Asphalt Oil Tracking and Carpet Cleaning

Brand New Commercial Carpet + Freshly Treated Asphalt Parking Lot Outside = Bad Combination.

HydraMaster Quake HD + HydraMaster HydraBoost CT= Good combination

You have probably seen it without even realizing what the problem was. Yellow or dingy traffic lanes on glue down commercial carpet that has not been installed that long. One of the most common problems facing commercial buildings that adjoin asphalt parking lots when it comes to commercial carpet maintenance is asphalt oil tracking. The worst tracking occurs when the parking lot has a special coating of oil applied. Before it completely dries, people are walking across the parking lot picking up oil and soil and pebbles on the bottom of their shoes. Even if walk-off mats are installed, some of the soiling eventually gets walked on or tracked on to the carpet. Even if the parking lot is not coated, in especially hot weather, oils usually weep out of the asphalt, causing the same problem. These oils that get tracked onto the carpet become oxidized and turn the carpet yellow or dingy.

The professional cleaner often comes up with his super powered truckmount, expecting that they can clean anything. They throw their favorite prespray at it, and still the yellow or dingy look is obvious even after cleaning.

The answer lies in the right combination of cleaning chemistry, aggressive agitation, and hot cleaning solution temperature. Even the most powerful grease and oil cutting prespray like HydraMaster Quake HD needs help with oxidized oil build-up on carpeting. To remove the oxidized oils, simply mix up HydraMaster Quake HD according to directions, and add two ounces of HydraBoost CT to each gallon of mixed traffic lane cleaner. Apply the prespray/booster combo as hot as you can, preferably though an in-line injection sprayer. Agitate it in, preferably with a counter-rotating cylindrical brush machine. If you do not have a machine like that, use your carpet groomer or brush to agitate the mixture in. Allow 3 to 5 minutes of dwell time. For best results, extract with a HydraMaster truckmount with 220 degree water solution temperature utilizing an HydraMaster RX-20 Rotary Jet Extractor. If you don’t have an RX-20, then take an extra wet and extra dry stroke across the carpet.

The ingredients in HydraBoost CT will almost work like magic in combination with your prespray to break down and strip off of the carpet the oxidized oil build-up from the asphalt oils.