....did the local firehouse today......they needed the upstair dinner hall
done before a dinner and show tomorrow.....my
guys were busy,so the old man went to work...

We do the place 2x a year,always spills,traffic
lanes black,etc. I pre sprayed Vac Away and used a
Durapad,no glider necessary.......amazing results
in half the time of regular padding.

Got a bunch of "wows"from folks in an adjacent
meeting room.....gave out business cards.

Challenger ran very smooth,I actually couldn't
believe the results and the short time it took.

We have a 20,000 sq.ft.office tomorrow,we are
bringing 2 Challengers.........

hiyas Mike

hey let us know how that big job goes and how long it takes you. also, will you only be using the 2 Challengers?

take care --- Derek.

Mike and others,
What size Durapad do you use on the Challenger? 15" or larger, say 17"?

Derek.......we will also be using the Cimex....all
open areas,pretty easy.......3 guys,approx.4-5 hours,
which includes set up and breakdown.

We are getting $2000 for the job....who says
you can't make money at .10 a foot.......lol.

Neil,we use the 17" pads......you won't believe
the ease of use.......as I said,no constant changing of pads,no wringing,no gliders.....very effortless.
I was amazed.....wouldn't have appreciated
it if I didn't do the job myself.

Mike, i have some DuraPads (aka Tuway ThinOnes) but have only used them once on a resi frieze to ward off tip bloom. never have tried them on commercial.

they just seem TOO soft to get any good aggressiveness out of them....am i off base on that thinking?? whereas something like a FiberPlus pad you'd get MUCH more aggression. and if someone is using the ThinOne's for the ssake of pulling up some extra soil, my question is how much soil can a synthetic (rayon maybe.?.) ThinOne / Durapad actually hold onto?

Neil, i recommend the 17" at least. unless you are pinching pennies, a 17" or larger is easier to set your Challenger on without worry of the velcro pad driver touching the carpet. 19" would be ideal i think, that's the size i like for cotton pads anyways.

thanx for any enlightenment Mike --- Derek.

Derek.......with me it's a personal thing.
To be totally honest,I have never ran a fiber pad
with the Challenger........the durapads don't hold
anywhere near the dirt of cotton....we run the Cimex in large open areas and the OP in tight areas with
desks,etc........much easier to get into hard to
reach areas........

cool Mike, makes sense.

just an FYI: you can buy the Tuway Thinones that fit the bottom of the Cimex as well.

take care --- Derek.

Are DuraPads the ones sold at excellent-supply?
I know they're not the beige Fibreplus pads. Are they the white ones?

Mark.......I got my Durapads from Steve Smith at the Cleaner Image.

the best prices i've found on the internet for Tuway ThinOnes can be found here :
http://tinyurl.com/7lx2o

click ThinOnes and choose your size.

thanx --- Derek.

Mike & others,
How many Durapads (Thin Ones) would I need? I know that depends on lots of factors. But, as I am from Australia and would be importing them some idea of number from you guys would be helpful. Say, compared to cotton pads. Does 1 pad do an average residential job of say 650 sq. ft, or a number of them needed?
Also, do any of you have any experience with the Challanger and durapads on cut-pile wool carpets? I find the cotton pads are a bit harsh and fuzz up newish wool carpet even with the thickest glider. Would the durapads be a solution to this problem. We have lots of wool carpets over here.
Alternatively, have any of you used microfiber pads for wool? And is there anywhere you can recommend to purchase them at a reasonable price?
By the time we import anything with the exchange rate, freight, GST, tariff etc ... it ends up costing about 2 to 3 times the US price. So, I have to be fairly sure of what I am purchasing and what quantities.
Any advice gratefully appreciated.

Neil.........the Durapads eliminate tip blooming.
On the job we had,2 Challengers were in use on
approx.12,000 sq.ft.of commercial carpet.
Only 7 pads were used(we used both sides)

Only for the fact I didn't have more,I
would have used 3-4 more on the job. You can tell
it's time to change them because you can feel
a "slip" on the carpet,which means that the pads
are loaded with soil.......you will also see that
you need to go over dirty areas longer,as the
pads efficiency wears away.
It is still so much
easier than changing pads so often,gliders,carrying
a ton of dirty pads all over,etc.

Also,please remember,this is for large open areas
in a commercial setting .For residential nothing
beats the cotton pads for ultimate soil removal.
E-cap with OP and a synthetic pad enable you to
close more bids since your production increases
dramatically. I see where some say they get .25
on commercial.......I would be out of business
if I quoted that.......

same here Mike

Neil, i agree with mr. H above. the ThinOnes should certainly reduce & maybe eliminate the fuzzing. they are not as aggressive as cotton so are "safer" on more fragile carpets like Frieze's. i would goto the Tuway site and order 12 of them at least.

i'm still mostly sold on cotton over ThinOne pads. but for something like a Frieze i will ALWAYS use a ThinOne.

as far as microfiber, i asked about them on the VLM forum months ago and the response was a wholehearted, "don't waste your money". i can't recall exactly why, you can Search it on the VLM forum.

thanx --- Derek.

The only time I tried my microfiber pad on carpet was under a buffer on a commercial job. I presprayed and started the buffer. The pad forgot to spin. The handle about threw me into the wall. My last and only experience with microfiber pads. The enemy of microfiber is heat. May not be the choice for an op. I think Larry Cobb recommended them in a post, so maybe I'm not seeing something.

Are durapads anything like the blended pads challenger used to sell? I still have some that are 2 years old, they are still in good shape.

I have made up my own microfiber pad. I purchased a 20" X 20" microfiber cleaning cloth and cut it into a 20" circle then sewed it (well actually my wife sewed it)onto a 20" challenger cotton pad. So now one side is microfiber and the other cotton.

It works a treat. No fuzzing on the cut pile wool. Also I tried it on a trashed nylon and it was aggressive enough for that and no tip bloom.

Also, today I have found a local source for Tuway Thin Ones (17" is the only size available). So, I have purchased one to try it out. Will do so tomorrow.

Neil, thanks for sharing that. Microfiber cloth will likely be much smoother and less agressive than the micro pads sold here. Are you encapping with these or removing soil like a cotton pad? Are they cleaning up well for you after the job? How are you cleaning them?

I am encapping with the microfiber. They rinse out very easily. Then I wash them in the washing machine along with any cotton pads I have used.

Could you padcap with durapads on a Cimex? Would the cleaning solution be able to get thru the pad, the way it goes right thru fiberplus pads?

Mark, yes Tuway Thinones work with a Cimex. in fact, they are what Rick sells on his site. he calls them bonnets i believe. but they are 8" so they fit the 19" Cimex perfectly.

for your larger Cimex, i'd call Tuway and see if they make them in the size of your Cimex heads.

1-800-537-3750

thanx --- Derek.

A lot of great posts. but still don't know what durapads are,are they micofibre or regular op pads made with something other than cotton, or a blend like the commercial ones challerger used to sell????

DuraPads are simply repackaged or renamed Tuway ThinOnes. they are like a CCS cotton pad in terms of size, but they are synthetic....rayon maybe??

take a look at the ThinOnes pads at the link i posted above.

thanx --- Derek.

or if you like Steve Smith from VacAway (a real nice fella), you can order his DuraPads here : http://vacaway.com/products%5Fdisplay/

thanx --- D.

Thanks Derek, If I do order any it will be from steve,I use a lot of his products and he is a good person to do business with,always a pleasure to talk to.

ditto that, he's a very nice gent

thanx --- D.