Carpet Correction Hot water extraction methods can be successful when used frequently. Use a prespray with high alkalinity that includes solvents or booster. I suggest a booster which is 100 percent solvent rather than one that simply includes some solvent. Terpenes, pine or d’limonene, work well for this purpose. Heat is also important as heat encourages grease and oil to become less viscous and to flow easier making removal easier. Quality encapsulation products, delivered with a counter-rotating brush (CRB) machine, triple-head machine, orbital machine or a standard 175 RPM floor polisher with the proper pads, have proven most effective at restoring even heavy discoloration. Images courtesy of Scott Warrington Case Studies I was recently involved in cleaning two office buildings with issues from tracked in asphalt and sealer. The first building responded well to cleaning. The encapsulation cleaner was applied with an electric sprayer, allowed a few minutes dwell time and worked into the carpet using a CRB. One pass from each direction and the yellowing was gone. Unfortunately this building was cleaned in the evening with poor lighting and the photos do not show the full improvement. The building owners allowed me access to the building after hours for the next several days. Since the carpet had already been cleaned, I brought in a new olefin carpet with a multi-layer pile similar to what we had just cleaned. This new carpet was simply placed on top of the original carpet for dem-onstration purposes. Then asphalt sealer was smeared across the entry area and rubbed into the carpet. The next day, I brought in lights to allow better photography and started cleaning. The CRB made a noticeable improvement, but the sealer was still clearly visible. Next, I switched to cleaning with a cotton bonnet under a 175 RPM floor machine. The area was pretreated with a solvent booster and then cleaned with the encapsulation cleaner. The multi-level pile in the carpet had a diagonal ribbing. Two cleaning passes were done across the ribbing which removed most of the sealer from the higher level of the pile. This was followed by two passes parallel to the ribbing which was better to reach the soil on the lower level of the pile. The next two photos show before and after of a commercial building that was cleaned with a triple-head planetary floor machine. Prevention and regular cleaning are always to be preferred over allowing the carpet’s appearance to deteriorate to a condition that requires restor -ative measures. But, when called on, today’s high-quality encapsulation products can work wonders no matter which process is used to deliver them. BEFORE AFTER SEALER 1 SEALER 2 SEALER 3 Scott Warrington has more than 40 years of experience in the carpet cleaning industry and related fields. He serves as the technical support specialist for Bridgepoint Systems and Interlink Supply. He can be contacted at [email protected]. BEFORE www.CMMOnline.com AFTER 15
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