More and more commercial and institutional users of carpeted floors are discovering that carpet care is not a job for amateurs, stimulating the resulting growth in demand for competent, skilled, carpet care services. This presents an exciting window of opportunity for the alert, forward thinking carpet service company looking for solid, long term growth opportunities in our industry.
 
When you compare residential and commercial cleaning, there are many similarities as well as several outstanding differences.

One of the major differences is the manner in which particle soil is viewed.

In residential cleaning, dry vacuuming to remove particle soil is performed, in most cases, only when visibly necessary.

In commercial carpet cleaning, dry particle soil removal is the mainstay of the cleaning program.

According to a well-documented study conducted by The Hoover Company, as much as 79 percent of soil in a carpet may be dry soil. That means after thorough vacuuming has been performed you should only need to be concerned with removing the remaining "21" percent of the soil.

It is strongly recommended that soil management begin with walk-off mats, sized and placed properly for the areas being served, and which are cleaned on a regular basis. This soil management concept is further enhanced by thorough removal of the soils on at least a daily basis using efficient, properly maintained vacuuming equipment.

Research further indicates that upright vacuums using an agitating brush are most effective at removing this particle soil. Professional vacuums used for this task must collect soil that is being removed by using a high efficiency filtering system to prevent redistribution of fine particles into the air. 

Further, embedded particulate soil removal should be performed, at least monthly, using a "pile lifter" to aggressively lift the pile of the carpet and remove deeply embedded particle soils. It's this aggressive particle soil removal that prevents the carpet from appearing soiled and allows the use of "interim" cleaning methods.

The general trend in the commercial and institutional field continues to move toward using the deep cleaning, wet systems basically for restorative cleaning. Recent years continue the growing use of low moisture (LM) cleaning methods, coupled with the ongoing technological advances in encapsulation chemistry. Encapsulation cleaners can be applied using most of the low moisture methods today.

There are probably two reasons for this tendency; cost and convenience. Faster production rates, lower start-up costs and reduced possibility of soils wicking to the surface of the carpet are additional reasons cited by commercial low moisture cleaners and their pleased clients.
 
About the highest production rate one can reasonably expect from deep cleaning, wet systems is 400-700 square feet per hour over an eight hour shift. This represents a very high labor cost and cannot compete, price wise, with a high-speed process such as encapsulation cleaning.

When low moisture cleaners were surveyed about production rates for cleaning low-pile commercial carpet with average soil load, the most common response was 1,500 to 2,000 square feet per hour. When one must go into and out of offices and around obstacles the cleaning rate may be as low as 400-500 square feet per hour.

All of the high-speed processes are also low moisture systems and offer the added advantage of rapid drying. The advantage provided by the short drying time is that it allows carpets to be returned to service quickly. Drying time can be a major factor in many of the large commercial installations that often experience traffic 24 hours per day.

The reality of commercial cleaning is that much of it is done with so-called "appearance cleaning" systems, used on a regular basis to keep the carpet looking clean The keys to the success of these systems is chemical choice coupled with proper dilution & application.
 
Because these systems are not followed with a "rinse step," there is residue left after cleaning. If this residue is sticky, such as often occurs in poorly formulated products, then dry soil will bond to the carpet surface and rapid resoiling will be experienced.

A properly formulated encapsulate cleaning agent will leave a dry, crumbly residue to minimize rapid resoiling. Advanced formulations have anti-soiling agents built-in to enhance the carpet's soil resistance. Choice of the proper cleaning agent must be accompanied by proper usage. This is where technician training and motivation comes into play.

If the technician has the proper chemicals, a desire to do a good job, and has been exposed to good training, then how can you and your company go wrong? Properly performed, at the appropriate frequency, the high production, low moisture methods will deliver clean, dry carpet in a short period. In today's marketplace there continues to be marked improvement in encapsulation cleaning products produced by leading manufacturers of carpet cleaning products. Why the continuing interest in encapsulation? Simply this, encapsulation successfully addresses many of the problems commonly associated with commercial carpet care.

How encapsulation works:

This system is built on new technology. The better encapsulation products employ acrylic copolymers, these advanced products utilize new polymer technology that forms a distinct crystal. Some of these products also contain fluorochemicals.

Defining types of soil to contend with in commercial carpet settings helps in understanding the principle of encapsulation. While it's true there are many contaminants a carpet can be exposed to, on the most basic cleaning level we can narrow it down to just two types of soil: Dry soil and sticky soil.

Most dry soil in a commercial setting can be readily removed by routine dry vacuuming. It's the oily and sticky soils that attract and hold dry soil to the surface. The result is a dull, gray and ugly appearance.

The encapsulation process does an efficient job of counteracting the sticky soils. The key to effective carpet cleaning is to remove the sticky soils. The encapsulation chemistry surrounds soil particles in the carpet and forms a crystal that won't attract other soil. The encapsulated soil particles release from the carpet fiber and are extracted with normal vacuuming. And since there's no dirt attracting residue left behind, the carpet is able to stay clean longer.

Agitation + crystallization = encapsulation

As deep soil builds up in the carpet, it gradually becomes impossible to keep the carpet at an acceptable appearance level, and deep cleaning will be necessary. The process generally viewed as "wet cleaning." Most fiber producers and carpet manufacturers recommend this system because of its soil removal capabilities. However, it does have the drawbacks of slower drying, low production rate, and labor intensity. 

Encapsulation is an ideal method for the majority of commercial applications. Yet encapsulation also has its limits. It isn't recommended for grease impacted carpets. It works especially well for maintaining what makes up 99 percent of commercial carpet. Encapsulation aptly handles the "grayed-out" dingy commercial carpet with abundant drink spills - that's where it excels.

Major companies throughout the country recommend using encapsulation for their commercial carpeting. A number of the largest commercial carpet manufacturers in the country are recommending and/or using various forms of encapsulation cleaning to maintain their commercial floor coverings. It's clear the industry has become aware of encapsulation.