Ok so I will be moving soon into a new house. And my current garage is no place to detail, I just cant keep the garage clean. So with a spacious garage I am looking into for my next house I wanted to include some plans for the garage to make it very detail friendly. I was thinking: (1) Lining the floor with some kind of sealant or mat, and at the same time if its possible to angle the garage floor so water and such are easily poured out and the floor does not stay wet. (2) Mounting the big wall mounted Vac N Blow for vacuuming (3) Mounting a wet vac, for after shampooing carpets, but look at 4 and tell me what you think. (4) So I was going to invest in a portable sized car shampoo/steam cleaner (is there a difference? do they both do the same thing?) Also after the process how wet are the carpets. My thinking was I would not need a wet vac if the steamer and shampooer does not leave the carpet wet/too damp. But then my other question is after steam cleaning/shampooing do I need one of those car drying fans? I'm trying to find the best synergy between those electronics. Thank you! Also if you could suggest products. I heard that steam cleaners under $1000k are generally not good enough to detail auto carpets well. Thanks in advance
I've got a couple of thoughts I can share with you. First, if you are building a garage, angle the floor inward from all directions and put a drain there. You'll be glad you did in winter. If it's already built, apply some type of epoxy floor covering but make damned sure you prepare the surface properly. As far as vacuum goes, THIS one is the one Ken (911 Fanatic) recommmends. The specs on this thing are amazing. It will be my next vacuum for sure! As far as a steamer goes, I have recommended THIS one to a number of people on this board and others. It is a steamer, extractor and vacuum all in one. The competitors will tell you that you can't run the steam and vacuum at once: Bullshit. Mine is 2 years old and has been amazing. I posted a thread on HERE showing it on grout in my home while running both. I am a big fan of the Gaia and it's hard to argue with $700 for that machine. Free shipping in the CONTUS. I have no affiliation with either company. The Gaia I can recommend from experience and I trust Ken's recommendation on the vacuum. I have a Shop Vac and it's OK.
Richy, you are right-on about the Gaia! a friend of mine has one and loves it also. He occasionally will pop the breaker running both but I think it's due to circuit overloads myself. At his house though no problems, That vac looks nice. How much are they bt the way?
I have the Gaia and was disappointed by the lack of suction power for extracting, but for a steamer/vacuum combo it's amazing! Vacuum quickly, then flip on the steam and steam while you vacuum and the carpets look and feel much newer. I've contemplated selling it for a proper extractor, but I can't bring myself to do it
Make sure you have the proper amount of water in the recovery tank and also make sure it is clean around where the tank seals against the machine. My suction improved dramatically after I cleaned the connecting surfaces well. The other thing I have noticed is that if you are vacuuming a lot of soap, the suds affect the suction. Add 8 oz of vinegar to the recovery tank to kill the suds and you will have better suction. Let me know if that helps you.
I'll try it again, but I noticed that some of the fluid was pooling up in the hose and would occasionally fall back onto the carpet (dirty water doing this a few times angered me ) Can you take a quick picture/explain exactly how much water needs to go into the recovery tank? I thought I was doing it right but maybe not.
I have noticed the same thing with the hose too. I tip it up when I am done with it so none runs out. The suction sure feels strong on the hand so I don't know why it would do that? As far as how much water, there is a line on there marked "min". Make sure you fill it a bit above that.
