Flowtex job coming up-do's & don'ts?

[Desk Jockey]

We have a 12,000sq/ft Flowtex job coming up what are they do's & don'ts about cleaning it?

Prespray? Clear water rinse or acid rinse?

 

[Hoody]

Looks like its 6.6 nylon. But appears to have an antimicrobial built into the backing. Manufacturer says that property is water proof, and it can be cleaned at 100 C (212F).

So clean it like nylon, but if you're running propane/kero burners watch the heat a bit :?:

 

[Desk Jockey]

It's weird stuff Hoody, they gave us some tiles to test with.

They look just like flocked upholstery fabric, but very dense. We cleaned with the Powerglide, Drag wand and Scrub wand and could not see a difference or any apparent moisture difference either.

The tech's would prefer to scrub wand. Young and dumb!

 

[billyeadon]

It's weird stuff Hoody, they gave us some tiles to test with.

They look just like flocked upholstery fabric, but very dense. We cleaned with the Powerglide, Drag wand and Scrub wand and could not see a difference or any apparent moisture difference either.

The tech's would prefer to scrub wand. Young and dumb!

It is a flocked material and they demonstrate cleaning at trade show by using a squeegee. It's been around for a longtime under the name Lobo Floors. Came from Europe. Popular in health care settings.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Thanks Bill!
What are they saying about cleaning solutions? It's a high profile (well by Topeka's standards :mrgreen: ) installation, it hasn't been down that long but see's a good share of foot traffic.

I'd prefer no problems in cleaning, which doesn't appear to be a problem but don't want to over clean it either.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

Don't do what I do:

It's surprising what a Turbo Hydro will do with this stuff. Car dealership stains. Looked great.

But I didn't recommend it.

 

[Jack May]

Biggest issue is wick back... By a huge margin.

I've cleaned thousands of meters of this stuff over the past 14 years. I learnt a lot on the first job. Wick back mainly. A glide will be invaluable as it can lock down very quickly and shut down your airflow and therefore your recovery of water.

Prespray needs to be weak, and very light. Don't prespray too far ahead as it'll dry out. Scrub nasty areas with a twin cylindrical counter rotating brush machine. I use a Rotowash R35 for that purpose almost exclusively. Flush well and slowly with good drying strokes.

For problem stained areas, flushing is the biggest key, moreso than extra detergent, and if necessary, speed dry. I have even run a 17" rotary with a thick ChemDry bonnet over bad areas to prevent wick back.

As Lee said, sometimes even high volume flushing like achieved with a turbo spinner will work but be careful of recovery being adequate to the volume of water put down.

John

 

[billyeadon]

Thanks Bill!
What are they saying about cleaning solutions? It's a high profile (well by Topeka's standards :mrgreen: ) installation, it hasn't been down that long but see's a good share of foot traffic.

I'd prefer no problems in cleaning, which doesn't appear to be a problem but don't want to over clean it either.

I don't think I can improve on what John said especiallly about wicking. Just like carpet tiles the backing diminishes airflow which increase wicking problems. Get it dry fast.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Thanks guys, I think I send our 805 and maybe the Butler in box.

Thanks John, Lee & Bill, much appreciated!

 

[Erik]

I can lend you a Zipper to see how it may work for you.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Sweet Eric!
But the job is Monday.

I do appreciate the thought though.

 

[Erik]

I can get it there. PM the address tonight you will have it.

 

[The Great Oz]

What John said, with double dittos for the slow drying passes.

If you've worked with needlepunched outdoor carpet or glued-down commercial low nap, clean this the same way.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Thanks Bryan!

The carpet is really in great shape, they would like to keep it maintained since it is realatively new.

I haven't seen it but my brother Luis said no major spots or traffic patterns to worry about. So drying will be the only concern but on the test squares it seemed to dry fine.

 

[hogjowl]

How about a picture?

 

[Desk Jockey]

I'll get one when we clean Monday.

They took the samples back before I could get a shot of it.

Looks like flocked upholstery.

 

[The Great Oz]

I haven't had the chance to study the product, so I have one question for Bill.

Is it "flocked" into a unitary backing of vinyl or is the adhesive latex? If latex I'd be cautious with solvents but vinyl is pretty hard to hurt.

 

[Jack May]

It's flocked onto a unitary vinyl backing Bryan. And that's been a huge part of their marketing campaign down under for cleaners, don't treat it like carpet, because it's not.

Downunder they actually have put out their own products for maintenance. A general cleaner and a restorer product. I had cleaned it for years without problems before these products were introduced and so I carried on without them.

John

 

[steve frasier]

I have not cleaned it but have talked to the area rep. It is suppose to be easy to clean up with water and suppose to wear really well.

there is some cleaning instructions here
http://www.forboflooringna.com/Commerci ... ts/Flotex/

Lowes sells the tiles

here is the rep contact info if you want it

Cherie McNabb

cherie.mcnabb@forbo.com

1-800-342-0604 ext 464

 

[Desk Jockey]

They said it was weird stuff, my nephew said as he cleaned you could see the dirt line moving with the wand. He was very uncomfortable with the results. He thought a pressure washing gun might have worked better on it.

While cleaning you could see a night and day difference, as you completed an area and looked back on it, the area didn’t look as good to him.

We left airmovers overnight and the guys were a little reluctant about picking them up, however they were surprised to see that the carpet looked great.

I need to get the pictures from Dan but what I saw looked just like different colored carpet squares.

 

[hogjowl]

Where's the pictures, Taco?

 

[Desk Jockey]

Big D has them his camera. When he gets back from the course I'll get them off his camera.

 

[steve frasier]

how old were the tiles

did they have a noticable wear pattern

what type of facility were they in

 

[Desk Jockey]

Steve
They were 6-months old and no wear pattern at this time.

It's Kids museum.

 

[hogjowl]

Still no picture ...

 

[Desk Jockey]

:shock:

 

[hogjowl]

Nevermind.

Not interested anymore ...

 

[adamh]

I can lend you a Zipper to see how it may work for you.

Does that mean you are selling these to us normal folks now?

Adam

 

[West]

I know your job is already done, but we clean over 100,000 sq.ft. of Flotex every year. It is by far our favorite carpet to clean, it ALWAYS looks like new every time. We researched it the first time we cleaned it and found that just regular hot water extraction worked great, nothing special just regular wand cleaning. Some of the coolest longest lasting carpet out there. Cleaning some again this Tuesday!