Carpet Cleaning Issues - Carpet construction, upholstery cleaning, stain removal, equipment, events, etc.
Red wine stain HELP Posted by ALEXDH (ALEXDH), 10 January 2004
Hi today i removed quite a lot of red wine from a light biege carpet twisted pile.
I used red rx from my kit and blotted, it dissapeared i then rinsed the area with fibre and fabric rinse to neutralise it , just like the instructions said.
The area was still a bit damp , but i said to the customer , it may possibly wick up out when dry and to give me a call if it started too as i would return tommorow, just covering myself i thought.
Sure enough he has rung me tonight saying its returning. 
What do you reckon i should do gentleman.
I have the full prochem spotting kit so i need an answer out of those chemicals.
Many thanks
Alex
Posted by RAINBOW69 (CATMAN), 11 January 2004
Alex.
What you tend to find with any large stain like this, is that the underlay and backing have absorbed the most of what ever has been spilt. and then when rewetted you get the problem you describe.
I have just had the same, the client had dropped a litre of wine on her cream bedroom carpet. She had used 1001 and salt and white wine!.She had been quoted £500 for a new carpet. What I did was remove the underlay which had acted like a sponge, then cleaned the backing with a nappy and RX. Relaid the carpet and cleaned the rest with One Step spotter then RX, then rinsed with cold water, and nappied dry. The result, one restored cream carpet and a happy customer plus and extra charge to revisit and fit new underlay.Posted by Derek (Derek Bolton), 11 January 2004
Hi Alex
If you are dealing with just a localised area and you had removed the stain initially I would have blow dried it using a hair dryer...this would have let the customer see the finshed result and prevented a wick back scenario.
Hope this helps
DerekPosted by ALEXDH (ALEXDH), 11 January 2004
if i take my hair dryer with me and redo the area and then force dry the area that may stop the wicking back.
I have been a bit cautios using heat as i thourght i may set any stains if i had missed anything.
Also how do you gents blot , i sometimes stand on the cloth?
Any other ideas i am round there at 10.30Posted by Jim_Lynch (Jim_Lynch), 11 January 2004
Alex, another good idea is to place a towel over the area, with a weight (books etc) on top. As the area dries it will wick into the towel trapping the stain.
JimPosted by mike_halliday (mike_halliday), 11 January 2004
I heard the same thing using Host sponges to soak up any wick-back.
As for using Red RX & Prochems similar produrt I've never had much success.
I always go for spray & go. I did two full bottles wine stains & a Tika-masala stain over the xmas holiday, they totally came out with S & G.
MikePosted by Tony_Browning (Tony_Browning), 11 January 2004
Ow Doo Mike,
Where do we buy Spray & Go?
Rgds
TonyPosted by Dynafoam (Dynafoam), 11 January 2004
Tony,
As mike sugested Spray'Ngo is an excelent reagent product, based on sodium metabisuphite, which I would recommend to all.
However, as its' name sugests, it is a slow acting product which does its' main work in the first 40 minutes or so, then remains active till dry.
It can be obtained from Chemspec, who also produce, in their RX range, an alternative "Juice and Dye Remover".
This product is faster acting - apply, dwell, blot, rinse - and can also be removed by the thermal transfer method. What I tend to do is to use this first and on the rare occasion that the stain is not completely removed, follow up with Spray 'N Go, informing the client that the staining MAY improve over a period of 8-12Hrs.
John.Posted by ALEXDH (ALEXDH), 11 January 2004
Hi
Mixed success but they seem happy 
I applied more red rx directly to the stained areas and blotted lots of pressure used a small dryer that i have to try and stop the wicking it seemed to the job ok
I then sprayed by hand a little fibre and fabric rinse B109 mixed in a spray bottle over patricular areas to cancel out the red RX (do i have to do this) the majority and blotted with a clean section of cloth.
as the carpet contained a high proportion of wool 80/20 i was concious of any wetting marks that might appear so forced dry the area again.
I hung around for 45 minutes as they had a couple of visitors and now have two more cleans to do 
Can you pick holes in my method , i think I should have really extracted with B109 straight after spotting i think ,but it did seem to work
Cheers
AlexPosted by Ken_Wainwright (Ken Wainwright), 11 January 2004
The stain treatment has been comprehensively dealt with on this issue. But for the benefit of our "Newbies" re. blotting. Cotton towels are quite good at absorbing liquid, but when you launder them, NEVER use fabric conditioner as it reduces the absorbancy. Also, paper kitchen towel is more absorbent (typically about 110% of it's own weight) and quicker than dry cotton. Use plain white, not overprinted as the dye may bleed off. With paper, you are also able to tell from it's appearance if you've removed all the moisture. If you want to make a poultice from paper towels, fold enough sheets together to make a thick pad, place over the soiled area and weight it down. Leave overnight minimum.
Safe and happy cleaning
KenPosted by lenpg (Len Gribble), 11 January 2004
Hi Alex
Two methods that have worked for me is red rx, damp terry towel and a hot iron or red rx, terry towel and wallpaper steamer, extract then dry off using hair dryer set on cold.
Len
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