WHAT TIME IS IT?
How The Watch Is Made
In conversations, articles, and inspection reports, I am often blamed for TMI, an acronym for “too much information.” Being a flooring inspector I often write reports where I tell the commissioning party, in watch metaphor, what time it is and that is often sufficient. There are situations though when the report requires more information, which is when I tell them how the watch is made. Then there are times when I have to do a great deal of research and go into extreme technical detail and have to write what alloy the watch is made of. In each case I provide the commissioning agent the information they need to understand the complexity of the concern occurring to their carpet or flooring so they can then move forward and settle the claim.
The same occurs in training that I do in my Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC) Carpet Cleaning Technician (CCT) and Carpet Repair and Reinstallation Technician (RRT) classes. I often have to watch myself lest I start tossing out words like deflocculation, metamerism, slivers, gullies, and hamsters to name a few.
When instructing an IICRC approved course, I have to teach a lot of specific information that the students will need to recall when taking the exam that follows. Is all that information covered in two days an absolute necessity for a carpet cleaner or restoration contractor to be successful and perform their job? Yes and no. Some is important so you don’t hurt yourself or the carpet you are repairing or cleaning, but not all of it. Some is good information to remember when you are on the job site.
Just last week I taught both of those classes at Restoration Technical Institute (RTI) in Reading, Pennsylvania (http://www.restorationtechnicalinstitute.com/). In each class a lot of information is shared with the students along with time for hands-on training, although not required it is strongly encouraged.
In the RRT class, the students learn to find rows in carpet using a knitting needle, to cut carpet using a cushion back cutter, to seam edge seal the carpet, and to make seams in carpet. Among other things, they also learn how to knee kick and power stretch carpet and how to use a wall trimmer properly. In the CCT class, the students learn a lot about carpet and carpet construction, they learn how to identify the fibers used in carpet today from wool to Triexta by burning them, they learn how to remove spots from carpet using specific detergents or solvents, an agitation tool and towels (no easy feat), they learn about soils and soiling and how to safely remove them, and they learn the importance of soil suspension using the acronym CHAT, which stands for Chemical, Heat, Agitation, and Time. They learn how to operate different carpet cleaning machines from rotary bonnet, rotary extraction, counter rotating brush equipment, and last but not least, how to extract carpet using a wand and using it properly.
It takes great skill to do any of the hands-on work (for most of the students for the first time). Although there is no judging, it takes a lot of courage for a student to place themselves in front of their peers to perform some of things they just learned.
I attached a short video showing the hands-on training performed in both the RRT class and CCT class that RTI produced.
When you are ready for training for yourself and/or your staff, simply reply to this message. We can make your training a full blown two day IICRC class (what alloy the watch is made from) or customize it to your specific needs (what time is it).