Who is Dane Gregory & what is his tile/groutstone knowledge?

[BUSY BEE]

sorry but I'm helping a carpet cleaning friend on a major job and he went to this guys "IIRCR class" which makes me chuckle after what he was taught., I'm not gonna repeat the "advice" he was given, who is this guy? Is he really quallified? Is he true a tile/grout and stone restorer? Is he certified by the MIA? Or just a BS IIRCR $$$$guy? I know this is a carpet cleaning forum, after what I heard he should stick to carpet.....just my sorry ass opinion...no offense to the Interlink folks..he..heh..

 

[Jose Smith]

I have sat through over a dozen IICRC courses over the years and have met many of our industries' "gurus". I must say that Dane Gregory is one of the brightest and most knowledgeable that I have ever encountered. So much in fact, I have taken more that one class from him, simply because he was the instructor. I also know that he chaired the IICRC committee that developed the SMT course.

However, it could be the information that was relayed to you that you found amusing was not what Dane actually said. Or maybe it was. Either way, his advice over the phone helped me out on a job that seemed to stump other experts.

Jose Smith

 

[floorguy]

uhhhh most those guys doing the "hard floor" stuff are just winging it....

i lost all respect for them when i read an article, and they brought up putting stripper in the solution tank of an auto scrubber for stripping. i was like WTF??? youuu never ever ever put anything but water or a neutral cleaner in them..


anyway...


bunch of bull shit for the most part...most of these guys probably havent touched a floor or carpet for like 15 yrs

 

[The Great Oz]

Dane used to run his own hard surface cleaning company until he went to work with a well-respected supplier of stone cleaning products.

Whenever I send a tech to any IICRC course, I tell them if they hear anything they think is odd just to write it down and we'll talk about after. There may be a reason an instructor said something and it didn't come across well, or it might be a procedure that others use and put into the course material but we don't agree with.

Sometimes, if you bitch enough, the IICRC folks will even change the material to fix questionable information.

Thanks Bill!

 

[Ryan]

uhhhh most those guys doing the "hard floor" stuff are just winging it....

i lost all respect for them when i read an article, and they brought up putting stripper in the solution tank of an auto scrubber for stripping. i was like WTF??? youuu never ever ever put anything but water or a neutral cleaner in them..


anyway...


bunch of bull shit for the most part...most of these guys probably havent touched a floor or carpet for like 15 yrs

Good way to screw up an $8,000 machine......

 

[Mikey P]

I took his class in it's infancy and it really sucked. No hands on to speak of, no mention of stripping coatings, no mention of colorseal. Far too much time spent on geology and stroking the ego of his old business.


and Dane is a huge dick.

 

[Jim Pemberton]

When you hear something that an instructor for any course (IICRC or non IICRC), always remember that you are getting it second hand.

Here are some untrue things I've been told that "instructors told them"

You CAN mix chlorine bleach and ammonia for stain removal (probably mixed up "peroxide and ammonia for stains" with "chlorine and ammonia is deadly and don't do it")

You MUST acid rinse carpet according to IICRC S100 Standards (nowhere in the standards, in fact the latest standards discourages the practice).

"Prevacuuming" (odd term, don't you think?) removes 75% of the soil in a carpet. Not true: A study from the 1950's once found that 75-79% of the soil in carpet is insoluble. That doesn't mean vacuuming takes it all out.

Its like what children tell you their teachers said.

PS: I wonder if anyone will skim this and think that I DID recommend those practices and misquote me later?

 

[packfancjh]

Bill just to let you know Scott was wrong in what he remembers. It states in the manual that Dane uses that the process is the same as yours.

 

[Doug D]

I took his class SMT and thought too that it focused more on geology and not enough on the other things like color seal, stripping coatings and felt the class was not worth it. :roll:

 

[J Scott W]

I took Dane's SMT class. I have to agree that there is not a lot about color sealing and not enough hands on time. But there is a ton of information in the class and more information in the manual that is not covered in class because time does not allow.

But what is in the class has little to do with who Dane Gregory is his sucess in hard surface cleaning. Dane may have helped write the course outline, but he did not do it alone. IICRC committess have to do those course by consensus. Anyone who follows any of the bulletin boards should understand how hard it would be to reach agreement between a group of cleaners on any topic.

Dane ran a very sucessful hard surface cleaning business. He offers his students the benefit of his experience in running that business. It could be worth attneding the class or spending some time with Dane simply for the practical and money making business advcie he could share. And he never holds back from sharing with others when asked.

Dane continues to work as a well paid consultant in the hard floor care industry. That would not be happening if he was not helping the companies that hired him.

Plus Dane is just a nice guy.

If wrong information was passed along, I'd bet on miscommunication somewhere along the line.

 

[Mikey P]

The Dane Gregory I read on the Truth Modifications Forum was not a nice guy.

 

[floorguy]

Hey Scott.....its all about the $$$ and you know it.

I have about 400% more respect for you then these other yahoos teaching these classes.

Now granted i dont read ALL of the other boards so i may be out of line here. But why dont we see them on the boards??? offering SOME help (i get they need to make their $$) or hell even pimping their classes.

Ill tell you why...they would get their tail caught in the crack, because most of the stuff they teach is for people with less then common sense.

YOU on the other hand come out here and read what people need, read what other IN THE FIELD have had experience with and add it to your knowledge base

like i said its all about the $$$$$$

 

[Lee Stockwell]

I had the pleasure of debating against Dane a few years back on the Cleanfax Great Debate over classroom vs. "on the job" training.

He took his lumps graciously, I think.

http://www.cleanfax.com/ENewsArticle.asp?ArticleID=556

 

[Spurling]

You MUST acid rinse carpet according to IICRC S100 Standards (nowhere in the standards, in fact the latest standards discourages the practice).

What ? .. discourages?? Why??

 

[Johnny]

I took Dane's class many years ago. He seemed an OK guy. A lot of stone identification. I would have liked more practical info.

 

[Jim Pemberton]

What ? .. discourages?? Why??

Paul, since my father was one of the "acid rinse guys" in the 90's, I was particularly sensitive to this issue. (OK, defensive, actually)

What we've learned in the past 20 years in that neutralizing pH alone does not prevent resoiling, and that while some acid rinses help in the removal of pre-existing residues, others contribute to resoiling because they leave a sticky residue themselves.

It was also instructive to learn that none of the carpet manufacturers or synthetic fiber producers are willing to give a "desired pH reading" for what they want left on the carpet itself. They are even queasy about the "pH 10 rule", but let it go as a reasonable compromise and to attempt to keep things simple.

There is nothing wrong with using an acidic rinse agent if its formulated not to contribute to resoiling. Its especially helpful if you are moving back and forth from cleaning carpet and cleaning natural fiber upholstery.

But you don't have to do it unless you are correcting a pH imbalance, attempting to stabilize dyes, or to prevent cellulose browning.

I feel like I hijacked the thread here, but I was just trying to show how what is heard in class isn't always what was meant to be said.

 

[hogjowl]

I don't have much patience and have a really hard time sitting down and listening to someone lecture for 8 hours anyway, but if I was subjected to an instructor who wasted a couple of hours talking about the history of stone, I think I would go crazy.

 

[J Scott W]

If I was subjected to an instructor who wasted a couple of hours talking about the history of stone, I think I would go crazy.

Stone has a lot of history. Getting all those eons summarized in two hours is really an accomplishment.

 

[sweendogg]

What ? .. discourages?? Why??

Paul, since my father was one of the "acid rinse guys" in the 90's, I was particularly sensitive to this issue. (OK, defensive, actually)

What we've learned in the past 20 years in that neutralizing pH alone does not prevent resoiling, and that while some acid rinses help in the removal of pre-existing residues, others contribute to resoiling because they leave a sticky residue themselves.

It was also instructive to learn that none of the carpet manufacturers or synthetic fiber producers are willing to give a "desired pH reading" for what they want left on the carpet itself. They are even queasy about the "pH 10 rule", but let it go as a reasonable compromise and to attempt to keep things simple.

There is nothing wrong with using an acidic rinse agent if its formulated not to contribute to resoiling. Its especially helpful if you are moving back and forth from cleaning carpet and cleaning natural fiber upholstery.

But you don't have to do it unless you are correcting a pH imbalance, attempting to stabilize dyes, or to prevent cellulose browning.

I feel like I hijacked the thread here, but I was just trying to show how what is heard in class isn't always what was meant to be said.

Now that we are really off course!! When will the new standards be available for review again?

 

[Jim Pemberton]

This summer would be my best guess David.

 

[The Great Oz]

C'mon kids, two hours of stone history pales in comparison to a day and half of leather manufacturing trivia. It may be a lot to take in when you just want technical knowledge, but that history and trivia is what allows you to figure some things out that aren't found in a text. You can also toss some of it out when talking to a customer and they'll think you know what you're doing.


Jim,
I can include myself in the lazy group that didn't bother to look up whether acid rinses were part of the standard. I just heard some background chat when the concept was first floated, then had it repeated by every one of our techs that has taken an IICRC course since. Didn't matter what instructor, so if it isn't in the standards it was (still is?) in plenty of the course books.

I gave credit to Bill Yeadon for the change (non-change?) since he was the first to chastize me for continuing to gripe about it. 8)

 

[Jim Pemberton]

Two major manufacturer's of cleaning products that happened to have been closely associated with my father have a pretty large group of instructors.

In defense of Lee, that theory comes from a different time in our industry. We've moved beyond that thinking quite a few years ago. Not everyone else has.

It was never in the standards.

Is it a completely BAD idea? No, not in the way I explained and qualified it. But is in no way a required way to clean carpet according to IICRC standards.

Leave as little residue of any sort as possible is always a good system. If you leave a residue, make it a beneficial one (encap polymer, fluorochemical protector, etc)

 

[BUSY BEE]

Bill just to let you know Scott was wrong in what he remembers. It states in the manual that Dane uses that the process is the same as yours.

that's fair Chris, Scott told me he was instructed to clean with alk, acid then, neutralize with alk? He was wrong. I don't know Dane Grogory personally but have heard about him.
I heard this is the guy teaching/pushing the spinnergy pads, Bridgepoint right? You know my opinion on that subject. My take is everyone should do their homework on who is teaching the class when venturing into another trade: tile guys going into carpet, carpet guys going into tile/stone, carpet guys going into woodfloors, etc.... when I made the transition from carpet to tile/grout/stone I made sure, the people teaching me tile/stone had ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with carpet cleaning and I would recommend that to anyone who wants to suceed in this trade.