Editorial
Front Page - Friday, December 25, 2009
Eco-Clean: green option for commercial, residential flooring
Stephanie Coward
Eco-Clean, a green, organic and environmentally friendly company offering hard surface and carpet restoration, opened shop in February 2009. Since then, the hard work and “beating the streets” by owner and creator, Joe Stafford, has paid off and the company is looking to hire another employee in the coming weeks.
“It’s been an adventure to say the least,” Stafford said.
He credits his hard work and constant networking, which he said really paid off, with this year’s success. “After several weeks … it finally started making the phone ring,” Stafford said. “The business started picking up and then I lost my job in April and so luckily I had the company to fall back on.”
Stafford comes from the chemical industry; he was the regulatory environmental manager for a local green chemical company. Because of his previous job, Stafford said he is very well versed in EPA regulations and understands the chemical compositions of products.
“I know what a lot of those chemicals’ extended exposure can do. I’ve done the research,” Stafford said. “I chose to go on a green route, I want to be around for my children in 50 years.”
Creating a green company was personal more than anything else. “I know the green thing was more for me than my customers,” Stafford said. “So doing it for me is an added benefit to the customer.”
Stafford services all the way up to Bristol and over to Nashville. “There’s a big green movement in Chattanooga and there’s a big green movement nationally, and I fill a void that no other company does,” Stafford said.
Eco-Clean is currently 70 percent commercial and 30 percent residential and that is right on track with Stafford’s business plan, which he said projected 70:30 to 80:20 as the company goal.
The company offers a wide selection of services from carpet cleaning to marble restoration and many others in between.
For marble and other stone restoration, Stafford cleans with only steam. “Something as simple as lemon juice will leave a spot on marble that cannot be removed without honing it,” Stafford said. He hones marble with diamonds over successive grits. Once all the marble’s imperfections are gone, Stafford will then use a silica salt base mix combined with water to buff and shine the stone.
In order to learn the proper procedures involved with stone restoration, Stafford traveled to Indianapolis and participated in numerous courses on stonework. “I didn’t just buy some equipment, you know, you could really mess up a marble floor,” Stafford said.
Other stonework provided by Eco-Clean includes: creating pultices to pull stains out of granite; retiling and grouting floors and more.
When it comes to wood floors, those with allergies or fear of dust and grit have nothing to worry about. Eco-Clean uses a sandless process and no volatile organic compounds are released into the air. The wood floor restoration process is not completely green. “It’s a green as a product that you can buy, unfortunately the technology is just not there yet,” Stafford said. “It does carry certifications and there are no VOCs, which is major.”
The cleaner used on carpets is highly biodegradable. The term biodegradable can be misleading to consumers since everything eventually biodegrades, according to Stafford. “You’ve got biodegradable, inherently biodegradable and you have readily biodegradable. Readily biodegradable means it achieves 60 percent biodegradation in a 10-day window,” Stafford said. “That’s what you want.”
Stafford wasn’t raised green.
“I really woke up on the green end of things about six years ago,” Stafford said. “It just shocked me.”
Once he saw raw data on LD50s (Lethal Dose at 50 percent), which is basically how much it takes of something to kill a person, Stafford began seeing low numbers. Low is bad. “The lower the number means the less amount that it’ll take to really do harm to you,” Stafford said. Seeing the LD50s on the products he was using on his children was a catalyst for his green transition, according to Stafford.
As for future plans for Eco-Clean, Stafford is satisfied with the company’s growth in 2009 and is looking forward to an even busier 2010. Plans to have another vehicle on the road and a larger staff are in the works. “I’m always looking to diversify, but I don’t want to spread myself too thin,” Stafford said. “I think you need to find a few things that you do and do them well.”
This philosophy holds true to the company’s motto: “One company. One call. One solution.”
The Eco-Clean van Stafford currently drives was found at a junkyard and restored by Stafford for very little cost. Stafford joked, “How’s that for green?”
To learn more about the services provided by Eco-Clean, visit the company’s Web site at: www.myeco-clean.com or contact Stafford directly with questions or inquires at joe@myeco-clean.com.
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