Chinese Restaurant traffice areas look bad day after cleaning. Suggestions?

[Scratch62]

This was my first restaurant job using a bonnet machine and the Rotovac 360i. I thought the results would be spectacular...but not so. Looking for suggestions on how to fix this as I am going back in a couple of nights to redo it.
(Owner said the previous owner did it with just a wand and it always looked great. They do it every 3 months.)

What i did:
Pre-vacuumed whole restaurant ( had a university student help who needed some extra cash)

Pre-sprayed just the traffic areas with ReleaseIt DS and used microfibre pad with 175 machine. It looked great at that point.

Used hydroforce to apply Attack pre-spray and then used Rotovac on all areas. I did not use a Rinse agent.

Next day the 2 worst traffic areas looked bad and there were numerous yellow wicking spots thru-out the restaurant.

I am waiting for my order of BridgePoint's BioBreak and CitriSolv to arrive so I can try those products instead of the Attack. I have never used Attack on a restaurant before.

So, any ideas? What did I do wrong? What should I change when I go back.

 

[Steve Lawrence]

If the last guy was so great why are YOU here this time?

 

[Bruce Humphrey]

If the last guy was so great why are YOU here this time?

The last guy was the previous owner.

 

[Scratch62]

If the last guy was so great why are YOU here this time?

My note was too cryptic.
Let me re-phrase:
The Restaurant owner said that the previous owner of the carpet cleaning company (that i bought) just used a wand.

 

[Mark Saiger]

Any pics?

 

[J Scott W]

A rinse agent would help.

But I think the biggest improvement will be following the HWE with encap using bonnets under a 175 RPM floor machine or OP machine. Bridgepoint's Encapuclean O2 would be my choice for the encap step, but there are several good options.

 

[hogjowl]

Go back with your rotary and a red pad and encap it.

 

[steve_64]

Prozyme plus and fresh water or cleanfree rinse. Use a lot of prespray.

Pressure at about 600 psi.

 

[Scratch62]

A rinse agent would help.

But I think the biggest improvement will be following the HWE with encap using bonnets under a 175 RPM floor machine or OP machine. Bridgepoint's Encapuclean O2 would be my choice for the encap step, but there are several good options.

I have some of the Encapuclean O2 arriving with my order so I will try that.

 

[Scratch62]

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Any pics?

no pics, restaurant was busy when i went back so i did not want to take any.

 

[Scratch62]

Prozyme plus and fresh water or cleanfree rinse. Use a lot of prespray.

Pressure at about 600 psi.

So, use the wand at 600psi and a rinse agent (don't have prozyme plus). Just wondering about the use of lots of prespray....won't that potentially cause more wicking?

 

[steve_64]

A good prespray for grease and a wand is all you need. Fastest way too.

 

[steve_64]

I never have wickback issues. Just gotta keep the wand locked down and flush it good. No glides so you can skip vaccing.

Only time I have issues is when I don't use enough prespray.

 

[JS41035]

You encapped first? Am I reading that right?

 

[Jimmy L]

Are you using a portable? So much misinformation about " ENCAPsULAtIoN" shampoos and how to use them.
What kind of rotovac?
I would have used a high ph prespray and scrubbed with a 175 then used a emulsifier and rinsed it.

But of course I would never do a greasy restaurant again. Been there done that......no thanks.

 

[SamIam]

Are you using a portable? So much misinformation about " ENCAPsULAtIoN" shampoos and how to use them.
What kind of rotovac?
I would have used a high ph prespray and scrubbed with a 175 then used a emulsifier and rinsed it.

But of course I would never do a greasy restaurant again. Been there done that......no thanks.

Makes mortals of mere men!

 

[Onfire_02_01]

Imho.
I would have switched around the process and hwe first then encap.
Attack is just fine to use in this situation however I might have added a traffic lane cleaner because you are dealing with two different kinds of soil. You have all the grease from the kitchen and all the dirt from the parking lot. Attack would have dealt with the Grease and the tlc would have dealt with the soil. A good alkali rinse agent would have helped as well. CBS, flex fire, or the like would have added the phosphorus necessary to globulate the grease and soil for easier removal.
Chances are also that you left the carpet too wet and some of the Unremoved soil wicked back to the surface.
I remember my Chinese days. Great way to learn how to really remove soil from carpet, if you can make one of those look good you can make anything look good.
Keep up the good work and don't give up!

 

[Cleanworks]

Left it too wet

 

[Nate The Great]

Seems like the floor is uneven... Maybe your filters on the TM were full of debris, causing poor suction..

If it looked good after the Encap, I don't understand the need to follow up with the rv360i... Either way, I'd speed dry it..

 

[Scratch62]

You encapped first? Am I reading that right?

Yes, just the traffic areas though.

 

[Scratch62]

Based on the input and what I have to work with I will go back with just the wand, using Attack again and bring some fans. Making sure my suction is good and filters are freshly cleaned. I guess I am too enamored with the Rotovac 360i.
I doubt she will let me use the 175. I will fix this issue, get more practice on other jobs using encap method, and maybe try it again in 3 months with her.
Thanks for all the input!

 

[Sir James]

If it looked great encapping it, why did you rotovac it. Just wondering. I personally feel if I use both methods, I prefer to hot water extract first, then run pads and and a light encapsulant. At this point I would just run pads over it and encap it. Pics would help though.

 

[Jimmy L]

Don't think a post encap/shampoo will do anything but add a sticky dirt attracting residue because it will not "Encap" the grease. This stuff was made to just give an appearance of clean on light to medium soiled commercial carpet NOT greasy oriental restaurant carpet.

 

[Mikey P]

Possible:

Sub floor was uneven creating loss of suction
You went to fast
3 port head is a streaky bastard
Not enough dry passes
No alkaline rinse
Too much prespray

Pics would help us narrow it down

 

[Scratch62]

If it looked great encapping it, why did you rotovac it. Just wondering. I personally feel if I use both methods, I prefer to hot water extract first, then run pads and and a light encapsulant. At this point I would just run pads over it and encap it. Pics would help though.

Again, I was too cryptic. "looked great" meant that the area I cleaned was so much better than the black area I had yet to do but it wasn't sufficient by itself. I wasn't trying to do an encap job, just trying to prevent wicking. I have used that method on dirty residential jobs with great results but had never tried it on cgd.
Next time I get a chance I will reverse the order and do the hwe first. I think I read somewhere that it didn't matter the order but apparantly it does.

 

[Scratch62]

Possible:

Sub floor was uneven creating loss of suction
You went to fast
3 port head is a streaky bastard
Not enough dry passes
No alkaline rinse
Too much prespray

Pics would help us narrow it down

I will try and get pics before i start working and post before and after pics.
I probably did go too fast and not enough dry passes.
Curious about the alkaline rinse, i thought acid rinse was the solution to wicking issues??? What is a brand of alkaline rinse?
I have fibrerinse available but that is on the acid side.

 

[Cleanworks]

Wicking is caused by leaving too much water/ chemical/soil in the carpet. Acid rinse will wick just as badly as alkaline rinse. On heavily soiled carpets, you need to use the appropriate chemistry, applied properly, agitated and rinsed. An alkaline rinse will clean what your prespray failed to. But you need to do enough dry passes to get as much solution back out of the carpet. If in doubt, do more dry passes and add fans

 

[Mikey P]

Ron is correct, you need a alkaline emusifier to get what the prespray didn't.


And loads of dry strokes

 

[Sir James]

Again, I was too cryptic. "looked great" meant that the area I cleaned was so much better than the black area I had yet to do but it wasn't sufficient by itself. I wasn't trying to do an encap job, just trying to prevent wicking. I have used that method on dirty residential jobs with great results but had never tried it on
Next time I get a chance I will reverse the order and do the hwe first. I think I read somewhere that it didn't matter the order but apparantly it does.

Understood. With greasy carpets hot water extraction removes the grease (most of it). Pad cleaning after helps with residue/moisture and gives it a more even look. Having said all that, greasy carpets are the most labor-intensive and can ultimately be frustrating. Having all the right equipment certainly helps, but that cost money. I commend you for your desire to learn and improve.

 

[Old Coastie]

Or, you could just hammer your own teeth out one at a time, rather than doing a Chinese restaurant.