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UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: John Gregory on July 24, 2008, 02:21:46 pm

Title: olive oil stain
Post by: John Gregory on July 24, 2008, 02:21:46 pm

Did a quote this morning at a Day centre for adults with leaning difficulties , light coloured bitumen backed nylon carpet tiles , while I was there I extracted the oil but it has left a brownie stain

 Any suggestions

 Thanks    John

Title: Re: olive oil stain
Post by: Dave_Lee on July 24, 2008, 02:42:00 pm

John,
Using a solvent on bitumen backed carpet tiles will result in brown staining coming through from the backing, as I am sure you already know. However anything spilt on the tiles (Oil in your case) that softens the bitumen will also come through to the surface when extracted, even without the use of a solvent. Only solution is to swap the tile with one in a less conspicious area.
Dave.

Title: Re: olive oil stain
Post by: *paul_moss on July 24, 2008, 05:52:46 pm

Quote from: John Gregory on July 24, 2008, 02:21:46 pm

Did a quote this morning at a Day centre for adults with leaning difficulties , light coloured bitumen backed nylon carpet tiles , while I was there I extracted the oil but it has left a brownie stain

 Any suggestions

 Thanks    John

On boot camp I will show you a new spotter that is great for this type of problem. Its one of the best spotters ive come across for a long time and not yet on the market. Guys at boot camp will be first to see it  ;).

John in the mean time re rinse it then use Ultra pac ren at 5-1, dwell ,extract.

Title: Re: olive oil stain
Post by: Jim_77 on July 24, 2008, 05:58:36 pm

If the bitumen has been softened though, this will just result in more treacle-coloured gunge coming up.  You can't fix this with further extraction if that's the case, the only way to reduce it would be to let it dry and then bonnet, or minitex ideally, with something that won't loosen up the already dissolved bitumen.

Might be quicker, easier and cheaper to shift a filing cabinet and nick the tile from under it.

Title: Re: olive oil stain
Post by: *paul_moss on July 24, 2008, 06:11:27 pm

John, my answer was for olive oil stain not bitumen.

What it the stain? is it the backing wick up or the olive stain.

If olive use ultra pac but if its bitumen use citrus gel.

Either way make sure you apply them indirectly to the stain.

Title: Re: olive oil stain
Post by: Doug Holloway on July 24, 2008, 06:27:54 pm

Hi Guys

One of the problems with bitumen is it has a complex chemical compostion, being the 'dregs' of the refining process.

There are also lots of different grades of bitumen.
We used to dissolve bitumen in trichloroethylene but you can't get this now, so I would wipe with a white spirit impreganted cloth and then apply a good detergent, like ultrapac.

It is also possible to make bitumen emulsions and these are part dissolved and difficult to remove.

I wouldn't expect olive oil to be a very good solvent for bitumen but equally it would not leave a brown stain on iit's own so likely it has leeched some of the lower molecular weight components of the bitumen.

Cheers

Doug