Agitation on stairs

[Brandon Culp]

I had some pretty soiled stairs yesterday. Raked the prespray it, but really had to flush them out. Numerous dry passes, but they're still pretty damp.

Does anyone use something other than a rake to agitate the stairs? I'm thinking about pulling out the car waxing orbital. It would be a big, fat pain in the butt, but could reduce the amount of moisture on really soiled stairs.

 

[Out of Character - 0]

not necessarily recommended but we sometimes use a motorscrubber (battery)

 

[Guest]

I'd say that those had to be the most soiled stairs in the country!

A good juice and some dwell time should clean 'em right up. If you're leaving them damp make a few extra dry passes. Should still dry in 1 to 3 hours.

Take the cuff and detail the edges and the nose.

 

[Greg Loe]

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/D ... mber=92623

Fiber plus pad.

 

[John Watson]

I agree with Greg, Bought my machine from Harbor, (It was on sale for $29.95) I don't think their bonnets are worth getting. Get some real ones from Ricky G. Made a small adjustment with a velcro pad and glue from John G. Did $2800.00 worth of work with it in 2 days and now will use it on stairs with all problems. Encap to deep scrub using Fiber plus pads.

 

[Mikey P]

If my Grandi and extra dwell time cant cut it I whip out my GLS.

 

[Scottie]

I always scrub stairs, always! I use a microfiber bonnet on a 6 inch orbital followed by hwe with a 4 inch hand tool and final grooming. I am well known for the best looking stairs in town. I either do It to the best of my abilities or I don't do It at all.

 

[Jimmy L]

A simple stiff poly brush from a hardware store works good.

 

[Greenie]

What tool did you extract them with?
I'm trying to figuer out why they are still so wet with a 47 blower, for us stairs always out dried the floors, just more suck per inch on a stair tool.

 

[The Preacher]

i have a brush for my drill i bought from Cimex Ricky for upholstery that works well with stairs

 

[Michael Ellis]

A part of our whole agitation regime, we use a white brushed Host machine in the locked upright position.

With steps, you just walk down the steps dropping the machine one step at a time. Sometimes turning it 90 degrees to really put some elbow grease into a trashed stair heel.

The tray is waiting for the machine at the bottom.

The whole drill takes one to two minutes.

Of course we cuff or crevice the edges first.

 

[Tahoesteve]

I use a 59 cent soft scrub brush from Wal-Mart...Grandi wasn't cutting it

 

[Tony Neville]

Usually don't need to scrub, but I just use the center of our red pad.

Tony

 

[Derek]

i have a hand-held OP machine similar to the Challenger stair tool.

like Mike, i used to use a Host.

 

[steve r]

i just use my bane stair tool and scrub like i do my floors and get great results and dry times. i am also using pca 5 and never had to prespray.

steve

 

[Darren Darner]

Use an oreck orbiter if you need extra scrubbing - looks professional to customer also

Darren

 

[Blue Monarch]

For the bad ones, I brush the stair by hand with Rick G's roto brush. This ensures the whole fiber is covered with prespray. Then I rinse the hell out of them with my UPH tool. I hate stair tools.

 

[Eric Scofield]

I use the Gary Hecock brush with a short handle

 

[Rex Tyus]

KOKO said

A simple stiff poly brush from a hardware store works good.

O M G I agree with Ladwig. :shock:

 

[Eric Valentine]

I use a grandi or a medium hand scrub brush if it is really bad. I rinse with my RV 360 and the 7" head that has an early prototype glide. Leaves the stairs very dry while literally flushing the $hit out of them. Risers are done with a 4" detail tool.

 

[FastEddie]

I use my Rotovac Swinger with the hard surface brush to agitate on the super nasties. Rotary jet extraction on stairs is un-matched.

 

[Guest]

Nothing agitates better than a Rotovac. A Rotovac is the best thing you can use on stairs.

Dave

 

[Royal Man]

Agitation is is good. But I always followup with a towel.

Those flat tools don't work that well on those round edges.

-And I agree the old school hand brush is the easiest way to scrub them. It weighs less than a RV, Plus it gets in the corners!

 

[Fred Homan]

Use the Oreck 13" swing machine with brush attachment then extract with swivel head....Light weight and you can get the nose
and riser if need be....

 

[Greenie]

"i am also using pca 5 and never had to prespray."

NO PRESPRAY...EVER?

Just Stanley Steemer style?

Oh and Dave, you would trip out how well a ROUND tool works on stairs, like a glided stairtool, it's the ticket on bullnoses and just work in general.

 

[Fred Homan]

I made my own bullnose tool from an extra hand attachment. Works great!

 

[hogjowl]

I always scrub with my GLS ... always!

But, only after vacuuming in all 4 directions.

Then I extract and make sure I perform 15 dry passes on every square inch of carpet.

Then I get out my 12 inch rotary machine and bonnet dry the stairs.

After that, just to be anal, I comb each step with a hair brush.







PS This IS the ICS bulletin board ... right?

 

[harryhides]

Good grief, some poor newbies will actually believe you Marty. Do they even have stairs in Prattville?

 

[Guest]

The GLS's get used on about 60-70% of the jobs around here...with a swivel style stair tool from Power Crap, then finished off with a kirby attachment.


Nice and dry to the touch in 2-3 hours...even with a Ninga.



Chad