Low Moisture High Traffic

[Spurlington]

I clean a 24 hour call center with people walking everywhere. Would anyone recommend low moisture cleaning at this building. People would walk around on it while its drying before post vacuuming.

If I remember right, shouldnt the polymers be vacuumed away before traffic resumes. Wouldnt walking on the carpet break the polymers open releasing the soil back on to the carpet?

 

[Desk Jockey]

Prevac thoroughly. Then use a 175 or OP using just enough product to accomplish cleaning. Speed dry with an airmover.

 

[Spurlington]

vacuum after?

 

[Desk Jockey]

We don't but you can.

If the maintenance staff performs regular vacuuming there really isn't a need to. However if they don't then yes after it dries.

 

[Spurlington]

They dont .. the place is loaded with dirt !! So since they dont, Id prolly have to vacuum shortly after. How long after the process would I need to post vacuum?

 

[Mikey P]

24 hours or more ideally


Pour some diluted encap in a dish and watch how long it takes to get flaky

 

[Desk Jockey]

Yeah I agree with Mike. Come back the next day.

 

[Jimmy L]

You PROBABLY won't have to post vac.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Jimmy do you feel your two speed sidewinder does as good as an OP?

 

[Spurlington]

so if I dont post vac after it dries .. wont the polymers crush open with the high traffic and drop the soil back onto the carpet? I thought I read that somewhere a while back.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Yes but it will vacuum out. Understandable your concerns but you'll see it will be fine.

 

[dgardner]

If the carpet is loaded with dirt as you mentioned, the amount of soil actually encapsulated is a tiny fraction of the total soil load. Even with post vac 98.3% of the soil would remain. You're basically improving the appearance of the tops of the fibers, no more.

As far as the polymer being crushed and releasing the soil, think peanuts embedded in peanut brittle. You would have to pulverize the polymer pretty fine to release the soil, but as I mentioned if the carpet is completely impacted with soil you won't get much of it anyway.

 

[Cleanworks]

You say that you clean it? What are you using now?

 

[Spurlington]

You say that you clean it? What are you using now?

Hot water extraction ..

 

[jawhit]

I clean a number of areas like this where I can't shut down foot traffic. I try to pick times when there will be less traffic - after lunch when less people are moving around, etc. As mentioned I use as little moisture as possible and try to dry it fast. I also put up wet floor signs to warn people and to cover myself. As far as vacuuming goes, these places have a good vacuuming routine, so can't really help you there. I encap and leave. But they vacuum every day.

 

[Spurlington]

As far as vacuuming goes, these places have a good vacuuming routine, so can't really help you there. I encap and leave. But they vacuum every day.

This is a call center and Im thinking the janitorial crew are afraid to make noise with their cleaners. In fact, they use beaterbarless vacuum cleaners to reduce the noise.

 

[Spurlington]

they use these when they do which is not often .. they do have a sanitare but not for the section where people are on the phones which seats about 300 people

 

[Desk Jockey]

If you spray the encap, do as you would precondition. Keep it low to the carpet, big droplet jets. Keep it out of the airstream.

Nothing makes a job go sour faster than 300 people coughing.
Be judicious in your application. Better safe than sorry.

 

[Enge]

From experience whatever low moisture system you use ( cimex, crb, rotary or op ) I would make sure it has a spray system attached and have air movers going. If you spray ahead overy time and have air movers going your prepay will dry out.

The faster your carpet dries the better you will be.

Spend time prevacuuming.

 

[Cleanworks]

From experience whatever low moisture system you use ( cimex, crb, rotary or op ) I would make sure it has a spray system attached and have air movers going. If you spray ahead overy time and have air movers going your prepay will dry out.

The faster your carpet dries the better you will be.

Spend time prevacuuming.

or use the cimex with the gravity feed tank

 

[Enge]

or use the cimex with the gravity feed tank

Yes but I would put a in line valve in the solution line to cut down the flow of solution so you get a faster dry time and make your solution stronger.

 

[Ray Burnfield]

Dry scrubbing with a CRB and the vacuuming up all the loose dry soil.
You won't need nearly as much encap solution.
Doing the above works with extraction as well

 

[Old Coastie]

Crb, if noise is an issue then vac with a big shopvac ouside the room and use your hose and wand as a vacuum. No problems there. When you've unloaded the soil then padcap or crb encap it. Time your visits so they can't pack it up with soil again. Each time gets easier.

I don't recommend a peroxide encap, it will choke 'em up. Any of the good brands will work, like Zip-dri, (someone here sent me a gallon and it is great) or Releasit DS2 (a great all-rounder with protectant added in the mixture).

 

[SamIam]

If you spray the encap, do as you would precondition. Keep it low to the carpet, big droplet jets. Keep it out of the airstream.

Nothing makes a job go sour faster than 300 people coughing.
Be judicious in your application. Better safe than sorry.

Actually they might leave and let me do my work !

 

[BIG WOOD]

What's the possibility of breaking the job down to do several sections different days to make your time there a lot shorter? And with HWE, not low moisture.

Say, if it's a 3hr job, break it down into 4 or 5 different days to do it, so you'll be there in a very short time for them to tolerate the noise and you'll be able to put more blowers on smaller sections at a low speed. And possibly, just put some moving blankets over the center of the room to catch all the traffic, and help absorb any moisture left in the carpet.

Of course, you'll need to increase your price dramatically for this to happen. But since they know that you're trying to adjust to their business, they should go with you on this $$$$. If not, I wouldn't do the job. Especially since they can't even do normal vacuuming because of their fear of a little noise.

They need better headsets on their telephones if that's the case

 

[Desk Jockey]

VLM will do a fine job of it. Its perfect for this type of scenario, we do it all the time for call centers, nursing homes, 24 hours operations. Cleans well, dries fast, low noise and no hoses for slip & fall hazards.

On new accounts we will do a test patch, less about the cleaning, we have confidence in that but more for them to experiences the actual cleaning. The noise level is low and we have not had anyone complain about cleaning while manning the phones.

HWE to thoroughly flush the carpet would be my choice to start a project like this but it simply doesn't fit there needs. In these cases we simply tailor our cleaning to fit the situation. We would OP this one.

 

[Jimmy L]

Yes a two speed is better than a op in my opinion. On high speed it just floats in and out. Fluff up the carpet using a microfiber pad. I agree doing a prevac is really the only step that removes dirt. I don't believe the polymer does anything but leave a dry residue.

 

[BIG WOOD]

VLM will do a fine job of it. Its perfect for this type of scenario, we do it all the time for call centers, nursing homes, 24 hours operations. Cleans well, dries fast, low noise and no hoses for slip & fall hazards.

On new accounts we will do a test patch, less about the cleaning, we have confidence in that but more for them to experiences the actual cleaning. The noise level is low and we have not had anyone complain about cleaning while manning the phones.

HWE to thoroughly flush the carpet would be my choice to start a project like this but it simply doesn't fit there needs. In these cases we simply tailor our cleaning to fit the situation. We would OP this one.

How do u get around the noise with prevaccing?

 

[Desk Jockey]

What brand do you have Jimmy? I would think for those that can get used to a 175 it would be cheaper and more durable. ??
I've never used a 2-speed, is there any concern about the high speed burning fibers?

 

[Desk Jockey]

How do u get around the noise with prevaccing?

It fortunately hasn't been an issue for us. The maintenance staff takes care of it.

However there are many whisper quiet vacuums. I know we have a Shark they use here in our office that is very quite. If that wasn't enough, I'd get one of those mechanical vacuums they use in restaurants.