Mikey P
Administrator
If you asked my long list of jealous ex virtual lovers, they would say “Because TOPS is paying you!”
and I would retort, “KMA and wipe it with a microfiber bonnet!”
God only knows how many times I would argue in the early days on the WWW with John Guerkink using the poopy fingers analogy to make my point on why hot water extraction is better than pad cleaning..
(don’t worry, I still wash my hands after going potty)
Now in the new age of multi method cleaning professionals, when it comes to carpet cleaning, the microfiber bonnets and the new wave of machines that spin, jiggle and wiggle them, I have dramatically changed my outlook on how I, and a whole slew of old HWE diehards, clean carpeting these days.
A few of you will remember when the low moisture guys on the forums would post pics of a 3 foot stack of filthy (100%) cotton pads on the doorstep of a home or business in much the same way as Hot Water guys show the filthy water draining out of their waste tanks. It was a badge of honor to show off how much soil was removed by bragging about how many pads you used on that one job. The thing was back in those days, those pads would load up with gunk in just a few twirls on a visibly soiled carpet. In as little as a square yard the cotton was no longer able to hold any more soil, especially when you consider that you had to essentially cover up 50% of the pad with a thin plastic disc of sorts in order to enable you to move the “wheels up” rattle trap of a jackhammer machine back then…
Just like a whole generation of HWE guys who have never cleaned without a Teflon glide on their wands, this new generation of cleaners have never experienced the joy of using the old machines that numbed your hands in no time and would only move TO THE LEFT! (If you wanted to go right you had to face the other direction…)
I tried to adapt on four or five occasions to that style of cleaning over the years when different manufactures would give me machines to test, I could never last more than a room or two…
The Cimex played a big part in my company for 15 years or more because it was so easy to use, and the dirt stayed hidden for so long. My techs and I happily hoped and prayed that the encapsulated soil would vacuum away in the proceeding weeks as we sunk the soil deeper and deeper with every visit.
But deep down, we knew it didn’t.
It feels like it was much longer ago, but it was just 2019 at a Mikey’s Fest in Las Vegas, that the fine folks at TOPS awarded me with a shiny new wheels down OP machine as a thank you for what I do for the RMHC. You can watch my progression of adapting to this newish way of extracting soil from carpet with these magical highly absorbent pads on my You Tube channel and my online forum.
The ”Bucket Test” is what really converted me, and I suggest you take the test as well. Go clean 500 SF of dirty carpet and put the blue microfiber pad in a 5 gallon buck of hot water, and let it sit for a few minutes, then stir the water with a pole and watch that water turn as dark and nasty as what comes out of your truckmount’s waste tank…
If you don’t understand after that display of gravity defying logic, than perhaps you might want to consider a career change to window or rain gutter washing.
Better yet, go visit that job a month later and let your mind soak in how great the carpet STILL LOOKS.
No wicking, no dirty dish rag stench for weeks after cleaning, far less resoiling…
With emission restrictions coming soon to our gasoline powered extractors and the vehicles that carry them, VLM will need be a much bigger part of your cleaning toolbox, whether you like it or not.
And yes, I still steam clean most residential carpet, albeit with a cheap Chinese $200 wand these days but that’s a story for another day.
and I would retort, “KMA and wipe it with a microfiber bonnet!”
God only knows how many times I would argue in the early days on the WWW with John Guerkink using the poopy fingers analogy to make my point on why hot water extraction is better than pad cleaning..
(don’t worry, I still wash my hands after going potty)
Now in the new age of multi method cleaning professionals, when it comes to carpet cleaning, the microfiber bonnets and the new wave of machines that spin, jiggle and wiggle them, I have dramatically changed my outlook on how I, and a whole slew of old HWE diehards, clean carpeting these days.
A few of you will remember when the low moisture guys on the forums would post pics of a 3 foot stack of filthy (100%) cotton pads on the doorstep of a home or business in much the same way as Hot Water guys show the filthy water draining out of their waste tanks. It was a badge of honor to show off how much soil was removed by bragging about how many pads you used on that one job. The thing was back in those days, those pads would load up with gunk in just a few twirls on a visibly soiled carpet. In as little as a square yard the cotton was no longer able to hold any more soil, especially when you consider that you had to essentially cover up 50% of the pad with a thin plastic disc of sorts in order to enable you to move the “wheels up” rattle trap of a jackhammer machine back then…
Just like a whole generation of HWE guys who have never cleaned without a Teflon glide on their wands, this new generation of cleaners have never experienced the joy of using the old machines that numbed your hands in no time and would only move TO THE LEFT! (If you wanted to go right you had to face the other direction…)
I tried to adapt on four or five occasions to that style of cleaning over the years when different manufactures would give me machines to test, I could never last more than a room or two…
The Cimex played a big part in my company for 15 years or more because it was so easy to use, and the dirt stayed hidden for so long. My techs and I happily hoped and prayed that the encapsulated soil would vacuum away in the proceeding weeks as we sunk the soil deeper and deeper with every visit.
But deep down, we knew it didn’t.
It feels like it was much longer ago, but it was just 2019 at a Mikey’s Fest in Las Vegas, that the fine folks at TOPS awarded me with a shiny new wheels down OP machine as a thank you for what I do for the RMHC. You can watch my progression of adapting to this newish way of extracting soil from carpet with these magical highly absorbent pads on my You Tube channel and my online forum.
The ”Bucket Test” is what really converted me, and I suggest you take the test as well. Go clean 500 SF of dirty carpet and put the blue microfiber pad in a 5 gallon buck of hot water, and let it sit for a few minutes, then stir the water with a pole and watch that water turn as dark and nasty as what comes out of your truckmount’s waste tank…
If you don’t understand after that display of gravity defying logic, than perhaps you might want to consider a career change to window or rain gutter washing.
Better yet, go visit that job a month later and let your mind soak in how great the carpet STILL LOOKS.
No wicking, no dirty dish rag stench for weeks after cleaning, far less resoiling…
With emission restrictions coming soon to our gasoline powered extractors and the vehicles that carry them, VLM will need be a much bigger part of your cleaning toolbox, whether you like it or not.
And yes, I still steam clean most residential carpet, albeit with a cheap Chinese $200 wand these days but that’s a story for another day.
