I dont think ive ever been able to fully remove water spots from carpet or furniture. I figured it was time to get some opinions. I was cleaning some upholstery today for a good customer of mine when she asked me to go over a chair for her. She explained to me how she got out of the pool last week and sat in this chair with her wet bikini still on. I tried my normal cleaning procedures with poor results and was afraid to try too much else without getting a little advice. Here is a picture of what I am working with. View attachment 2011-04-27 14.26.21.jpg Hope I attached that correctly. Let me know the procedure you might use on this piece. Wasn't able to find out the material due to the tags being removed. thanks
Also, the pool is supposed to be a salt water but she is not sure if the pool boy has put chlorine in there. Thanks again
This looks like the kind of water stain that comes from sizing. The sizing spreads to the outer edge or the interface between a wet and dry section of fabric. You can clean with a prespray that is appropriate for the fabric. Try to apply so the fabric is evenly damp with no border or interface between damp area and dry area. Start agitating with soft brush (horsehair) inside the stain and move outward to the end of the piece of fabric. Your are essentially diluting and moving the water mark out to the edge where it will not be seen. Rinse with Avenge Clean Rinse. After cleaning apply Encapuguard Green. This will prevent new water ring from forming and keep any remnant of the old stain from wicking back. Apply a heavy mist and brush in with your horse hair brush or apply with a hand mitt. If there is a slat residue, you may need to apply an acid to dissolve the salt and follow with an acid rinse. I would use TCU Neutralizer or Fab-Set for the acid products. Try to keep the fabric evenly damp and get it to dry evenly. If there is no boundary between wet and dry area there will never be a water stain. You should also know that the tags never identify the fabric. They identify hidden materials, the filling. You still need to do a burn test or learn to do fabric identification to know what material you are working with and treat it properly. I suggest you take an upholstery class and really learn how to best care for the fabric.
Thanks Scott for the quick reply. And that is why I am so thankful for the great work that you and the TMF team provides to the cleaning community. I will follow the instruction you have provided. Also you are correct, I absolutely do need to take an upholstery class. I looked at the photo again and it seems that there is no discoloration within the boundaries of the stain. Only the outer ring. Am I correct there? And you say this is a "sizing". So when the wet area started to dry, all the salts or whatever the contamination was moved to the exterior edge of that spot? Also I guess I will do some searching, but I have tried to remove the same type of spot from some commercial glue down carpeting before without any success. From a water heater leak. Tried everything. As far as I know that stain is still there. I guess I dont really understand why normal cleaning procedures do not remove stains caused by "water". ??
Water does not actually cause the stain. Something in the water travels with the water as it spreads and is left at the outside edge of the area where the water spread. In the case of the chair, I think it is sizing. This is similar to starch. It makes the fabric a little stiffer. It is colorless at normal application, but has a brown tint when you get a lot in one place. So the sizing that was on all the fabric was dissolved and flowed outward until the water dried. No sizing or not enough to see was left in the center of the stain. In the case of the carpet, I'd bet what was in the water was soil beneath the carpet. This might have been installed over a dirty floor thinking the carpet would always hide the soil or it could have been some soil in the water as it came into the basement. Because the type of soil is not known, you may have to experiment a little to see what helps remove it. Try Bridgepoint's Filter Free or other filtration stain remover if it is reasonable size to clean with spotters. For larger areas you can try Traffic Slam at extra strength (3 or 4 times stringer than normal). You could also try some solvents spotters like Gel Break. When you have done as much as you can to remove or partially remove the water stain, allow it to partially dry. While it is still somewhat damp, spray down a heavy dose of Encapuguard Green. Then use a Grandi-Brush to rake this into the carpet. Usually the stain will be gone as the carpet finishes drying in 20 minutes or so.
