[Andy Staley]

Hi all....looking for some help.

I gave this carpet an extraction clean 3 days ago, concentrating mainly on a damp patch. Sprayed with Power Burst and rinsed with Fibre and Fabric Rinse. Also uses some POG within the same  area for a stain. Looked OK when I left.

Customer called and said it now had this brown/orange stain around it.  I've gone back and tried Solvall, browning prescription and bicarbonate of soda but not shifting. Any other suggestions?

FYI....customer has a cat and said it may have had a wee to cause the damp patch in the first place. We did get down on knees at the time but couldn't smell anything.

Any help gratefully received.

Andy

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Has this stain appeared since you’ve cleaned it?

[Andy Staley]

Yes. Did the clean Saturday and customer said she noticed the stain on Tuesday so 3 days later. Also she sent a photo  yesterday ( see attached) and it wasn't as bad as when we arrived Thursday (today)

Andy

[Andy Staley]

I asked the customer what she had used. She said she was trying to clean a damp patch.

"We tried a few different products with water washes between each attempt. But we started with an antibacterial spray and then washed with water and then used Dettol Mould and mildew remover and then did a water wash. The next day as the majority of the stain had been lifted to try and remove the darker regions I used Dr Beckman Carpet stain remover and followed up with a water wash."

Any help?
Andy.

[Mike Halliday]

My first thought as I look at the pattern & colour is cellulosic browning caused by not fully  rinsing out the highPh pre-spray. I would be misting it with prochems browning prescription (if they still make it)

The middle looks like it has suffered colour loss which is not correctable

[Andy Staley]

My first thought as I look at the pattern & colour is cellulosic browning caused by not fully  rinsing out the highPh pre-spray. I would be misting it with prochems browning prescription (if they still make it)

The middle looks like it has suffered colour loss which is not correctable

Thanks Mike. I did rinse with extraction machine after prespray but do you think  maybe not enough? I tried the Browning Prescription today....First a weak solution then a stronger 50:50 mix but didn't seem to make any difference. I'm thinking of trying coffee stain remover or Oxibrite (both Prochem)....what would you suggest assuming it is the cellulose browning?

Customer said she used a dettol mould spray on it which contains bleach...that would explain the central lightening maybe.

Andy.

[Mike Halliday]

I think browning prescription is more acidic ( so ‘stronger’ ) Than coffee stain remover so I don’t think using it will be any more successful  but did you give it enough time to work? I don’t think it’s a fast result

Following prochem procedure then oxibrite & fibre buff would be your next step. I think controlled bleaching is all you can do now, it might also blend in the centre light area

But don’t expect a perfect result what ever you do

[Andy Staley]

I think browning prescription is more acidic ( so ‘stronger’ ) Than coffee stain remover so I don’t think using it will be any more successful  but did you give it enough time to work? I don’t think it’s a fast result

Following prochem procedure then oxibrite & fibre buff would be your next step. I think controlled bleaching is all you can do now, it might also blend in the centre light area

But don’t expect a perfect result what ever you do

Thanks. I'll try the browning prescription again and leave it a bit longer before rinsing.  Both that and the coffee stain remover are ph2.5.

Andy.

[Shaun_Ashmore]

You’re going to have to do a few tests but possibly go down the reducer route, cleaning has wicked the stain I’m also wondering if a peroxide based encap buffed in may hide the stain. Chemically I think the power burst has brought this to the top.

[Cleanevangelist]

Andy

Sorry got some tough love for you. whatever is going on you now own this problem and its going to end up in you replacing this carpet.

when i started out my first claim was where i did some stain removal on coffee and got wicking like this.  if it's an old secondary backed carpet with hessian then that's what wicked up.  I dont like the look of the light area it looks like a bucket of water was thrown down.  problem is customer don't tell the truth all the time about what they have done. pulling the carpet back can reveal lots from the underlay.

it does not matter what gone wrong. You need to learn from this and take responsibility.  you need to negotiate with customer a cash solution. if an insurance company was paying out they would not give full value because carpet is old. just like you dont get a new car when your car is written off.  don't lose it with the customer keep calm at all times.

if you have insurance you will need your paperwork to be in order like pre clean checks. The NCCA pre clean check list is great.

whenever you get any situation where you are being called in after the person has failed at any type of problem. get a disclaimer signed before touching it. as an example, I did some old carpet tiles other day, explained the risk to customer asked if they want me to clean them still and then got disclaimer signed. got call two days after customer saying everything was great.

when you need work its hard not to say no. but you need to not take any risks. Any problem solving or stain removing will carry risk. I very much take the view that there is a big difference between cleaning and restoration. most problem solving and stain removal is restoration not cleaning and if your prices are cheap don't take the risk. cheap prices do attract people like this that know the score with insurance claims. what have they got to lose after all your the pro?

Good luck

Ian Harper