Clean It Up

UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Joe H on July 22, 2009, 06:24:37 pm

Title: Mould on Carpet
Post by: Joe H on July 22, 2009, 06:24:37 pm
Just booked a job in for Fri morning.
Dining room and I asked was their anything specific as to why he wanted carpets clean ie stains etc and he replied there is a couple areas of mold.
How do I treat mould?
Title: Re: Mould on Carpet
Post by: Shaun_Ashmore on July 22, 2009, 06:59:03 pm
Bleach!! actually Sodium met, you need to clean and treat to stop growth and for appearance you may need to sod it!!

Shaun
Title: Re: Mould on Carpet
Post by: Joe H on July 22, 2009, 07:07:35 pm
OK Shaun, I have some.
What mixture, is it cold or hot application, do I spray or flood it?
Do I leave for x minutes and extract?
Title: Re: Mould on Carpet
Post by: gwrightson on July 22, 2009, 07:11:44 pm


Joe ,

Mix sodium meta with very hot water , avoid breathing in the fumes as it will knock you over :D

I personaly apply with a sponge and dry with hair dryer, using a spray bottle tends to melt the workings of some of the more flimsy plastics.

Geoff
Title: Re: Mould on Carpet
Post by: Shaun_Ashmore on July 22, 2009, 07:29:40 pm
Won't work on 100% man mades though, techniques do differ but Geoff has something going on but I find that using sod met is a personal thing and you mix it based on experience, heat makes it work fast ( the sod met not the cleaning, we don't want to get into that again ;D)

Shaun
Title: Re: Mould on Carpet
Post by: derek west on July 22, 2009, 07:53:45 pm
use sod met as a dry powder with a steamer, make sure to cover with a terry towel or it will blow everywhere, its better this way as you can be more precise as to where you put it. and it works best at its hottest, you don't get hotter than steam ;)
derek
Title: Re: Mould on Carpet
Post by: John Kelly on July 22, 2009, 07:59:57 pm
If its mould from beneath a plant pot the carpet fibres may be knackered.
Title: Re: Mould on Carpet
Post by: Shaun_Ashmore on July 22, 2009, 08:10:55 pm
I used to use that method years ago with a product called oblit which I suspect was sodium met, to speed things up we would pour kettle water on and I would guess that's where the current technique comes from but steam is the same heat as boiling water infact it is slightly colder unless you are throwing water onto coals, the results are the same but may be more controlled with the old method.

Shaun
Title: Re: Mould on Carpet
Post by: derek west on July 22, 2009, 08:46:56 pm
 Which one is hotter steam or boiling water?
In: Chemistry, Temperature, Volume [Edit categories] 

  [Edit] 


ANSWER:
Steam. The reason for this is water boils at the temperature of 212 degrees F. Steam can be heated to much higher temperatures than that. Some engines that are water cooled has steam at temperatures of over 700 degrees. Water basically becomes a plasma at this temperature.

less water my way ;)
derek
Title: Re: Mould on Carpet
Post by: Shaun_Ashmore on July 22, 2009, 08:54:24 pm
True there's less water but you can get deeper and longer/better saturation, I did mention about putting water onto coals but I didn't mention how hot the coals were ;D there's more than one way to skin a cat so you are correct Derek but keep an open mind to other techniques.

Shaun
Title: Re: Mould on Carpet
Post by: elliott cleaning on July 22, 2009, 09:10:39 pm
There is nothing to stop you heating water to above its normal boiling point without turning it into steam.   Known as superheating
Title: Re: Mould on Carpet
Post by: Shaun_Ashmore on July 22, 2009, 09:16:26 pm
Just need the facilty though, Mother in laws mouth do? image her following you around to every job?

Shaun
Title: Re: Mould on Carpet
Post by: Joe H on July 24, 2009, 05:41:51 pm
Thanks for the advice lads.
I went this morning, knocked hard on the door and I could hear the guy coughing as he came to the door.
Went in and I didnt think it was mould on the carpet, but the back wall of his dining room top to bottom and for about 2' wide was fill of mould.
I said how long has that been there - about 3 to 4 months. I asked how long had he been coughing - about 3 months. It was obvious to me that the mould spores were affecting his health and I told him he needs to sort the mould out and pretty quick - for his health and the health of his house.

I said do you know where the damp is coming from - No. I took him outside and the toilet overflow was running down the wall - it was saturated.
Advised him to sort the overflow immediately and then get someone in to sort the outside and inside pretty quick too.
Cleaned his lounge/dining carpet as he wanted, they were dirty and tea/coffee stained, did his small hall as a freebe as well.  Easy £75.

Title: Re: Mould on Carpet
Post by: John Kelly on July 24, 2009, 06:05:54 pm
It never ceases to amaze me how thick some people are ::)