A Message From Rick Gelinas(The Encapman)
I've been in the commercial carpet cleaning and floor care industry for over 20 years. I love this business. Perhaps you'll find my story interesting (shown below). With a whole lot of trial and error through the years I came up with the encapsulation cleaning systems that we're offering here. I am happy to put my years of experience to work for you. Therefore I'm inviting you to call me or my staff anytime you need assistance with any commercial carpet cleaning cleaning or floor care project. If I don't readily have a solution for you I'll do my best to go and find it for you.
The April 2004 edition of Cleanfax magazine featured six individuals from the industry as "Carpet cleaning’s best of the best". Rick Gelinas was among the six persons nominated for Cleanfax Magazine's Dream Team.
Click To Read The Full Article From Cleanfax Carpet Cleaning Magazine.
Rick's StoryI started my first cleaning business (Pioneer Maintenance) back in 1982 when I was 21 years old. In those days I was happy to perform every type of commercial cleaning service, including office cleaning, carpet cleaning, floor care, and window washing.
Then in 1983 a nice thing happened to me. A good friend in the business introduced me to commercial carpet cleaning. He was looking for someone in the area that he could contract work to. He fed my young company with a steady flow of commercial carpet cleaning for several years. I immediately fell in love with commercial carpet care.
By 1985 I had also ventured into the field of UHS ultra high speed floor care. In 1986 we purchased our first propane buffer. During the ensuing years we cleaned literally millions of square feet of various floor surfaces.
So I've been in the commercial floor and carpet care business for over 20 years now. And throughout the past couple of decades I've been fortunate to develop a nice little multi-truck company, providing commercial floor and carpet care throughout west central Florida.
I've continually striven to operate the best business that I can. Therefore I've never been willing to settle for average results. Through the years I've continually searched for better cleaning methods. Yet as I moved forward, one problem kept repeating itself in relation to commercial carpet cleaning. Our company has always been careful to follow industry protocol. And yet I'd still have problems. So I repeatedly returned to the industry to ask for suggestions. And I would hear things like - try using higher psi, try a rotary extractor, try an enzyme pre-spray, try bonnet cleaning, try dry foam, try powdered cleaners, the list went on and on. YIKES!
Well I was determined to find a better commercial carpet cleaning alternative. By the early 90's we began using rotary foam extraction machines. This lower moisture system began to give us the best results that we had experienced up to that time. I realized that we were on the right track. But I still saw more room for improvement.
Then I came up with the idea of building a foam extraction machine using a Cimex machine for the scrubber. I knew from my years in the industry that the Cimex was the most powerful scrubbing machine on the market. So I purchased our first Cimex. I acquired a vacuum shoe attachment and started kicking around ideas of how I would go about building a super scrubber/extractor. But that idea never came to fruition; the story continues...
At about that same time I began testing a carpet cleaning product manufactured by an old industry pioneer whose ideas intrigued me - Ed York. Now Ed's detergent was kind of an unusual product that was actually formulated with clay. That's right, clay. It was claimed that the clay could absorb soil into the detergent as it dried. Although it wasn't a bad cleaner; as I tested the product I saw that it was never going to absorb soil like we needed it to. Yet the absorption concept was starting to make sense to me. I was moving closer.
It was at this same point in time that I made a trip with the LMCCA (Low Moisture Carpet Cleaners Association) to a carpet mill in Dalton Georgia. This particular carpet manufacturer had been interested in evaluating low moisture cleaning methods. The mill provided us with an absolutely trashed piece of carpet which we went to work cleaning. Back then I was still using that clay detergent along with the Cimex. Unfortunately, the cleaning results were just ok. Well needless to say, I was disappointed. And it was at that very moment that I decided to swallow my pride and ask the carpet mill rep for his opinion. That proved to be the turning point where a light went off and the whole thing came together. He turned to me and told that it wasn't the machine that failed here, it was the chemical. So I humbly asked him what he felt might work better. He then told me that they had been having great success recommending a crystallizing product for any carpet that was a problem. Voila!
So I took my powerhouse Cimex scrubber and started looking for the best crystallizing chemistry that I could find to match up with it. My search wasn't as easy as you might expect because a few years ago there was very little on market to choose from. So I began researching and testing various products. After trying everything that I could get my hands on I still wasn't completely satisfied. I eventually decided to work on my own formulation, and hence Releasit was born.
And as our cleaning company started to work with my new cleaning system we began to see EXCELLENT results. So I proceeded to share what I was learning about this new cleaning method on some of the carpet cleaning message boards. The industry quickly took notice... For example, Bob Wittkamp (a carpet cleaning industry veteran) woke up early one morning and read one of my first posts about encapsulation. Bob immediately called the editor of ICS magazine and told him that he wanted to write an article about this. Well that was the first industry trade article about encapsulation, but it wouldn't be the last. A few months later CleanFax asked me to write an article about this emerging technology. Of course my article was better than Bob's (hehehe).
During the first few years of the new millennium, the carpet cleaning industry has really come on board recognizing the potential of encapsulation. This technology is presently reshaping the carpet cleaning industry. And I feel that it's truly been an honor to have shared in this development.
Now one thing has led to another and I have ended up with an encapsulation cleaning supply business, Excellent Supply, Inc. We still also maintain our commercial carpet cleaning business which is now called Kleenstep, Inc. And our encapsulation chemical line is called Releasit.
I'm still working hard to produce the best encapsulation products on the market. This means that we're continuing to look for new ways to improve our products. We've been recognized as the Cimex Master Distributor in the US market for outstanding sales and service.
To quote the Grateful Dead - "What a long strange trip it's been" All those years of banging my head against the wall looking for the perfect cleaning system for commercial carpets has paid off. And now cleaners all around the world are latching onto a carpet cleaning system that is producing some of the most exciting results they've ever seen. This has been amazing. The privilege of being a part of this phenomenal evolution in the industry has been wonderful.
So that is my story. I know it was kind of long - but hey it encompassed over 20 years of my life. So go ahead and put our resources to work for you. I'm always happy to share the things that I've learned through the years with whomever I can. So if I can assist you with any of your cleaning needs, please don't hesitate to call on me.
The Encapman
