to be made to deal with less suck?

-Who or what is your favorite type of customer?

-Have you ever not altered a piece of equipment? Can’t you leave well enough alone..lol?

-If you could manufacture the perfect VLM cleaning machine what would it do differently than what your current collection of dirt grinders do now? (and please list what you have and have had over the years along with their strengths and weaknesses)

and finally, any words of wisdom for the new guys with less than a year of cleaning under their belt looking for the marketing and cleaning Silver Bullets..?

Thanks Paul!!

Ok,

here we go…I just got back from an evening of encap touchup on the traffic lanes of a medical product company in Petaluma. This morning I cleaned up the truck and then extracted a Chinese tufted wool rug made from shoddy wool owned by a client who is a local bank president….about 9 hrs of cleaning today. 

Tony Wheelwright, Mike West and Pablo Moreno in Aptos

I grew up in a family bike shop. My dad retired as an auto mechanic to spent time with me in our bike shop. He was a first rate GM automotive mechanic specializing in Buick Dynaflow transmissions. I never got to use a crescent wrench. I had to look at the part and KNOW which wrench to use….fast forward. I got a degree in English Lit in college, then had to find a job. I started teaching in a continuation high school but dropped the program. It wasn’t much fun. My parents were always avid collectors: my Dad collected Leica, Canon, Nikon cameras, early tube radios and Art Deco furniture; my Mom collected M. Augustine dolls, Lenox, Steuben, Roseville pottery, etc.
My great grandpa was Chief Justice of Canada and knighted by the Queen in 1903. His son, the family black sheep, married a senator’s daughter, and shortly after her father’s demise, made their way to CA with a $60,000 inheritence in 1903 (millions today). My grandpa taught law and science at Loyola University, when he wasn’t drinking….He invented the Fisher Oil well-capping process, used widely in the ’20′s. My grandma’s family were statesmen, philosophers, musicians, artistic. My Mom loved to take things apart, clean them up and make them work. We fixed old clocks, made fingers for plaster statues, painted, polished, and cleaned, cleaned, cleaned everything….so before the IICRC there was my Mom’s instruction.

Summers in between semesters in college I worked for my brother-in-law on construction projects. I learned a lot about construction and cleaning at the same time….who do you suppose got to scoop the pee out of the bathtubs from workers too lazy to use the portapotty before the plumbers would install thefinal plumbing…you guessed it.

After college I moved up to the Bay area and got a job in a bike shop. I was riding about 35=40 hrs a week at that time. I lived in Mill Valley and climbed Mt.Tam every day…often on my track bike with a 75″ gear and no hand brakes. Strong legs back then. 
I heard about some guys blowing glass in Sausalito and rode my bike down to watch them. It was fascinating, and I went back every night. One of the guys that shared the studio was planning to leave and I happened to overhear that conversation. I was able to take his spot. So in November 1970 I started blowing glass. I was hooked. I read everything I could about glass and stayed every night watching the other guys blow bubbles. We were all learning together…just like now…I lived in a little back house in Mill Valley with lots of windows…soon there was glass on every sill. I started selling it at the Sausalito flea market and somehow people liked and bought it. I approached an art gallery in Sausalito, Shelby Galleries, and he said, “Yes”. A shop in the Cannery in SF also took on my work, then a gallery in Tiburon and I was on my way. I spent 10 years blowing glass full time, went back for a masters in fine arts, making my batch from scratch, studing the chemicals used and their toxicity (after I poisoned myself), building my furnaces, benches, annealing ovens. I managed to have about 30 Gallery Shows, won awards in a number of juried Art Competitions, including Best of Show at the MIll Valley Fall Arts Festival where they jury 1200 applicants, accept 225 people into the show and give out 4 awards, three honorable mentions and the cash award for Best of Show. I won that in 1978…..all was not well in Denmark, however….I had been making a high lead content reactive glass with silver and uranium oxide…you kept it in a oxidized state until the final reheat, where you’d turn up the flame and reduce it. The piece would mirror itself magically, then I’d fume it with Stannous Chloride with a little Muriatic acid in it and the piece would turn rainbow colors….Gorgeous but the fumes weren’t healthy. I was dizzy a lot of the time and went to a Toxicology lab in SF to get checked out. Heavy metals were at a dangerous threshold in my system so I had to stop blowing. As luck would have it, a woman that I had sold a couple of second goblets to at the flea market turned out to be the director of the De Young Museum. She came to the bike shop where I was working and offered me a commission for 300 goblets at $62.00 ea wholesale and would write me a check for half on the spot. Tempting? Way more than I’d ever made, I thanked her and told her I couldn’t do it. She insisted saying she’d be back the next week and please say. “yes!” I tossed and turned all week rationalizing that this was my big chance then thinking it would probably kill me because I loved glass and it was hard to let it go. I turned her down when she came back the next week. Shortly after we sold our first little house in Santa Rosa and I borrowed some money to open my own shop. ….Might as well do something you love and know. The shop was tiny but built a reputation fast. I was a pretty good rider back then and had fun designing bikes for my clients. I was the first shop in the Bay Area to have an adjustable sizing fixture. Ben Serotta made it to show at the Reno Bike Show and I took it home. My sizing charts were published in Bicycling and my bike made the front cover. Racers I helped won a lot of races and would send in their friends for bikes, fitting etc. I could and did work 90 hours a week…didn’t make much money but had lots of friends to ride with. I was a fair wrench, worked at the World Championships with the US Time Trial squad, had a lot of riders set national records on bikes I built. The Bane in the ointment, sorry Bill, was getting parts when you needed them. In the mid ’80′s when index shifting came out, suddenly each MFG changed each group every year, so no wholesaler stocked deeply any more…no one wanted to get stuck with obsolete parts that you paid retail for and had to discount to get rid of. In 1997. I was pretty weary of the bike shop parts game. The straw that broke the camels’ back was race prepping a bike ridden by a pro who had won overall Ironman Japan and Ironman Fiji. He qualified to go to the World Championships and his dad brought his bike up on a tuesday. His plane left Sat morning at 6 am for Switzerland. I put his bike on the stand, spun the wheels and cranks and felt the BB creaking with a rough feel through the frame tubing. The bike was a Hatta Carbon monocoque designed by Lotus, with a pair of Sweet Wings tubular steel ultralight fabricated cranks. The bearings were proprietary. I called and asked for two bearing second day air so I could button the bike up on Thursday, test ride it, then break it down into it’s frame box for shipping. Thursday afternoon, around 3pm , UPS finally shows up. I’m waiting, the truck goes by and I wave it down. “No Bearings” say the driver. I called Sweet Wings and asked for the shipping number, they assured me the bearings would be there “tomorrow”,…. “but what if they’re not,” I asked, “who else has bought a set of those cranks around here?” A shop in Sausalito bought the only one sold in Nor Cal. I knew the owner and called him about the cranks. He had sold them the day before to Robin Williams, but the bike wouldn’t be ready for a couple weeks so I could borrow the bearings if mine didn’t show up by Friday. Friday, UPS finally came by at 3:45 pm, I was waiting at the curb with my hand out, palm up. The driver, an old friend, comes by , gives me a resounding whack and “Happy Weekend”! Where’s my Bearings! I cried…Nothing on the truck for you, Paul.

That was a tense week. It took 2.5 hrs to drive to Sausalito on a Friday to get two miserable bearing’s out of my friend’s mailbox because he had an engagement and couldn’t wait…and another three hours to drive 55 miles home. Then crunch time. I finished the bike at 1:55 am. the Dad showed up at 2 am, picked up the box, went back to Marin to grab his son and be at SFO by 4am. I went to bed completely exhausted, physically and mentally. I decided to do something else…anything else!

Don’t you love this stream of consciousness stuff? totally bored?, I’m just getting started………..It’s all mikey’s fault!

Cut to the chase, Paul, like already!

One of my clients was a carpet cleaner and invited me to go out on a job with him…he knew I was ready for a change, had watched me painstakingly clean his and other bikes, and thought it might be a good fit. I spent two afternoons with him, and then he loaned me his new truck for a day to clean a couple of my friends houses. I made $405 the first day cleaning. It was SO EASY! all the parts were waiting for me on the carpet….all I had to do was take them out to get paid. No lacing wheels, facing BB shells, Building frames, modifying components. EASY!

I had a 1978 Ducati 900SS. Mint! I sold it and bought my first brand new Fox with a Nissan a-12 and a Tuthill 45 blower. I put it in the “discovery” van, a 1980 Chevy I bought for a mere $1000, painted, and discovered little things it needed…like a transmission, tires, brakes, diaper, shocks, springs…minor details. I was on my way.
Concurrently, I was taking all the certification classes to become a State Certified Water Plant Operator, when that finally came through I was too far gone in discovering just how much I didn’t know about textiles and carpet cleaning.

I always have flown solo. I learn stuff better when I have to figure out why the results I expected and what I got didn’t mesh.

I had a lot of potential clients from the bike shop. They knew me because I saw them every week for a ride or to work on their stuff. the shop was popular. I built bikes for people who were pretty well known. I was a naive kid…now I’m a naive old geezer. One of my clients was CFO for Arthur Anderson, the largest accounting firm in the World. Three of the four founders of Autodesk bought custom bikes.The Mayor of Ross and his wife, both doctors, were customers, The owner of the SFWholesale Furniture Market brought his bike up for me to work on. He would drive up in his Rolls, and ask me to patch his tube. He owned 1 square block of Market Street…from 5th to 6th and from Market to Howard St.. Over a million sq ft of office and display space. He’d come into the shop and I’d give him the same bad time I’d give evryone else. He sent his friends, and they sent theirs. I never needed Advertising or Business cards. The scary part was the responsibility of cleaning really valuable furnishings well. My folks schooled me well…I knew what I was looking at and what it might be worth. IICRC classes gave me a good start. I’ve always been curious and my variety of background makes me want to know what does what. I’ve spent all night searching the internet more than once. I practice on junk furniture and rugs from the dump. If I ruin them, cheap education, if I save them I can sell them at garage sales and recoup something for the time.
Gary Heacock steered me straight when i got started. I drove up to Portland to see him and meet Jim Rymer that started Bio-kleen. Great trip. I went home and doubled my prices and started seriously researching “green” cleaning products. this was in 1998.

Stamina. I used to be apretty good distance rider. I’ve ridden around a 100 centuries and 23 double Centuries…three of them on a track bike, direct drive, no coasting with a 75″ gear and no brakes…just my legs to slow it down.

I’m a lot slower after I hit the car that pulled into my path 2.5 years ago, but still have pretty good stamina. The crash into the car broke my right scapula in 40 pieces, pushed in 9 ibs, crumbled C6 and C7 in my neck, and tore the medial collateral ligaments in my left knee. No Fun! but I didn’t die or get paralyzed, so even though I my back, neck and knee hurts daily, I can live with it. Distance riders develop a high pain threshold.
I have cleaned 24000 sq ft of traffic lanes with a wand in 17 hours with a friend pulling hoses for me. and solo with a Whittaker, 26000 sq ft in one night. I used to have a steady crew. all friends that were professionals in their own fields that I trained and set up with Labor Ready for when I needed them. I paid them $30 an hour cash, a 1099 Misc, for their comissions as great salesmen, and paid Labor Ready for the insured great laborers they sent me. One of these friends that recently moved away was a doctor. He LOVED to clean….this is dirty, this is CLEAN! This is DIRTY , this is clean! Theraphy for him. He didn’t have the same success pushing pills…the patients never got better…… another What About Bob? story. I think he would have paid me to clean for me.

I clean a lot of fancy stuff, and some not so fancy stuff and charge ridiculously high prices with a smile. Somehow, the price helps qualifies me in the client’s eyes.
Some people will pay more for the bragging rights. I sold a new Columbine bike in 1999 for $6989.00 after whittling the price down before the client arrived to pick it up so it didn’t look too expensive to him. He asked me what else could he put on it so he’d have bragging rights of owning a $7000 bike. Go Fish!  

I’m a tinkerer. I like evaluating and tweaking my tools, protocol, chems and evaluating what differences the changes make. I realize I’m never going to know what I’d really like to about fabrics or oriental rugs. I don’t have Barry O’Connell’s encyclopedic knowledge of how many warts that woman had on her nose and who was her sister in law the next tribe over, but I’d like to. One of my clients has her grandpa’s couches and rugs. He bought the Fairmont Hotels in 1946 or so. Nice old linen woodblock print down filled handmade furniture and not replaceable….. I cleaned Robert Mondavi’s suede loveseat that he had lunch on for 40 some years before it went in the Mondavi Museum. I haven’t a clue why I get these jobs. They do stretch me out though and give me pause and info gathering frenzy before I start cleaning. The art of making a long stem blown glass goblet is practise and control. The art of cleaning fabric and not devaluing it is practice and control. You have to understand the parameters before you cut loose on the scary stuff.

I like the move to the ETM. I don’t worry about a big gas tm taking a crap now and then anymore. I’ve been a mechanic for a long time and understand how important routine maintenance is to keep a TM running optimally. The ETM is much simpler. The early Savage 1 I have is all stainless steel, the build quality is wonderful. It works well. I like the internal dialogue that goes on while I focus my cleaning abilities and make adjustments for my machinery. I generally use a booster at the front door, the Mytee AirHog Plus with auto pumpout. I have a Mini Devastator in front of the Air Hog. It gets pretty reasonable cfm, right at 400 cfm at the front door with just over 12″hg lift. It requires the booster to get the same airflow as the Fox, but the Exteck doesn’t lie. I’m not giving up much. I have a quiet 60 decibel Yamaha generator that’ll power the Savage if there’s no power or it’s too much of a hassle to pull cords. the LG#3 gives me more heat than the Fox did. Maintenance is a piece of cake, drain the recovery tank and wash the filter media. DONE! It costs about $30 a week for fuel to run it., usually less. I’m doing the same volume of jobs, about 40/60 residential to commercial. I don’t use HWE on commercial unless I have to. I have three Whittakers, a Rotowash, a cobb CRB, three Cimex, two dual speed rotaries for CGD. I’m going to buy a Trinity OP machine in the near future. Those that know me know I sold and used Oreck LowBoy and Orbiter machines for several years.

I generally use a rotary jet extractor these days to save my shoulder. I have a trusty old RX and am testing the new T Rex. they are different machines. The TRex cleans more deeply and leaves the carpet drier than the RX. The new bonnet drive plate is a welcome addition especially with the adjustable speed control of more delicate rugs.

Now about the Savage. I really like the switch to ETM. I was starting to get bored with cleaning and wasn’t really thinking hard about each job like I used to.
I’ve had the Savage for 3 years. I traded a Whittaker for it to a cleaner in Sacramento that started with it in 2003, I think. He moved up to a big gas TM, and found the market for his ETM in Sacramento about like a market for head lice.

I had demo’d Bob Savage’s machine at Summerfest in 2001 in Saint Louis, MO. That was a fun gathering. And I remember some arguments about Steamway…Nick ****** brought a TM out on a trailer that he had almost finished the night before…big John the Jiggler was there with his electric palm massager that also cleaned carpets…..
Bob cranked up his heater and the lie detector read 302 deg F at the wand. You couldn’t see the carpets for the cloud of steam. I got to try it, not bad!
I followed the arguments for the need of an electric machine through the ICS board discussions and thought, well, it might be nice something more powerful than my Bane to have on a cart for the secure computer companies I clean…

Bob Savage

Joe Bristor helped this industry bringing CFM testing into public view. Four to the door and measuring airflow with an Exteck is widespread now.
A couple years ago I went back to the opening of Duane’s new facility in Atlanta. Tom Cermak brought out his Vortex. he laid out 100′ of two inch hose and I measured 421 cfm with the Vortex cranked up. No need for 4TD. With the first 50′ in 2.5″, necking to 2″..I read 444 cfm. Amazing! my last Fox with an overdriven 47 and 4 to the door with a Y at 50″ measured 410 cfm at 100 ft…that was bragging rights, but I didn’t run it that hard, nor did Tom Cermak push his Vortex either.
A light weight modular systems, a small TM, electric or gas in the van and a booster on the porch can reach the same CFM numbers. The disadvantage is the extra time necessary to get the same airflow, (setup the booster), the advantage is a lighter weight van, slightly better fuel efficiency..(for me in my Sprinter 1 mpg better) and less expensive maintenance.
While these debates rage on, the customer couldn’t care less.
All they want is for you to show up on time, not damage anything while cleaning, remove all the spots and soil, and have fast dry times.

There are places that the trusty Fox and 250′ hose runs and the truck out of sight might be missed. One is Jerry Garcia’s estate in Mill Valley. I’ll be cleaning there next Wednesday and Thursday. It’s near the top of Mt Tam and has a moderately difficult set up. We shall see how the EMS (electric modular system), fairs there. I’ve cleaned at Mondavi, Duckhorn and Paraduxx, and Hall Rutherford Wineries successfully with it this first quarter.

I am going to buy one of Big John’s floor buzzers. I cleaned the Emeryville Civic Center two weeks ago. It had not been cleaned in anyone there’s memory…over ten years ago by best estimates. We vacuumed for 16 hours…the facility was 14000 sq ft. I ran a Brush Pro with Whittaker spray tank and renovators and a dual speed rotary that usually will clean anything well and quickly. Not here. It was a battle to bring the place back. I brought out my little Oreck Orbiter and some Argosheen to prespot with. That combo will remove just about any spot quickly. I’ve been following the ATP testing that John and others have done. I also used to sell the Oreck LowBoy and know how well it removed spots. That was a hard machine to push in a straight line, wheels on the ground has changed all that.

Time for more coffee. The coffee I’m drinking today is one of the El Salvador Cup of Excellence winners. I roasted it 4 days ago and need to consume it before the beans completely offgas their CO2 during the Maillard Reaction of caramelization of sugars during roasting. The CO2 protects the beans from oxidation in storage. Coffee turns bitter when the oils on the surface become oxidized. When you roast regularly, you can taste all this stuff. it’s not hard or complicated either.

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You don’t need the sales statistics to tell you that wood floors are in many homes today. You are see woods floors in most of the nicer homes you enter to clean carpet. Many cleaners have taken an interest in cleaning the wood floors and/or the rugs that are lying on those woods floors. But what about drying all those wood floors in the event of a water loss? About 1 out of every 7 homes has some sort of unwanted water intrusion every year. There is a high probability your clients will need this service.

Drying wood floors can be one of the most frustrating and difficult jobs in the restoration industry. A traditional way to dry wood floors has been to blow dry air across and under the floors. This may involve some tear out and later repair to gain access to the underside of the floors. Still a wood floor may require days of drying with air movers, dehumidifiers and other specialized equipment. Then weeks or more afterward to fully acclimate to ambient conditions before the floor can be sanded or refinished.

Professional restorers are finding they can save most of these wood floors with little or no construction and often without the need for sanding and refinishing. 

The first trick is to place mats from manufacturers such as InjectiDry or Dri-eaz and start your drying with your truckmount. This additional vacuum can extract a lot of moisture from the wood, from between planks and even from under the wood. The more water that is extracted, the less that has to be dried by other means.

The second tip for avoiding frustration it to make use of the critical role temperature plays in drying.  We all know that heating the air in turn increases the temperature of wet structural materials. Rather than just heating the air, you can focus or direct the heat where you really want it, on the wet wood, you heat the water trapped within the wood floor.   Increasing surface temperature by only 18^o F doubles the motion of the water molecules increasing their chance to escape into the atmosphere thereby reducing drying time.

For example, on a hot sunny day, the temperature of the sidewalk may be 115 ^o F or more. If you pour a cup of water on a hot sidewalk it will evaporate in a just few minutes even if the relative humidity in the air is high. Pour a cup of water on the same sidewalk at night when the concrete is cooler it will take hours to completely evaporate, even if the air temperature and humidity remain about the same. Why? Because the surface temperature of the sidewalk has a greater effect on the rate of evaporation than air temperature does.

How can you take advantage of heating the surface temperature of a wood floor? First you need to find a way to get the heat to the water that is trapped in the materials. Just as the hot sidewalk caused rapid evaporation, heating wet structural materials accelerates evaporation of trapped water.

Heating the air in the structure is one way to do this. You could employ a large heating system and increase the air perature to over 120 ^o F. This requires massive amounts of energy, and the environment would be unbearable for your employees and the homeowners.

So what is a smarter way to get the heat to the wet materials? Since we know hot air rises and gravity pulls water downward, the hottest air would be at the ceiling but the wettest materials are near the floor. By directing the heat you can channel the heat directly to wood floors, baseboards, hard to dry sill plates and sub-floors, allowing the moisture that is trapped in those materials to evaporate rapidly.

Directed heat is the key of the TES and E-TES structural drying systems. Be sure to check out the newest low-profile E-TES models with SmartDry software that allows the restorer to monitor air temperature and humidity as well as temperature and humidity of the surface you are drying. http://interlinksupply.com/index.php?item_num=MB120LP

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