[Adam P]

i have seen a case before where a carpet cleaner was doing some carpets in an old office room which were fairly clean, but whilst he was doing them ink stains started to appear every where as there was small drops of ink deep within the carpets which spread when they got wet.

I wondered what people would do in this case if they couldn't be removed (which they couldn't) as i'm not sure who would be to blame? the carpet cleaner for not spotting it even though it was deep wthin the fibres? or the owner for making the stain in the first place even though it was much smaller and unnoticable?

[Griffus]

With upholstery it is best practice to check for ink on the inside of fabric (where possible). As for carpets this is unlikely to happen unless you use way too much water.

If ink-stains do start to materialise whilst cleaning carpet then stop what you are doing and discuss immediately with the customer. There will almost certainly be ink on the underside that has wicked back.

It is likely that there will be areas still to be pre-sprayed etc. that you can show and use in your defence.

Although I have never experienced this happening it is not realistic to check the underside of a complete carpet and thus impossible to 100% avoid.

Other marks can materialise when cleaning that have not previously been noticed. The one I recall hearing about from training was of all things caused by Athletes Foot and / or Acne Cream (benzoyl peroxide) on Nylon. The cleaning process extracts the cream residue aswell as the colour pigment that has been broken down by the peroxide.

[Adam P]

who would be to blame for this though? i never knew the outcome as it wasn't the carpet cleaner i work with but would have been interesting to see who won as the customer wasn't happy. i know you said it shouldn't happen unless too much water was used but surely the decent carpet cleaning machines get right down into the fibres so it would still run a little? it was on cream carpet and the ink stain was blue so it became extremely visible once it was cleaned.

[slioch]

I mention this on the back of my survey sheet as a condition for which the customer agrees that they will not hold me responsible:

"Marks appearing on a carpet caused by dry inks, pollen and other dry dye stuff within the carpet pile.  These dyes are not detectable prior to the commencement of work but become active when exposed to moisture".

I don't know if it would stand up in a court but it flags up the issue to a customer if the issue arises. 

Having said that, I have experienced this a few times over the years (you don't have to use "way too much water") and with ink, in my experience it has been toner "powder" within the pile.  On every occasion I have been able to deal with it - maybe I have been lucky.  Ian is right - draw the matter to the attention of the customer before corrying on with the job.

[M.Acorn]

I did one last week,it had a few tiny pen marks on the carpet,it`s amazing how much a tiny spot can spread,when you wet it ! Managed to flush it all out,as after the first one spread,i went round with solvex,and got it all out,if it had been bitumen backed though,not sure what i could have done