Customer had a radiator shite the bed and leak out onto a brand new carpet. We’ve got browning, dirt, grime, and possibly rust along with mildew going on…….these are the pics he sent. Pad is getting replaced and he’s not wanting to replace the carpet. What chems would you start out with? Obviously we need an acid and rust remover along with maybe something else but I’m trying to not run the gambit on everything as far as chems.
How would you approach this?
- Thread starter Ed Cruz
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Sabyl Nate
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- Nov 4, 2018
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Honestly, a light prespray and acid rinse is probably enough. It's hard to tell by just the pics, but I'm 99% sure that's all brown out. Whatever that perfect looking square thing on the 2nd pic is a little worrisome... hopefully it wasn't wood, but I'd put the warning out there before messing with it. Have rust remover on hand of course, but a good rinse and a quick fan dry should wrap that up no problem.
sbsscn
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- Nov 12, 2008
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I likely would try a browning agent first mixed a little on the heavy side. The mix ratios on some of the ones I've tried are pretty broad from very weak to fairly strong. Saturate the area and scrub either manually or with a machine to get good penetration all through it. Then clean as normal. I may mist some more browning agent on the area after cleaning if I think it's needed and leave it along with a fan or two overnight. I honestly cannot be certain those are rust stains which are often mistaken for hard water stains. A rust stain will require a rust remover no doubt about it, but often the browning agent may surprise you and take it all out if it's just water stains like I'm thinking. That appears to be hard water staining and if so this should yield a good if not near perfect result. I would follow up with a bonnet perhaps and for certain speed dry with a fan. If the customer has a decent fan I will sometimes utilize their fans rather than make an extra trip. If there's going to be a problem that may cause extra work it will likely show up overnight or 2 or 3 days tops.
There are several things that can be used on the mildew or what appears to be mildew and I'm sure you probably have that part covered. I personally would use peroxide or a peroxide based encap on it if needed to remove the stain, but separately from the browning agent. I would not apply the two together. I have run into similar situations and this worked for me very well. A second application of browning agent may sometimes be necessary, but quick drying can minimize the chances of that happening. The browning agent should give near instant results in my experience. Hard water staining is not true browning which is always a ph issue, but I find browning agents work very well on those too. The staining should normally begin to lighten up or go away pretty quick. I prefer the Citric Acid based browning agent myself since they don't stink and work very well in many cases. Check the sds on what you're using to confirm. Some browning agents contain the exact same chemical some coffee stain removers have and they STINK to high heaven!!! I avoid them if at all possible.
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Thanks for the advice. I’m going to the job Wednesday. I was thinking of running an acid strong but you may have swayed me on just using a Coffee stain and browning treatment. I have Chemspec Coffee stain remover and browning treatment. Unfortunately it’s the RTU smelly stuff. I’m thinking I’ll just use that and rinse. Maybe clean it first with a neutral cleaner?
- Nov 12, 2008
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The citric acid and the sodium metabisulfite both work for browning. I can't see one being better than the other that I can tell. Once I totally reversed serious browning on a natural unrefined cotton couch using nothing but Matrix All Fiber Rinse which is citric acid based mixed a little extra heavy and it worked miracles. Right now I have a debrowner made by Spartan chems that I bought locally that is citric acid and seems to work fine. Matrix Coffee stain remover is nothing but sodium metabisulfite and I think is exactly the same as your Chemspec product and I do mean exactly. Matrix Target can also remove browning, but it is a very strong acid. I think it has a ph of like .5 to 1ph so I'd say that's pretty strong stuff. You should not have to use that much. I'd likely mist it in and then rake or brush it into the fibers.
sbsscn
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all synthetics have a cleaning characteristic. Its very important to understand the fiber. If its nylon then you run into a certain issue, if its polyester its a different issue, polypropylene another.
and then theres how its woven or pattern, cant use a rotary on everything and cant use extreme heat either,
it does matter
Ok bruh. …….. I’ve been cleaning for 15 years and sold carpeting, rugs and flooring for 12 years before and during that……..you wanna make things more complicated than need be go right ahead I’ve been doing this long enough to know this ain’t brain surgery. My question was to ask other pros what steps they would take given all the different things going on here…….and it turns out it’s similar to what I was gonna do but got some different ideas.
