First off let me state that I am a newbie to the hard floor category. But with Shaw now at 50% carpet and 50% hard surface even us old dudes need to understand all the changes in our industry and society. An interesting fact is home ownership is at its lowest level since pre WW2. This means that the multi-family market is rapidly increasing.
Let me also state the purpose of these classes. Shaw installs flooring in somewhere between 1/2 million and a million multi-family residences. Most do not pay a decent price and so they get what they pay for. The purpose of Shaw aligning with
JonDon is to try and bring the level of cleaning up. At the same time, they are trying to convince huge property managers that they will add to their bottom line if they hire better cleaners.
On MB you attract people who are very interested in the technology of cleaning. Unfortunately, there are only so many Mark
Saigers in the world. A much higher percentage of cleaners prefer to avoid cleaning classes and as such can easily damage properties due to this. We are trying to take the newer cleaners and at least get them to not cause any damage. We want them to understand the basics such as pH below 10 etc. And by the way, I am very impressed with the new Eclipse fiber and no it is not nylon. But it is a polyester world today in residential.
So I will try to answer Jim's questions as well as I can. Remember when you are dealing with a multi-billion dollar company you spend a lot of time with legal. So they will always have rules and guidelines as they are dealing with millions of consumers as well as cleaners. And they hate the Dyson but will never put that in writing.
1. Chemistry: "They" seem to like neutral floor clean[/I]ers. The reality of rental property (LVT or carpet) is high pH and solvents. Is there proof that such chemistry would damage the flooring?
Yes for vinyl they prefer to stay at a moderate pH. They use solvents as necessary. With their vinyl they prefer not to have a finish applied. Unfortunately many add a finish and now you are back to the problems of VCT with high pH strippers. Part of the issue is they are trying to get these floors on a regular maintenance so they don't need to nuke it. I realize that is a major challenge. For carpet the main issue with a fluorochemical even Shaw R2x is it is impacted by any pH above 10. In class during the spotting demonstration we use everything available (lots of Prosolv gel), oxidizers etc. We know that when it is trashed you need the extremes.
2: Agitation: How do they see the
CRB vs rotary, and if rotary, do they want brush or pad? Or do they just want some self contained mini extractor, such as is used on hardwood?
Actually all of the above. Red pads on a 175 are acceptable as are CRBs and mini extractors.
3. Pressure/water volume: Is there any proven damage to the installation than can occur when using a carpet wand at 500-700 psi?
Jim if you are talking about carpet no problem. As for the vinyl not sure they have tested that.[/I]
Heat does not seem to be an issue on the carpet as their carpet is all dyed and heat set above350 degrees. With the vinyl I don't think it has been tested, but I would worry about the glue down installs. Most of the better installs are the click planks.
To me, it seems the debate is like comparing the cleaning requirements of stain resistant nylon within its warranty period in a well kept home versus section 8 rental property.
I totally agree with this statement. But as I stated above we are just trying to get them familiar with LVT/LVP and they can build upon that foundation. Anyone cleaning in a section 8 knows they have to throw out all the rules. But then I have never understood why someone wants to clean section 8 properties.