[Macarthur]

Hi there,

I need some advice with regard to a problem that I have never encountered before.

I was doing a job for a local customer on monday that included carpets, upholstery and curtains.

The jobs were fairly straight forward, easy and no major stains anywhere.

However today I received a call back from the customer informing me that all of the cleaning was just fine other than the fact that the curtains retained various watermark patches.

I steam cleaned these curtains using a steam cleaner.

As I have never had this happen to me before, I was wondering if anyone else here has had this and what would be the correct course of action to take, and how best to remedy this situation.

Thankyou,

Nigel.

[Dynafoam]

Nigel,

What was the curtain fabric?

Natural (plant-based) fibres can suffer cellulostic browning if over-wetted, glazed cotton can have the glaze removed by steaming, leaving dull patches. Synthetic fibred fabrics can have textural variations steamed in during production, which can be altered by water, let alone steam.

Without more information it is hard to comment further.

[Macarthur]

Not sure of the fabric John, although I think it may be glazed cotton as is a shiny texture.

Nigel.

[Dynafoam]

Nigel,

If the 'water marks' are dull patches, the glaze may have been removed.

Years ago the glaze was normally a starch, which was removed by the first wash. In more recent times this is most commonly a resin, spray-applied then heat-set, though I have heard that a cheaper polymer coating process was gaining popularity with manufactures.

If the glaze has been removed in patches then I know of no way of rectifying, but if any chemical treatment was involved in addition to steaming it is worth checking the dull patches are not the result of cleaning residue.

[Paul Redden Countryfresh]

  youre walking on dangerous ground wet cleaning curtains, don't take the risk
even if they can be wet cleaned, they can shrink,  be safe and dry clean all curtains. paul

[Derek]

Nigel

Your initial comment was that the customer complained of "retained water marks"... I assumed from this that they were existing marks and NOT created by your cleaning. If so then this should have been included on the preclean survey and results qualified prior to cleaning.

Very often there will be watermarking usually on the bottom edges where the curtains have picked up moisture from window sills or leaky window joints

Derek

[Macarthur]

Unfortunately the watermarks were caused by myself Derek with my steam cleaner, like I say this has never happened to me before and I have steam cleaned many curtains.

Luckily I have since corrected the problem for the customer.

Did something that I really should'nt have.  I washed them myself at home in luke warm water and soap.

Had to try, Dry cleaners said they probably could'nt it remove marks, so was either try myself or new curtains for customer.

I was lucky they came up a treat, all marks came out, did not shrink and a few days later hung them back up for the now satisfied customer.

I have learnt my lesson from this and shall no longer use a steam cleaner for curtains, may need to seek another type of cleaning method.

Nigel.