Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: AshWhite on November 25, 2011, 05:56:11 pm
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I've just cleaned a rug that I picked up from a customer earlier in the week. When I collected it from him, it was already rolled up in his garage as he was having some flood restoration work done (the rugs were unaffected by the water damage).
I unrolled it to clean it, and there was a few marks on it, and it needed grooming & a clean.
I presprayed with pre-spray gold mixed with a tiny bit of oxibrite which was left in the sprayer from earlier in the afternoon.
When I stood back, a third of the rug down the side was considerably brighter than the rest. I was hoping it was the way the pile was lying and that it would go back to normal after grooming, but no such luck!
I cleaned it thoroughly, tried brushing it, but it's still noticably lighter down the one side.
I can't say hand on heart whether it was like this before spraying or not.
I've attached a pic, please take a look and let me know what you think - it's due to go back to the customer in a couple of days and he has 3 more for me to do.
It's a wool rug. Would you assume that this might possibly be sun bleaching?
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Anyone?
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Looks like you may have damaged it with the Oxibrite Mate
Mark
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I would personally own up, pay up and move on....
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Can you honestly remember if that was the side you sprayed first? Oxibrite 100% in the lance? If so I think you've answered your own question.
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No it wasn't the side I sprayed first, I did around the edge with the lighter side last before moving into the middle. Its thrown me a bit? The oxibrite was a quarter of a scoop from about 2.5 hours earlier which had been topped up with water, and a fresh mix of psg on top (another 1.5 litres!).
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This is a good lesson on a cheap rug. You won't do that again.
Inspect rugs with customer BEFORE removing
Take pictures
Flush your pipes out properly. ;D
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Yeah, lesson learnt! To be honest I might be getting ahead of myself and he might realise it already.
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Oh, and I'm not sure if it is a cheap rug, its massive I know that much!
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In a years time you will be laughing about it. ;D
Honestly, don't sweat, the worst case is you let your insurance sort it out, not good but not the end of the world.
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Yeah, I'll play it by ear when I take it back and see his reaction I suppose but like you say, worse things have happened at sea :)
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I'd play it by ear.
You used very little oxibrite (by what you've said) its shouldn't have that reaction.
It might be a stain that the customer tried to scrub himself with vanish. Carpet cleaning can sometimes high light hidden stains/carpet damage/f*g burns etc. The amount of times i have cleaned minging EOT carpets to find iron and fAg burns!
But like Wynne said, always inspect everything with the customer before the cleaning commences. Pointing out any problems before unloading your gear from the van.
Tony
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My guess is it was in front of a sofa,and it's where there feet have been ?
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Got wet in the garage while rolled up? de-stabilized the dyes and only showed up
on extraction? ???
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The more I'm thinking about it, the more I realise I would have noticed such a difference when I was vacuuming it.
The I was thinking that the pattern doesn't suit the pattern of my spraying, and I also started to think something similar Paul, if you look at the picture there are parts where it goes closer to the centre of the rug, as if there was a slight damp patch when it was rolled over on itself.
Also, he said that the rugs (4 of them) being rolled up in the garage was unrelated to the water damage he was having sorted (by Rainbow), but if that's the case, why were they in the garage??
I've since found out he's a mega dodgy character too :(
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We now always inspect rugs with customers + take pics for extra protection - lesson learnt the hard way!
I would initially take it back and check reaction, as previously posted he may already be aware of the problem - if not insurance ! good luck.
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Yeah, I'm going up to check on it this morning. I'm hoping that once its completely dry the difference won't be so noticeable.
Cheers for all the feedback guys :)
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Hi Guys
Ash, Oxibrite mixed up the day before will contain virtually no hydrogen peroxide and is highly unlikely to have caused this bleaching.
The pattern also suggests prior damage.
Cheers
Doug
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If I'm faced with something like this I would ask about any inhouse attempts to remove spills / stains as there is something unusual about the rugs appearance. This is usually met by total denial but a little gentle probing will almost always result in " another person " being blamed for trying to clean a stain or spill up and using something like Vanish.
Might it have been water damaged and allowed to dry out before being rolled up ( if rolled up wet it would stink and have mildew growth )
If you are puzzled by the appearance someones property assume it's received incorrect attention from them rather than just admit you've ruined it when it may not be the case.
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I'm back with the rug now, I'noticed that when you stand next to the light part, it appears to be no worse than the other side. I called the customer to see what he wanted me to do about some stains, and I enquired where the rug was normally kept (lounge) and I mentioned that from certain angles the rug had suffered from a bleaching effect by the sun - he didn't really bat an eyelid at this, he just said to get it as good as I can.
There's hope yet ;D
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Did you use a snail to dry it?
I had a slightly similar look once down one edge and it was that the snail moved and dried slightly against the pile. It didn't brush out I had to re wet it, groom and dry again.
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Ash, it doesn't look like different appearance is caused by the cleaning process you've described. As mentioned earlier it's either the edge that's been in front of the sofa, or that edge of the rug is a traffic lane that gets walked over a lot.
Are you sure it's not pile reversal? Does it look light from all angles or does the light/dark contrast change depending which way you view it? Try the pencil & paper trick if you're not sure.
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Ash i agree with Doug the oxibrite or the chemical used hydrogen peroxide. Percarbonate if pure with no fillers has an active available oxygen content of13% which is equivalent to 27.5% Hydrogen peroxide.
Pre mixed solutions Of Sodium Percarbonate will remain active for 5 to 6 hours, but can start to breakdown after about 30 minutes. when mixed with water at a temperature of 30o to 60o C
Always
inspect the rug for any pre-existing conditions. Many times, soil covers up dye or colour variations fiber staining, prior dye bleeding, worn areas or white knots that become uncovered after the wash.
when you pick up the rug discuss any areas of concern that you have regarding the rugs, and the options. Or
any recommendations after any pre-wash "discoveries. Will save you going down this road again mate ;)
The 2 rugs in the picture cost around 2k :o one silk and one persian not the sort of rug you want to mess up ;D
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Forgot Persian pic ;D
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Jim, pile reversal had crossed my mind when I first saw it, Whats the pencil & paper trick?
It's not a drying issue, I noticed it as soon I had had finished prespraying as I walked around the other side to get some equipment ready, before extraction.
The oxibrite was not from the day before, it had been mixed up about 2.5 hours from a previous job. There was a small amount left in the sprayer, and I just added PSG on top with another 1.5 litres of water, so the concentration would have been very small, and as mentioned the activity would certainly have died down somewhat.
The side of the rug with the problem was closest to the wall when I was cleaning, so I hadn't really looked at it from that side but when I did this morning, the difference paled away a massive amount (it looked exactly the same as the other side).
I think the rug new would have cost in the region of £600, so it's not quite Persian territory, but not exactly bargain basement either.
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Jim, pile reversal had crossed my mind when I first saw it, Whats the pencil & paper trick?
Nevermind, I know it!
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Just tried it, and the test indicates pile reversal.
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So when he says you fooked my rug you say. Do you have a pen and paper? ;D
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8)
Didn't think it was anything you'd done to it.
You'd have had to mix one hell of a bucket full of oxidiser in to that pre-spray for it to have any such effect, and if there was some sort of fault with the rest of your procedure it would have been like it all over :)
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Lol Wynne, that's my plan. I just had my old man to do the test without telling him what its for, and he had the same results. I've also put a mirror to it and it looks fine in the reflection (a bit like myself!). For all I know, he might have had the rug on the cheap because of this, or he may have had it placed in his lounge in such a way that he's never noticed.
Anyhoo, its a weight off my mind, although I will take something from the experience.
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Oh, and thanks for keepin the faith Jim ;)
Its the first time I've seen pile reveral in real life, how often would you expect to come across it? I appreciate its more prone in dense, cut pile carpets, I'm just after an approximate idea
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Ash, if you've cleaned (for example) 100 carpets you've probably seen pile reversal 30 times already, just maybe not realised it or noticed it too much.
It will only affect cut pile, as loops aren't so prone to being pulled in different directions.
Trying to scrabble through my memory banks here, but I think I see it most on wool carpets but also on synthetics; polyprop particularly, and least of all on nylon which is strange because nylon holds static charge better than most fibres and it's alleged to be electromagnetism that causes pile reversal
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I made the mistake of not inspecting a rug "once" i had done the carpet in her house and she seemed really nice, she asked if i would clean a rug that was rolled up in her garage i just threw it in the back of the van. when i got it home i noticed that the fringes were very worn i cleaned it and returned it when i unrolled it she claimed that i had damaged the fringes during the cleaning, she eventually paid. the amazing thing was she phoned me a couple of weeks later to clean her lounge and i told her in no uncertain terms that i was not prepared to work for her again. i had discovered that this rug was in her entrance hall so she walked over it on a daily basis so she knew it was damaged and just wanted a freeby.
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Ash, if you've cleaned (for example) 100 carpets you've probably seen pile reversal 30 times already, just maybe not realised it or noticed it too much.
It will only affect cut pile, as loops aren't so prone to being pulled in different directions.
Trying to scrabble through my memory banks here, but I think I see it most on wool carpets but also on synthetics; polyprop particularly, and least of all on nylon which is strange because nylon holds static charge better than most fibres and it's alleged to be electromagnetism that causes pile reversal
To be honest, I think it's probably less common here 'cos half the carpets I clean are threadbare anyway :D
I thought it was a lot less common, hence when the thought first occured to me I discounted it straightaway - although if I thought about it sensibly it makes perfect sense (not seeing it til I had vacced the back and turned it over lengthways instead of width ways, the density and pile was an ideal canditate as well I suppose)
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Yes Steve T, very nice silk Turkish keyseri garden panel rug. What size is it?
The persian rug is also nice.
Ash
as already said that machine made rug you cleaned had a pre-existing condition, inspect more carefully with the next ones.
colin
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Hi Colin think it was a 6x9 LOL you are right about the silk turkish keyseri more of a work of art than a rug ;D
Not your average poly prop ::) speaking of knots some can have upto 500 hand tied per square inch
Seems a shame to walk on them if you ask me ;D customer has a few Oushak as well the buggers take some brushing to reset ;D
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tnx Steve T, yes works of art, easy 500 knotts and beyond.
I like to walk around them, just in case i trod in something ;D
Ah......the Turkish Oushak makes you work for your money.
colin