This perplexes me and keeps me up at night. First, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you are out of your mind. I hear from all sorts of guys that the best way to encap is to soak your pad first. So here is my mental issue; If the pad is soaked in water, doesn't the water take up the place where soil will be soaked up into? Why isn't it better to start with a dry pad, spray the floor heavily with encap, and let the soils wick up into the pad and have the heat created by the pad activate the polymers that make the encap so effective? I know starting out with a wet pad is better for the life of the pad, causing less friction and wear. Unless the encap juice magicially bonds with the soil through emulsification and then through anti-gravity principles have it defy physics and lift up into the water filled pad, replacing the water with soil.
I just don't understand it. Why not start out with a dry pad, do 400 sqft, look at the bottom, then say, "Yup it's dirty, time to get a clean one.".
The theory I can understand is: The water in the pre-soaked pad helps smear the soils around evenly. If you are lucky and by chance, some soils will smear onto the pad. The end result will be a clean looking carpet.
How do I do it? Well confession time. I never "Soak" my pads. I just get them damp to break the friction and reduce wear. I believe that by soaking them fills the pad with water molecules leaving less room for soil convection.