Does anyone know of a good video or training course on how to clean stone/ceramic floors using the challenger methods?
I tried Jon don but they do not have it...
Thanks so much
I doubt that such a video exists, Rich, as this kind of job falls somewhere vaguely between carpet cleaning and floor stripping. You should be able to do this type of work using any stone cleaner (see the Tile Lab line at Home Depot in the tile section). The Challenger will scrub away the soil. Then either collect it with terrycloth pads or a portable extractor. Possibly even a shop vac might work, although I'm not really sure. When scrubbing stone or tile, surround the Challenger pad driver with a circular ring made of the kind of black plastic used in landscaping to separate areas. That will keep the splashing down.
Mark, do you find that the Tile Lab product does well on grout? Have you had good luck with the challenger brush getting deep enough into the grout? How long do you scrub in one area; does it take longer than carpet to get the grout clean?
Remember the experience you described to me, viewing the Challenger at work for the first time at the Wright-Patterson AFB bowling alley. I recall your saying that it was removing carpet soil impressively using ONLY WATER. That reinforces my opinion that the results are achieved more by the vigorous, 1750-RPM orbital scrubbing action than by the type of cleaner you are using. I think the Tile Lab products will work fine for you. If you want to learn about other stone care products (cleaners, sealers, etc) just visit any tile/marble/granite specialty supply store. They always carry one or more lines of cleaners.
I think the Challenger T&G brush will work fine for you. The bristles are flexible enough to bend, allowing some of them to dig down into the grout lines.
How long to scrub? How clean is clean? I think these are areas you just have to do some work in to get a feel for the situation. I keep a steam vapor machine on hand as a back-up step for grout lines that don't seem to be coming as clean as the rest of the floor. You can't always bring grout back 100%. Sometimes you have to settle for 85 - 90%. And some grout has been installed in uneven shades of gray anyway. In situations where I'm not sure if I'm getting all the gettable soil, I'll try the steam vapor machine to see if that improves the results. It sometimes does, but more often does not.
