Another Q for the OP only crowd.

[Mikey P]

Tell me how you handle filthy staircases.


I had one today that pitched pretty bad.
Cleaned only a few times in 20 years.

We vacuumed, pre sprayed, granditated and V rinsed but the bull nose still looked bad.

I parted the fibers to find thick gooey crud surrounding clumps of fibers. No real pattern to the cruddy areas but each step had a few goo gobs.

Mrs Piftleton nor I had any idea how this happened.

I tried spraying ENC and toweling it off. I stuck my fingers in there real
good and scrubbed like hell but all that did was spread it around. We are talking thick sticky mud here.

So I attached the PC hand tool and cranked up the pressure a bit and basically pressure washed out the goo.

I tired to imagine using one of the mini pad machines to do this and had to laugh. No way.





Flush baby FLUSH!!!!!

Took way too long but we got it looking pretty good.

Twenty years of wear but she was stoked.

 

[Jeremy]

I normally do it with a portable & an upholstery tool... I guess I'm not OP only though...

 

[Chris Muetterties]

I use my Brute

 

[John G]

Thanks Mikey, that is one of the favorite things many say about using OP on stairs, it is easier and faster, we use the StepSon for that job.

 

[Mikey P]

You would have ruined that carpet (even worse) with that car buffer..

 

[John G]

No you wouldn't, and I see you had to use a towel anyways.

 

[Mikey P]

That rag work was before I pressure washed it.

This job reminded me of the many car mats I've pressure washed where it takes over 15 minutes for the water to run clear.


I've never seen a staircase so gooed up that was not directly connected to a garage before.

 

[Guest]

For what it's worth.

I was pad only for about two years. Then went SD. Finally did what everybody told me to do in the first place and got a small tm.

The tm cleans best hands down, and is way faster!

The high heat, the pressure and the cfms can't be beat. And with plenty of dry passes the carpet is try pretty fast.

TM as the primary tool, op strickly as a supplement.

My 2 cents.

Phil

 

[John G]

Phil:

Tell me about your OP (what type) and your Pads..(what type)
seriously

 

[GRHeacock]

Mike- can't help with the OP question, but I do suggest getting one of the PMF Hugger tools. It is made for stair noses, and a few other things like sofa or chair arm ends that are bad.

See it at-

http://www.heacocks.com/University/Chair.htm

and no, I don't sell them.

Gary

 

[Scott Rogers]

Mike, John is right . The step son would have corrected that problem fast. I started post padding all my staircases. I am using a variable speed sander/polisher with synthetic pads (purchased from Cobbs supply) and have been very pleased with the finished job every time.

You shouldnt be so quick to judge till you actually try it.

 

[Art Kelley]

The StepSon looks like a very excellent detailing tool and would clean faster and more evenly than the furniture tool in Mikey's picture.
Personally, once I saw that the stairway still looked bad after simple steam extraction , I would respray TLC and go over it again with my 175 with a 15" brush. It is Highly effective at scrubbing loose those underlying boogers within the carpet fibers. Shampooing stairs with a large floor machine takes a little getting used to, but it can't be beat for preconditioning prior to your extraction step.

 

[Pmatte]

How about better pre -inspection and some extra dwelltime ,no matter what the method!
Patrick

 

[rhino1]

I have had success using a fiber pad followed by a cotton bonnet on my micro OP machine.

With the soil load that bad, did you not get any wickback :?:

 

[Dolly Llama]

With the soil load that bad, did you not get any wickback :?:

Rhino, you don't get wick back when you get the soil out.

95% of wick backs w/HWE are due to poor technique or less than thorough cleaning

..L.T.A.

 

[hogjowl]

Mike's example is not one that comforms well to either of the methods (OP or HWE) when used alone. I have never said there was no place for OP cleaning, nor have I ever said (after trying it) that OP cleaning is a good stand alone system. However, incorporating the agitation of OP with the superior flushing and rinsing action of HWE rules the day in Mike's scenario.

Of course, using a brush or towel followed by HWE gives the same cleaning results without having to pay John $400 for a car buffer.

Phil:
I can pretty much guarantee you (from years of listening to John talking) that he's gonna say you used the wrong machine and pads, and will probably tell you that your inexperience was the reason for your failure with OP.

It's NEVER the system.

 

[Guest]

Challenger and 100% cotton pads.

Admiral,

I know another guy who used his machine and pads for 5 years and now has a tm and is kicking himself in the arse. I won't mentioned his name cuz he's not too popular here. But he says the same thing about it always being the users fault and not the system.

Phil

 

[rhino1]

You don't get wickback when you get the soil out...

OK. So the carpet was 100% dry when it was finished (post bonnet maybe) otherwise, how do you keep the water pressure from pushing some of the soil into the backing and wicking back after it dries, especially after heavy prespraying and scrubbing? What about residue? With all that serious prespraying/agitation going on to remove that crud you need to do some serious rinsing, leaving even more moisture, leading to a higher risk of wickback, right?

This is NOT a shot at HWE, just a question about the methods used to take care of this particular problem and not have other problems arise. I'm sure I would have flushed out this one as well, but I would have post-bonnet and speed-dried as well. Maybe that would be going overboard? And I mean with your normal, run of the mill truckmount, not one of those super-sucker tanks with a 10 minute dry time. :wink:

 

[Greg Loe]

Would a gel solvent worked on it? That's what I would have tried. Black soft soled shoes?

 

[Dolly Llama]

Rhino, there's no need to "blow water thru the backing".
Those are the peeps who have "wet for three day" drying times and all sorts of wicking probs.

Ever wonder why so many HWE guys have problems with berber?
Cause they don't have enough sense to pour water out of a boot .

Know why many bozos have probs with CGD?
Cause they're too stupid to figure out they ain't moving any water thru the hose when the wand is locked down on the carpet tighter than a frog's butt.

Flow is what cleans. a SLOW flush/rinse stroke at moderate PSI is better than "pressure washing" a carpet by BLASTING solution out the other side.

Honest to goodness, I don't think I'm any kind of great CCer.
When I started in this biz over 16 years ago, I heard of brown out
(back in the day when we still saw a lot of jute backed carpet)

I heard how guys HATED olie berbers and charged more for them because of all the "problems" associated with them.

I heard about shrinking wall to wall wool off the tack strip.

I was a nervous wreck the first year hearing all the "problems" a CCer would/could encounter
A few years latter I wondered what all the hub-bub was about.
I STILL don't think I'm any kind of great cleaner.
I've just determined that MOST of the dudes out there are clueless plain and simple


..L.T.A.

 

[pHilh]

To be honest having a big powerful truck mount like a Vortex and only achieving a result like that?,you must be disappointed with it and slightly embarrassed!,especially when a towel takes even more crap out.

What happened to all the heat and vacuum?????????

 

[jeg1983]

Is there a reason why I can never see the pictures Mikey post? I do not seem to have a problem see'in anyone eles's. Just curious. Thanks for anyhelp.. Sorry for being off subject.

 

[Steve in Omaha]

Great Thread. Good photos

Excellent example of the value of this board!!!

 

[alazo1]

Definitely, this is a limitation of any vlm system. No way in hell are you gonna get dirt from so deep in a pile with a rag. Same goes with filtration lines. No doubt the buffers will make it look good but the dirt will still be there.

Mike, I'm wondering why you didn't use your hydro force sprayer to drench prior to extracting. Also does the glide come off the tool easily. Seems going glideless in this situation would give more control. Or would you even be able to move the damn thing.

Albert

 

[Mikey P]

Boy oh boy some of you guys have a hard time reading.




I really wish we had a pic of the final results. But the home owner was standing around as we finished up and I didn't want to embarress her any more.


Who was the bonehead who said that we didn't pre inspect properly?
Do you open up each and every bull nose to see if 20 years of hidden goo lies within?

Yeah right....

I would bet not a single one of you who commented have a glided PC tool.
It works just fine on bullnoses.

When we were trying to remove it with a towel it just spread the crap around. No matter how many times we flipped it or added more ENC, cotton was NOT going to make this go away.

What finally got it all out was ENC and tons of HWE!

 

[Pmatte]

I guess I'm the bonehead...but I think I could see that gunk while I'm walking the steps let alone while I'm vacuuming.That gunk in the shots is something I normally wouldn't see on a monthly basis.


My comment was only on the thought that because it ( the goo) was soooo thick,....(actually looks like some kind of greasy,oil crude thick splooge of the likes I've never seen from normal soiling on a stair case) maybe an application of the appropriate spotter,in a heavy dosage,with extra dwell time,would be in order.

Was I there with you?....no.How am I supposed to know if you casually glanced at the steps or not?If you can't take a little constructive criticism every know and then without getting your panties in a bunch,then get off your soapbox...Herman!

Patrick

 

[Pmatte]

I guess I'm the bonehead...but I think I could see that gunk while I'm walking the steps let alone while I'm vacuuming.That gunk in the shots is something I normally wouldn't see on a monthly basis.


My comment was only on the thought that because it ( the goo) was soooo thick,....(actually looks like some kind of greasy,oil crude thick splooge of the likes I've never seen from normal soiling on a stair case) maybe an application of the appropriate spotter,in a heavy dosage,with extra dwell time,would be in order.

Was I there with you?....no.How am I supposed to know if you casually glanced at the steps or not?If you can't take a little constructive criticism every know and then without getting your panties in a bunch,then get off your soapbox...Herman!

Patrick

 

[Mikey P]

We did do a heavy PS with the HF, grandi groomed it in as well. Every thing came out fine with the TI wand but these random gunked areas.

It was way wierd how they were so thick and spread out. And for what ever reason only on the bullnose.


The glide pops (pulls) off that tool pretty easy. It's a slot type so I dont see how going glidless would have helped.

 

[DRScrivner]

1.) Pre-spray with pre-spray of your choice.
2.) Dwell, dwell and dwell some more.
3.) Agitate pre-spray with Craftsmen 19.2 cordless side handle drill and soft (white bristle) roto-brush attachment.
4.) Extract.
5.) Post bonnet with Wal-Mart orbital car buffer ($19.95)- if needed.

 

[R W]

Now THAT'S one side by side comparison I'd like to see. I've done many staircases, just about as bad as those in Mike's pic's. It's a norm around Ohio with nasty winter weather, and customers that don't vac their stairs on a regular basis. I just cleaned a set of steps at a....Pakistani home??..
where the homeowners take off their shoes before entering the house. The steps were just off the garage, and man were they filthy, just like Mikes example, only they were a dark green shag. Even bare feet make a mess.

Back to the comparison.....I use the PMF ? stair tool, with the swivel head for stair cleaning. It flushes well and looks more professional than winging a wand on the stairs. I also use the PC upholstery tool if I need more detail. I would like to see a padding of those stairs....maybe 1/2 padded, 1/2 flushed, then compare. I pre-spray and agitate with the spotting brush. You gotta go easy with the spotters, especially solvent spotters, or you may end up with delamination. When flushing, you also have to remember that something is under the steps....like maybe another ceiling?? Water stains from above are pretty unsitely.

(Ever run across customers steps with vacuum cleaner "burns" in them??
Custy holds an upright on one step, and uses the upholstery tool to clean steps......wala!.....the brush burns the fiber! I usually point these out before cleaning.