Friday at 7:05 a tenant walked a corridor we had just waxed and said the floors still looked dirty. They meant the carpet at the elevator. We had a buffer and a wet-vac for the VCT. The runner was the same grey it was on Thursday.
That is the hour people search carpet cleaning vs floor waxing. They want one floor job, but most commercial suites have two kinds of floor. Extraction is water and fibre. Strip and wax is dwell time on hard tile. Book the wrong machine and you get a shine in the hall and a complaint about the lobby.
Everest books both from the carpet cleaning and strip and wax service pages. This post is how I decide which one goes on the ticket.
The short version
| Title | Carpet extraction | Strip and wax |
|---|---|---|
| Floors | Broadloom, carpet tile, runners | VCT and some vinyl |
| What we do | Pretreat traffic lanes, extract with hot water, set air movers | Strip, wet-vac, neutralize, apply coats |
| Dry time | Carpet stays damp for hours | Every coat needs its own dry time |
| Book it when | Grey lanes, coffee stains, salt lines, a smell that won’t leave | Finish is yellow, powdery or worn through |
What counts as carpet cleaning
Carpet cleaning here means hot-water extraction. We pretreat the traffic lane, extract, and set air movers. The carpet stays damp for hours. I won’t promise Monday at 8 a.m. if we start Friday at 10 p.m. on a thick loop pile in a boardroom that still has the chairs in it when we arrive.
The nightly vacuum is not this. It pulls grit. Extraction pulls what the vacuum leaves in the fibre: coffee at reception, a winter salt line from the door, a lunch that sat in the boardroom over a long weekend. Those stay until someone pays for water and a truck.
A bonnet pass is a surface wipe. I’ll do one if you only want the top of the pile to look less grey for a Monday tour, and I’ll write “bonnet” on the quote so nobody thinks they bought an extraction. Packed fibre still smells after a bonnet. I have had that Monday call.
When I say no to a carpet job
I walk away from wool with a dry-clean-only mill tag. I also walk away from a glued-down remnant I can’t lift without tearing the pad. Last April I quoted a break-room runner that turned out to be glued over old VCT. We would have extracted into a pad that was already rotting. I still don’t know who glued it. The building said the tenant. The tenant said the last cleaner.
What a strip-and-wax night involves
This job is for VCT and some vinyl. We move what you say we can move, then strip, wet-vac, neutralize and apply coats. Dry time is real. I won’t roll chairs back at 6 a.m. on a four-coat job we started at midnight. If the finish is still tacky, we wait. I would rather hold a morning than peel a coat off a reception chair caster.
Wax is not the nightly mop
The nightly damp mop is maintenance. Wax is a periodic job. If the hall looks tired after a winter of salt and the finish is yellow or powdery, you’re in strip-and-wax territory. If the film is still there and the lane is only dull, a recoat may be enough. I decide that on the floor, not from a phone photo of wet tile.
Floors I won’t strip
I won’t strip luxury vinyl when the manufacturer says no solvents. Polished concrete that someone called tile on the phone is also a no. I drove out for one of those. It was sealed concrete, and stripper would have etched it. We mopped, we left, and I ate the site visit.
When carpet and hard floor share a suite
Reception carpet, a VCT corridor, vinyl in the washroom, a rubber mat in the vestibule. One “do the floors” email hits all four. I split it. Carpet goes on the extraction ticket. Hard tile goes on the wax ticket. The mat gets its own section below.
Which job goes first
If both jobs land the same weekend, I extract first and cover the carpet edge before any stripper comes out. Stripper slurry on freshly cleaned fibre is a stain I have already owned once. If the hall is the only ticket and the carpet is a later Friday, we wax first and tape the carpet edge. I have done both orders. The order belongs on the booking, not in a crew chat at 9:40.
Thresholds
Thresholds are where the two jobs meet: a metal plate, a strip of carpet inside the elevator cab, VCT in the hall. Some managers want the cab carpet extracted with the lobby. Some building operators say the elevator contractor owns the cab. I write both names on the quote and I wait. I don’t have a default I trust.
Washrooms
Washroom vinyl is usually a mop and a restorer, not a full strip, unless the finish is gone around the stalls. I once stripped a washroom that only needed a recoat because the photo from the doorway looked dull. The grout line was clean and the film was still there. That one still bothers me.
The vestibule mat
The mat is rubber-backed, half in the vestibule and half on the VCT. Some managers want it extracted with the lobby carpet, others want it rolled, shaken and put back, and a few say the building’s mat vendor swaps it on a route I’ve never seen. I’ve quoted all three and I still don’t have a sentence I reuse.
If you want the fibre cleaned, it’s a carpet ticket. If you want it out of the way so we can wax the tile under it, tell me where it can sit for the night. I guessed once, extracted a mat a vendor was due to swap on Monday, and owned a wet mat in a bag in the janitor closet until someone asked where it went.
Winter changes the schedule
In January, salt reaches everything near the door. Salt and a new coat is a soft film by Wednesday, which is why I mop parkade stair nosing in winter and don’t wax it. Salt lines in carpet are also the most common reason people call us for extraction near entrances.
What I need on the booking
- Room names and the floor type in each one. “Floors” is not a type.
- A photo of the worst traffic lane, dry, taken from standing height. Wet photos lie.
- What we can move: reception desk, magazine rack, the fake plant. Bolted desks stay.
- When the first foot traffic arrives. Extraction needs dry time. Wax needs dry time. They are not the same clock.
- Whether a runner is glued down, and who owns the glue if anyone knows.
If you already have a carpet vendor on a quarterly and only want us on the VCT, say so. Doubling a vendor is how a tenant gets two invoices for the same runner, and I spend Thursday on a call I did not need.
Frequently asked questions
Can you wax carpet?
No. Wax and finish are for hard floors like VCT. Carpet needs extraction.
Is my nightly vacuum the same as carpet cleaning?
No. The vacuum pulls grit. Extraction pulls what the vacuum leaves in the fibre.
Can carpet cleaning and floor waxing happen the same weekend?
Yes, but write the order and the edge protection on the booking. Each job has its own dry time.
How do I know if I need a strip or just a recoat?
If the finish is yellow, powdery or worn through, it’s a strip. If the film is still there and the floor is only dull, a recoat may be enough. I check that on the floor.
Book the right job
Send the floor types and the photos. If you aren’t sure which job you have, that’s the walk. Book a free consultation and we’ll name the rooms before anyone opens a bucket. Book a free consultation
