[Clare.w]

Hiya all!

We have a job booked in for wed, a teenage girls bedroom carpet with a large brown nail polish stain.....any ideas how we deal with this?
After spilling the whole bottle she has poured on half a bottle of nail polish remover and made sure its now a real big mess! Just a big brown crusty patch.

This customer is doing an editorial in her local magazine for us so although sure there's not much we can do, we would like to try and impress her so if anyone has any ideas how we could maybe make it even just a little better we would be very grateful.

[Simon Moat]

Solvent, extract, repeat etc

[Paul Redden Countryfresh]

Hi Depending on what the fibre is will determine success. Their is a risk of delamination of the backing by pouring all that solvent in the carpet, would suggest a signed disclaimer before it comes your problem. The brown pigment spread into the carpet may be very difficult to remove 100%.

I would apply acetone (cheap on ebay ) via a cloth then if your confident apply sodium met dwell and rinse you could speed up the reaction with a hairdryer, i would qualify limited results.

Hope this helps

[Clare.w]

Thanks, but I have to say we are definatly not confident! we are newbies and this will be one of our first jobs!!
so would be great if you could explain/walk me through exactly what we should do ? .....sorry if I sound dumb!

[Paul Redden Countryfresh]

With respect I would advise you pass on this one, and get as much training on courses as possible, there are many
pitfalls with cleaning and you don't want to learn the hard way 

[Helen]

Clare, where are you based and what expectations have you given the customer?
Perhaps a local to you experienced CC'er could help out

[Craigp]

I never been on a course and been asked to remove nail varnish, you have to start learning in the field at some point.

Prochem Solvex, rinse, repeat. Acetone solvent might be better.

I'd be surprised if you remove it though, you might even dilute it and spread it around. Try a small part of the stain first.

[Craigp]

Oh just read your OP again, a whole bottle! Gone crusty!

You should tell her in no uncertain terms it coming out is very unlikely.

Infact I wouldn't want the job, your only have a disappointed customer.

[Steven Lawrence]

Try acetone, if that doesnt work give up, you could make it worse then your custy wont want to write a good editorial for you....

[Helen]

I never been on a course and been asked to remove nail varnish, you have to start learning in the field at some point.

Exactly, but a more "seasoned" CC'er assisting will probably have come across this before and have knowledge to pass on

I'd be surprised if you remove it though, you might even dilute it and spread it around. Try a small part of the stain first.

I'm always the first to be surprised when I can remove nail varnish totally. Some do, some don't, so many occurences that may or may not have happened have to be factored in.
The problem I can see with this one is that the custie has already had a go and has probably scrubbed it, so damaged the fibres, allowing the nail varnish colour to penetrate and permanently colour. There may also be remnants laying deep in the pile, ready to surface with extraction.Seeing as half a bottle of remover has already been poured on, I would think any damage to the fibres has already been done.

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Guys

Acetone is the best solvent for nail varnish but is generally a poor solvent for, say adhesive backing.

It is also volatile, so provided you apply to the stain rather than pouring on, you are unlikely to cause any damage.

It is also ionic which means it will mix with water.

Cheers

Doug

[John Kelly]

Theres a big difference to a nail varnish stain where just a small amount has affected the carpet pile. Theses are easy to remove with Acetone compared to a whole bottle being spilt which will then permeate the full depth of the carpet and probably the underlay. However you may still be able to get a resonable result on the actual carpet pile which will give a decent visual improvement.

In this case with your limited experience and the customer trying themselves I would give it a miss.

[Ricky M]

I agree with JK , its all about trying .

use some common sence , take a carpet with the same construction and face fibers and do the same damge they have and try to suspend the oil based naily stuff and get rid of it on ur sample carpet.

then you will gain the confy to do it real time , rather than fook up some 1s P an J

again all IMO 

but what do i know

[Helen]

I agree with JK , its all about trying .

use some common sence , take a carpet with the same construction and face fibers and do the same damge they have and try to suspend the oil based naily stuff and get rid of it on ur sample carpet.

then you will gain the confy to do it real time , rather than fook up some 1s P an J

again all IMO 

but what do i know

Sounds like you have a stock similar to ours......loads of carpet samples now marked with what was spilt and what got it off and what didn't

[Ricky M]

I agree with JK , its all about trying .

use some common sence , take a carpet with the same construction and face fibers and do the same damge they have and try to suspend the oil based naily stuff and get rid of it on ur sample carpet.

then you will gain the confy to do it real time , rather than fook up some 1s P an J

again all IMO 

but what do i know

Sounds like you have a stock similar to ours......loads of carpet samples now marked with what was spilt and what got it off and what didn't

yes but I did all the test sections in the 1st year but still learning

Always !!

[Helen]

I agree with JK , its all about trying .

use some common sence , take a carpet with the same construction and face fibers and do the same damge they have and try to suspend the oil based naily stuff and get rid of it on ur sample carpet.

then you will gain the confy to do it real time , rather than fook up some 1s P an J

again all IMO 

but what do i know

Sounds like you have a stock similar to ours......loads of carpet samples now marked with what was spilt and what got it off and what didn't

yes but I did all the test sections in the 1st year but still learning

Always !!

Likewise. you just can't second guess what the custie will use before you get there though!

[Clare.w]

Thanks everyone for the replys.
We haven't had a go at it yet as the customer is going to put in a claim on her insurance first.
when she's done that we're going to have a go at it without her expecting us to make any real difference, so it will be good practice anyway and we'll have a go with the acetone.
She did write us a really nice editorial anyway and we're just starting to get some calls in from it.

Thanks again everyone