Peak Over A Professional Carpet Cleaners Shoulder

Often times when professional carpet cleaners are called upon to take care of carpet stains the first question is usually, “can you get it out”? If the tech answers “yes” before seeing the area then you might want to consider hiring someone else. In all honesty, not all stains are removable. Your potential hire should always tell you that up front. The better response would be “Let’s take a look at it and if it can be removed, we have what it takes to get it out”.

 

Most dark colored, brown or black, spots are sugar or oil based. These can be removed 90% of the time. Some examples of stains from this category would include colas, tea, coffee, and non-red juices. In most cases a traffic lane cleaner is all you need to remove a cola stain. Tea and coffee are sometimes a little more difficult and may require an acid rinse in conjunction with the traffic lane cleaner. Juices like apple or orange are relatively easy to get out. The biggest headaches would be red juices such as grape or cranberry, especially on light carpets. Red juices can fall into the red dye category where sometimes the only solution is a heat transfer dye process. This process is usually left as a last resort and even then there are no guarantees.

 

So what about stains such as blood, vomit, and urine? Like all other stains, these also need to be addressed quickly. The quicker you have them removed the better. You do not want to clean blood with hot water or alkaline cleaning products. You might think you’re helping the carpet tech out by using these treatments but you’re actually setting the blood in the carpet. You’re better off leaving it to the professional. Vomit and urine are similar in that they are both removed through a process. It is important to remove urine as soon as possible. The longer you ignore it, the more it will continue to deteriorate the carpet. These types of spots are usually removed by using a pre-treatment that breaks down the stain. Then the spot is wholly extracted. These steps are repeated as necessary and afterwards an enzyme is sprayed that will continue to break the spot down.

 

Sometimes you can get stains through no fault of your own. These would include stains from yellowing, water rings, and filtration soiling. Yellowing is one of those stains that can either be easily neutralized or near impossible to remove. It is very common and can be treated with citric acid or an acid rinse. Water rings can also be hit or miss. They are treated with an acid rinse or traffic lane cleaner. Filtration soiling is usually found in hallways near air conditioning units or where the carpet meets the baseboards. These black lines are usually caused by the carpet “filtering” soil. Getting rid of these stains requires a special spotter and manually scrubbing the area with a towel. Due to the extra labor involved, this process could be a little costly.

 

The bottom line is that there are no guarantees with spot removal. A stain that appears easy to remove could prove very difficult, and vice versa. The odds of getting rid of any spots or stains increases greatly when approached correctly and in a timely manner.

 

For more carpet cleaning tips visit Carpet Cleaning Superior