[Paul H]

Ho Folks,

New to the game and just started out...had a couple of jobs last week ..surveyed the carpets etc...two big dirty manky brown stains in each room (guest house) ..informed it was coffee...been there for years ....used chemspec de brown / coffee remover ....little joy ...used s few other products ...little joy.....to me the stain was still visible following treatment and HWE method.....i know there is no gaurantee that a stain can be removed even more so those that have been on manky carpets for years but feel a sense of pride that i have a duty to remove.....am i doing something wrong?...judging by my waste tank i tend to think not but those stains have me thinking!!!...any advice appreciated...products , techniques etc...

I know its a long winded post .

Thanks
Paul

[markpowell]

Carpet type and colour would help please
Mark

[Paul H]

hi,

sorry yeah..polyester...felt backed.....

[Paul H]

oh and colour ... light / mid brown....stain was darker brown !

[Carpet Dawg]

Have you tried a reducer on it? Try chempspecs "spray n go" Spray it down hot, agitate a little then extract. You might need to repeat this step a few times.

For better/quicker reuslts, use a towel and iron after spraying the product down.

Have you already cleaned the carpet using a pre-spray product and HWE? << This could of changed the chemestry of the stain.

I've found that its best to deal with tanning stains first before apply pre-spray and rinse.

Tony

[Paul H]

Yeah tried to deal with stain first......as it said on the tin...apply , aggitate , blot etc etc..... repeat...then rinse...before pre srpay ..hwe....i'll admit after drying it had improved...slightly but still unsightly on the carpet..just looks like its let a good job down..suppose i'll learn through time and experience what works best...even phoned someone who suggested rust remover as a last resort!....called tghe customer back and she is delighted with how the carpets have come up...even though that stain is still visible...albeit improved slightly..

[Colin Day]

I would possibly try M-Power with Soluboost and if this didn't make any difference I'd try the sod met....

[Carpet Dawg]

Yeah tried to deal with stain first......as it said on the tin...apply , aggitate , blot etc etc..... repeat...then rinse...before pre srpay ..hwe....i'll admit after drying it had improved...slightly but still unsightly on the carpet..just looks like its let a good job down..suppose i'll learn through time and experience what works best...even phoned someone who suggested rust remover as a last resort!....called tghe customer back and she is delighted with how the carpets have come up...even though that stain is still visible...albeit improved slightly..

It might not come out mate. But yeah, try "Spray n Go" from ChemSpec, which is Sod met like Colin said.

Also, do the fibres of the carpet where the stain is look knackard? or fuzzy?

[Paul H]

I'll get some of that for next time.....fibres didn't look fuzzy the whole thing just looked awful!!...like i said it did slighly improve and when dried out was slighly better than when i first started...but sill visible if you know what i mean...i recogn its been there for years and god knows what efforts have been made to remove it in the past..stained right through....i just wondered if i was doing something wrong with being new...2 seperate jobs same type of stain .been there for years...limited joy....thought the chemspec de brown / coffee removal would at least do the trick..

[Carpet Dawg]

Could also be some kinda stain that has dyed the carpet fibres, in which case its fecked. Like a curry or chilli sauce. Is it slightly yellowish?

[Paul H]

yip ... couldn't have described it better myself...

[Jim_77]

Be careful with reducing agents.  The above photo was a bright pink stain on a nylon carpet in a rental property.  I started at microsplitter level and worked up through absolutely everything, nothing touched it until I got to a very potent reducing agent (Masterblend Magic) which not only removed some of the stain but also removed the colour out of the carpet fibres!

Maybe if I had used the product a little weaker and with a bit less heat I could have struck a balance but the line is so thin maybe it just wouldn't have been possible in this case.

Just goes to show that despite careful use of such things you can still get bitten on the bum.  Good job this was a s**t or bust situation, so no harm done and no insurance claim, the carpet will get replaced from the ex-tenant's damage deposit regardless..

[neil kellett]

Perhaps if you had just started with your last product instead of working your way up through the food chain. All of those previous chems and agitations couldn't have helped either. Over kill ya know. All of that rinseing and stuff. I'm only asking, I'm not trying to be critical, you know your stuff but would or could that have been a factor in the damage?

[Jim_77]

Neil, I understand what you're saying   I didn't treat the whole stain every time with each product, simply tested a little bit for colour transfer onto a towel with things like microsplitter and solvents.  Then tried a small area with peroxide and another small bit with sodium metabisulphite which I was shocked didn't have any effect!  Maybe my sod met is too old, it has been kept kind of airtight but was a bit lumpy!

The problem was nobody could tell me what this bright pink stain was caused by.  My best guess was either medicine or hair dye.

The carpet was nylon, didn't really use much agitation to speak of and rinsed thoroughly with truckmount and hand tool using plain water.  If I'd have been able to control the reaction better it would have been a winner but this one ran away from me big time!

[neil kellett]

Yeah it would have a fairly limited shelf life. kind of like an enzyme digester. Its great on the E.O.T type cleans where you can experiment with out the custy looking over your shoulder. You can just take your time and play around with it. Thats deffo a hair dye in your carpet, those fibres are ruined permanently, I'd have to say for what my humble opinion is worth, ha sod all says you.

[garybristow]

know when to stop,that was my motto with my dry cleaning business,dont forget its their stain!as you say you was in a sh or bust situ
Gary Bristowclean

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Guys

Stain removal is a massive subject and one you can only learn through courses, reading, practice and experience, the last two being differentiated by samples and the customers carpets.

Nylon is largely dyed rather than pigmented like PP so you are much more likely to alter the background colour.

Cheers

Doug

[neil kellett]

know when to stop,that was my motto with my dry cleaning business,dont forget its their stain!as you say you was in a sh or bust situ
Gary Bristowclean

Fair enough but when you take on the job, the stain now becomes your stain, your problem and your responsibility. You could be liable for any damage as you are the professional. Does that make sense or is it verbal diarheea? 

[JandS]

"Fair enough but when you take on the job, the stain now becomes your stain, your problem and your responsibility. You could be liable for any damage as you are the professional. Does that make sense or is it verbal diarheea?"

To my mind when you get there the carpet is already
damaged by the stain so you might as well try everything,
if it don't work or changes colour so what.
Down the insurance road, you tried and failed.

John
 

[skillwizz]

Hi All, what a good thread this is!!

Neil,  The stain is NEVER yours, It's ALWAYS theirs! You must always work this into the conversation, eg  'I will try my best to get 'your' (not 'the')stain out.'....always refer to the stain as theirs then you will not assume ownership.

PINK STAINS....I once cleaned some carpets  in a club...there were pink stains all around the edges of the rooms, all were about the size of dinner plates!! Lots of testing later,.. I stood back for a look (i find this helps) and I noted that there were more stains the nearer you got to the loos...long story short....stomach acid!!!!

Cheers George