Effective and Inexpensive Upholstery Preconditioning Tool

Most cleaners have applauded the explosion of microfiber upholstery in the marketplace. While microfibers have some challenges that need to be addressed in inspection, such as delaminating, for the most part this product is durable when cleaned with proper upholstery cleaning techniques.

The biggest challenge in cleaning microfibers is the tendency for it to adsorb oily soils, and the time involved in loosening these soils. Horsehair brushes, the mainstay tool of fine fabric specialists, are not always up to the task, and the alkaline preconditioning agents most suitable for oily loving polyester microfibers will felt, matt, and distort the horsehair brush until it is unusable.

Nylon scrub brushes are chemical resistant, but may damage some microfibers.

Try This Instead:

Use a white floor pad, such as is used for polishing VCT, and cut it to fit your hand. The synthetic fiber will resist being damaged by your preconditioner, but is also gentle enough not to damage microfiber fabrics, or any synthetic fiber fabric that you are cleaning. The surface area of the pad actually penetrates the heavy oil residues better than brushes can as well.

Try this out the next time you have microfiber furniture to clean, and you’ll be impressed at the time you’ll save and the results you’ll get.

The New Problem Fabric Challenges For Upholstery Cleaning Professionals!

For decades, the fabrics perceived to be problem fabrics by cleaners, and by those who train them, have been in these four categories:

1. Bleeders, usually fabrics woven on the jacquard loom


2. Raw Cotton, still sometimes called "Haitian Cotton"


3. Velvet, especially those made from natural fibers


4. Nondurable finishes, mostly Chintz and Polished Cotton

Today, those categories have changed. Following is the 21st Century list, in the order of challenges and problems now occurring!

1. Fabrics That Won't Come Clean! Cleaners are facing more issues with abused natural fibers that they cannot restore without damaging them.


2. Natural Whites. The term Haitian Cotton is massively outdated, and even raw cotton isn't correct, as rayon and linen fabrics have the same issues of browning and water stains as cotton does.


3. Textures. Velvet is still "out there", but the new problem fabrics are natural fiber chenille, and even synthetic microfibers. The chenille's can have permanent distortion, and the microfibers have issues in poor manufacturing processes that can cause you big problems if you don't know what they are.


4. Non Colorfast Fabrics. The "old fashioned" floral jacquard weaves still exist, but most color problems today are being encountered in poorly made prints and denim fabrics that easily fade.

If you are still seeing the upholstery cleaning world through "20th Century Eyes", and training your employees the same way, you can expect to get caught by surprise when one of these challenges becomes an unexpected problem for you.

The Number One Upholstery Cleaning Problem Today is…Texture Distortion!

For several years, cleaners have focused their efforts in both testing and cleaning to find ways to prevent color bleeding and browning, (which are still both concerns for fine fabric specialists), but have long been resolved by cleaners who understand the chemistry of cleaning.

In a recent discussion that I had with leading furniture manufacturers, the individuals with whom I spoke did not complain about cleaners damaging dyes or causing browning, they instead spoke about the incredible amount of texture damage done during the cleaning process!

Today’s fine fabric specialist must recognize that delicate textures are not just velvet, which was for years the fabric most concentrated on in cleaning classes, but now also include such varied products as chenille and microfibers. While the difference between a rayon chenille and a polyester microfiber may see to be worlds apart, both can be easily (and perhaps irreparably) damaged by a careless cleaner.

Use this quick checklist to help to prevent damaging the furniture your customer has entrusted you to care for:

1. PreInspect and PreQualify your work: Many of these fabrics have already been damaged by abuse from your customer, their children and/or their pets. Make sure you discuss pre-existing problems before you clean.
   
   Qualify your work: Many of these fabrics have already been damaged by abuse from your customer, their children and/or their pets. Make sure you discuss pre-existing problems before you clean.


2. Precondition using a soft brush, and only brush in the direction of the lay of the tap, if any.


3. Extract using the “Upholstery Pro” upholstery cleaning tool. There are plenty of good “cleaning tools”, but there is no tool I have ever used that creates as little distortion during the cleaning process as this tool. The “Upholstery Pro” cleans and extracts as well as any tool you can use, but most importantly will not leave jet streaks, and creates only an occasional easy to remove “slight edge distortion” at the edges of the tool. Post grooming of fabric is far easier and less time consuming when you use the Upholstery Pro.


4. Use as little cleaning or rinsing agent as possible to prevent stiffness from residues. Never use carpet cleaning detergent in your “rinse”, and even many acid rinses may leave sticky residues. Sapphire Scientific Upholstery Rinse is unique for its very low level of surfactant content, and is my preferred rinsing agent for all soft textured fabrics.


5. Groom the fabric. Grooming techniques for velvet, chenille, and microfibers are all somewhat different, but all should be groomed immediately after extraction, then again after drying with fans.

Follow these steps and you’ll have better results and happier customers who will appreciate your efforts as a fine fabric specialist who cares.

FAQs - Tile, Grout & Stone

Q --
Jim,

A customer of mine just asked me to clean some grout for her on her marble floor where her dogs had their way while she was away. I checked my supplies and found that I only have a little Viper Venom.

Did I hear once that Viper Venom is just a glorified stripper?? I have stripper and was wondering if I could use that as well.

Anticipating your response,
Dan

A --
Dan,

I would be careful identifying Viper Venom with stripper, as floor stripper as a pH range that can make it very damaging to many surfaces in the home that Viper Venom does not. However, regardless of that, I wouldn't even want you to get Viper Venom on marble.

Viper Venom (and stripper, and most degreasers) have agents in them that help them attack minerals in the water that interfere with their performance. That also means those agents attack minerals called calcium carbonate, which is the mineral that makes what we call marble.

The grout used in marble is unsanded, and the grout lines should be very narrow. You can't use a grout brush on them, nor should you as marble also scratches easily.

For your customer's sake, and obviously for yours, I'd recommend you wait and get some Stone Perfect, which is the best product I've ever used for cleaning marble and other natural stone.

Dan, I also need to caution you that what sometimes looks like "dirty marble" is really scratched marble. Those small scratches are not always evident as scratches, but when you are done cleaning the marble may look just as dirty.

That said, the Stone Perfect, applied with a clean (not a bit of grit in it) soft brush will clean the grout lines beautifully. Dan, we have some new sales help for you also! Stone Care Solutions from Bridgepoint is has created two short sales videos to help you sell your stone cleaning and polishing services. You can get this DVD for FREE free with the purchase of any set of the Stone Care pads. 5,7,17, or 20”.

Click here to see a short video for some super information you will like!

Jim

Holiday Spots, Spills and Stains

Starting with Thanksgiving, and through the late December holiday observances, your customers will be engaging in that riskiest of activities when it comes to carpet and upholstery textiles:

They will be serving food and drinks with bright red colors, and having their homes overcrowded with guests consuming those items.

While red stains are common throughout the year, there are two that you are more likely to encounter from now until January 2nd:

Cranberry Sauce and Red Wine.

The reason that both of these might create confusion is the uncertainty as to whether the stain is from “natural red colors” or from artificial dyes. The distinction is important to you, as the types of products you use, the order in which you use them, and the time you should predict in their use may vary widely depending on what is in the item spilled.

You should, of course, attempt to learn exactly what was spilled. If the customer still has the bottle or can, you can look right on the label and often determine if there is an artificial dye involved.

In today’s world, the assumption should be that there is a dye unless you know for sure otherwise. Unless your customer made their cranberry sauce from cranberries themselves (a more involved process), the sauce likely has an artificial dye. Even wine, which throughout history has only had natural colors, lately has become another source of artificial dye staining to carpet.

Once you have this information, first clean the carpet. With the amount of “polys” out there (polyester, polypropylene, and triexta…which is essentially polyester) as well as nylon with some of the latest advanced stain resistant treatments, many of these red stains will simply clean out of the carpet, with no further need of specialty stain removal techniques.

If any stain remains, you will then need to decide if the stain has a natural red color or an artificial one. Natural red colors come out most readily with the application of an oxidizing agent, such as Stain Zone or Stain Magic. Artificial red colors should be treated with specialty red dye removal products than contain reducing agents, such as Red Zone, Red Relief, or Red One.

Use each product by following each manufacturer’s direction carefully.

Worrying about red stains should be the last thing that should concern your valued customers. Be sure to approach the treatment of these stains with confidence and concern for their needs, and make such stains a minor inconvenience during these happy times for them.

Allow me to take this occasion to thank all of you for your support and feedback to us over the years.

Triexta, Part 3

It is only appropriate (for now) to conclude this discussion on “triexta” (better known as “SMARTSTRAND tm”) with some thoughts on how it will and is affecting you as a professional carpet cleaner. We can do this by first looking back to a another new fiber development in the 1980’s - stain resistant nylon carpet………

While many of you reading this message weren’t even in our industry in the 1980’s, stain resistant nylon carpet has had a profound effect on the way our customers and prospects perceive carpet cleaning, as well as the way we actually clean carpet today. The advent of stain resistant carpet has encouraged consumers to choose lighter colored carpets because they mistakenly expected them to stay clean longer because of their stain resistant treatment.

This increased use of lighter colors has placed carpets into a more regular cleaning cycle, which in turn has created more work for our industry, and with more regular cleaning cycles, more customer contact as well as long term loyalty with deserving cleaning firms.

Carpet cleaning chemistry has changed as well, in some ways for the better, in some not so much for the better.

To simplify my point, and for the sake of brevity: stain resistant nylon carpet caused our industry to pay more attention to the pH of presprays and detergents, and created some of the initial interest around using lower pH rinses, or for some, clear water rinses.

Now we have this new “triexta” fiber, along with its very similarity to its “older brother” “polyester”, beginning to
dominate the market. .......keep reading

Regardless of the debates about resiliency and the need for after market carpet protection, it is clear that both “triexta” and “polyester” are more oil loving than nylon, and will require products and procedures that more readily can break the oil bonds that inevitably will occur if this carpet is neglected and/or subjected to abuse.

There appears also to be some concerns about difficulty in removing detergent residues from this fiber as well, but this information has not yet been documented well enough to discuss in detail. As I have more feedback from the field, I will share it with you.

Please feel free to contact me here, or by email, if you have feedback regarding your experience with this fiber, or would like more information on how to care for “triexta” and “polyester” carpet.

Call: 1-800-342-2297
Local: 412-751-3700
e-mail – jimpem2@comcast.net

Triexta Update

I received a call today from a well informed and customer service oriented carpet cleaner I know, and the story he related spoke to both technical and marketing issues we must all be aware of.

This gentleman sends a newsletter to all of his customers, including the carpet retailers who refer him. In it, he made a point of warning his customers that the new Triexta fiber that is being so heavily promoted today may not live up to the expectations the retailers are creating.

It seems that at least one of the retailers he sent this newsletter to became very upset at his sharing this information, and confronted him about it when he met with her. While his initial reaction was irritation at her support for what he (and likely you) consider to be an inferior fiber, his “business head” thought about it a bit longer.

In our discussion, we both had to agree that Triexta does solve two problems that nylon (the cleaner’s favorite fiber) does not:

1. The Triexta fiber is inherently resistant to red dyes. Unlike Stain Resistant Nylon, which loses its stain resistance over time from abrasive soil and most cleaning processes, Triexta does not.


2. Triexta fibers also resist color loss from urine stains. Since most homes in the US today have more than one cat and/or dog, this issue is powerful, and should not be overlooked.

There remains little doubt that Triexta will continue to have the “oil loving” characteristics of its better known cousin, Polyester, but that’s why professional cleaning is needed, isnt’ it?

The cleaner is going to visit his referring stores and discuss his more balanced view of Triexta, which he should. He mentioned how annoyed he gets when retailers make comments about carpet cleaning that don’t really address the “whole story”, and he recognized that perhaps he did the same.

The lesson for you (and for me)? There are several:

1. Triexta is here to stay. Go to most carpet stores, and its “everywhere”. Its surely better than Olefin, and likely better than Polyester. The fact that we don’t like it as much as Nylon is more our issue than it is our customers, after all.


2. We might not like “oil loving fibers”, but our customers aren’t as worried about Oily soils as they are bleach and dye stains.


3. Let’s keep our dialog with those stores that gladly refer us, and make sure that while we need to serve our customer’s needs, we also need to make sure we understand the whole story.
   
   Having an open minded attitude that listens to the views and needs of all parties will keep your business not just the one your customers wish to use, but that retailers will gladly recommend!

For more information on Triexta, see my article at
http://tinyurl.com/cleantip6

Is it Wicking or is it Sticking?

What do you do when you get called about a spot that has been discovered by your customer after you have cleaned their carpet?

Before you show up with an arsenal of products, you need (and your customer needs) an answer to these three questions:

1. Did the stain remain after cleaning?
2. Did the spot come back when it dried?
3. Did the spot show up over time?

The reason that these questions are so important is that they speak to three different types of problems.

1. "Did the stain remain after cleaning?"
   If you've done everything you could to clean the carpet and a stain remains, you might need to use reducing or oxidizing agents with some of your advanced skills to remove this stain. And, in some cases, there are stains that cannot be removed regardless of your skills and available stain removal chemistry arsenal.


2. "Did the spot come back when it dried?"
   If spots disappear during cleaning, but reappear after the carpet dries, the problem is probably wicking. This needs to be treated with an absorbent powder or sprayed with an anti wicking agent


3. "Did the spot show up over time?"
   This is more likely a sticky residue than a wicking problem. When adhesive residues (such as from tape) or clear sugary drinks spills, the soil that was attracted to the sticky residue comes up easily, leading the cleaner to believe the spot is gone. If it comes back, you need to follow more extensive spotting procedures to remove the sticky residue that in the case of a spill is likely deep within the carpet yarns, and will require extensive flushing to remove.

Each of these three different circumstances requires cleaning, spotting, and stain removal skills to correct. But those products and skills are not of much use, and can sometimes even work against you, if you don't know the difference between the three.

Freeze Warning!

As we move toward the end of October, temperatures in the the northern part of the US and all of Canada will begin to drop below freezing at night, and in the next couple of months perhaps during the day. Cleaners are aware of the need to protect their equipment during this season, but often overlook the damage that freezing might do to their cleaning products.

While most products will work as well after freezing if they are thawed out, there are a few categories that may be permanently damaged if left out in the cold overnight. These includes:

• Carpet Protector
• Liquid Enzyme products
• Floor Finishes

Some of these products, especially protectors, are sold as "freeze/thaw stable", but most are not. Leaving such products in an unheated vehicle overnight when temperatures go below freezing risks a loss of the product's performance.

Even though most other cleaning and spotting products do not lose effectiveness when frozen, the fact that you'd start your day trying to pour a frozen bottle of prespray (as an example) into a measuring cup is not likely going to be pleasant or productive for you.

If you cannot store your vehicle in a heated garage overnight, remove all of your cleaning agents and other treatments and bring them inside for the night. It will protect those very important (and expensive) protectors, deodorizers and floor finishes. It will also make the use of all of your other products easier and less annoying while you cope with the unavoidable annoyances cold weather brings to us all.

21st Century "Fine Fabric Care" Procedures

Cleaning Today's Challenging Fabrics

I've spent nearly three quarters of my lifetime working with upholstery cleaning products, tools, and procedures. Over that period of time, the largest single obstacle to a cleaner's confidence in becoming a fine fabric specialist was the fear caused by the perceived complexities of fabrics, testing, as well as the cleaning chemistry and procedures.

The following procedures and products are the simplest, the safest, and the most effective means of cleaning and restoring everything from the most durable synthetic fiber fabrics to the trickiest, hypersensitive natural fiber fabrics available to anyone today!

Why the SIMPLEST?
Because most of the cleaning is done by one of two preconditioners: “Upholstery Pre-spray” for synthetic fiber fabrics, or “Natural Fiber Cleaner” for natural fiber fabrics and blends. Other than the occasional need of an additive or a specialty spot and stain remover, these two products really “do it all”.

Why the SAFEST?
“Upholstery Pre-spray”, while designed primarily for colorfast synthetic fibers, self neutralizes rapidly and easily rinses away. This prespray has the power needed to break down oils, fats, and grease that has bonded to oil loving synthetic fibers, but few of the risks associated with other alkaline prespray products.

“Natural Fiber Cleaner” starts with an acidic pH, which makes it ideal for all natural fibers and blends, and especially safe to use on white and potentially non colorfast fabrics. The acidic pH of this product means that no additional acidic rinsing agents are needed, unless severe color bleeding sensitivity exists.

Why the most EFFECTIVE?
Using this unique system; you have a self neutralizing alkaline cleaner, Upholstery Pre-spray, for synthetics, with which you can attack the most troublesome oily soils that otherwise make the cleaning of such abused upholstery fabrics a time consuming and fatiguing task. Plus, in addition you have the unique Natural Fiber Cleaner, an acidic cleaner for natural fibers which is absolutely the best acid based cleaner I have ever used! It has a surfactant system specifically designed to attack oily soils, as well as built in solvent boosters to assist the surfactants so that fabrics that might be otherwise seen as beyond cleaning, can often be restored to a nearly new condition.

For complete article, please visit...
http://www.ecleanadvisor.com/public/765.cfm

Bedbugs & Lice on Upholstery and Bedding

The most common insect control issues associated with upholstery and bedding include: BEDBUGS, FLEAS AND LICE.

Each of these parasitic insects create discomfort for your customers, and may be difficult to eliminate.

Here are some of the serious questions that are heard frequently, along with a link to an article I have published in the eCleanAdvisor.com where you can find some additional links to an excellent resource you might wish to share with your customers!

Q - How can you tell if the residence or building is infested?
Q - What should you know about insecticides and other methods for treating bed bugs?
Q - What might you do when returning from a visit to an infested residence?
Q - Do bed bugs cause harm or spread pathogens?

For answers to these questions and MORE, please visit:
http://tinyurl.com/25bxjq2

How To Safely Clean Upholstered Furniture Using Your Truck Mount

The primary drawback in using a truck mount upholstery cleaning attachment is also its greatest advantage: Convenience!

A cleaning technician who might hesitate to suggest the "add on" of some upholstered furniture cleaning while on a carpet cleaning job is not as likely to hesitate when he just has to connect an upholstery cleaning tool and "go to work".

Unfortunately, this ease of quickly switching tools also makes it easy to overlook such important steps as:

• Testing
• Inspection
• Dry soil removal
• Preconditioning
• The use of a properly designed upholstery tool
• The use of proper cleaning chemicals

Regardless of the cleaning equipment or system used, the neglect of these important considerations will result in unsatisfactory results, displeased customers, as well as the probability of expensive damage claims.

For the most important considerations in using truck mount equipment to safely clean upholstered furniture areas follows: http://www.ecleanadvisor.com/members/139.cfm

Acid Rinses

Over the past two decades many cleaners have shifted from the use of alkaline carpet cleaning detergents to the use of acidic rinse agents. Cleaners began to become concerned about potential cleaning residues, and while some attempted to solve the problem by rinsing with clear water alone, others chose to use existing chemistry to attempt to neutralize pH as well as rinse cleaning agent residues from carpet.

The products they first tried were already available, and had been on the market for several years already: Acidic Rinse Agents.

These products were primarily used for rinsing upholstery after preconditioning, and their primary purpose was (and still is) to be used for stabilizing dyes, preventing cellulose browning, and softening velvet and chenille fabrics.

These products still work for carpet, but have mostly been replaced by products that act as cleaning agents as well as neutralizing agents. These products are acidic in pH, and do help to neutralize preconditioning agents, but have the added benefit of providing cleaning as well as neutralization. With these acidic cleaning (rather than rinsing) agents, you need not precondition the entire carpet, but instead only the parts that have heavy accumulations of petroleum, proteins, or fats.

Browning: Correction without Destruction!

If you clean a natural fiber fabric that contains cellulose fibers such as cotton, linen, or regenerated cellulose such as rayon, there is always a risk of a condition known as cellulose browning.

If you use the new generation "dry" upholstery cleaning tools, such as the Upholstery Pro, and acidic cleaning detergents, your chance of causing browning is far less than it once was.

However, if you tend to clean all upholstery with "the same stuff" (usually an alkaline cleaner) and use old fashioned wet upholstery tools, browning still can occur. Should you ever cause browning on upholstery, follow these steps to correct it:

1. Remove the furniture from your customer's house whenever possible. Most browning removal procedures take repeated applications, and visiting a home several times is costly to you, and annoying for your customer (which means it can become VERY costly to you if they tire of your visits before you have solved the problem.)

2. Clean the furniture using only an acidic rinse agent (such as Upholstery Rinse) or an acidic detergent (such as Natural Fiber Cleaner). This method will also remove the alkaline cleaning agent residues that caused the browning in the first place. Rapidly speed dry immediately afterward, and in most cases, the browning will be gone, or greatly reduced.

3. If step 2 does not work, apply an acidic neutralizing treatment, preferably one that does not contain any detergent or surfactant (such as Dye Stabilizer and Rinse). The reason not to use a product with a surfactant is that this eliminates the need to clean the fabric once more, or leave further residue. Repeated cleanings and accumulated residue will cause texture changes.

4. If step 3 does not work, apply a reducing agent, that again does not contain a surfactant (such as Coffee Stain Remover). This type of product requires time to work, and has a strong odor,and in this case may leave a powder residue than can be vacuumed away without causing distortion.

5. If step 3 doesn't work, you will need to rinse the fabric again, dry quickly, then use a non-chlorine oxidizing agent (such as Boost All) added to a neutral shampoo (such as Fabric Shampoo). This application will need to be followed by another acidic rinse application, and speed drying. This step may result in over whitening and additional texture distortion, and should be avoided whenever possible.

While your first goal should be to never allow browning to occur, if it does happen, your best choice is to attempt to remove the browning with steps 2 and 3, repeating those steps as needed and drying quickly. In this way you have the best chance of removing the browning, and also minimizing texture distortion and bleaching that cause additional damage.

Carpet Cleaning Detergents

Carpet cleaning detergents are an important part of hot water extraction cleaning. While cleaners sometimes use acidic rinses or even clear water after using traffic lane presprays, as we discussed last, the majority of cleaners use a carpet cleaning detergent in their portable or truck mounted carpet cleaning equipment.

Carpet cleaning detergents have been around as long as there has been hot water extraction machines. At one time they were used alone for cleaning, and some cleaners still do most or all of their cleaning by simply adding this type of product to their solution tank or truck mount stock solution.

Most cleaners, though, use a carpet cleaning detergent to clean the areas of a carpet that are not routinely sprayed with a traffic lane prespray.

The two types of carpet cleaning detergents that most cleaners encounter are liquids and powders.

Liquids have the advantage of being easy to dissolve in water, and that they often leave the carpet with a soft hand, or feel.

Their weakness is that in very hard water areas,they may not be as effective.

Powders, on the other hand, need more time to dissolve, but are often the most aggressive cleaners and are very effective in hard water applications.

So if you use a portable machine or have a truck mount that has a sensitive (translate "easy to clog") chemical metering system, then liquids make sense, especially if the water is soft.

If you use a truck mount, and if you are willing to take a few minutes to make sure you detergent is dissolved thoroughly, you might prefer the extra cleaning power that a powder can give to you.

A third category of carpet cleaning product that is NOT a detergent are the "surfactant free" or "soap free" products. These products have no detergent, but only alkaline builders in them. What they provide is good cleaning of oily soils without leaving a surfactant residue behind. Carpets cleaned with these products feel like they've been rinsed with water only, and have no odor. Such products are ideal for people who want a "chemical and fragrance free" cleaning.

Upholstery Inspection and Testing

In the last few weeks I've gotten more than a few emails and calls about upholstery cleaning problems. In fact, one of which came in after this video was done!

Every one of these problems, without exception, could have been prevented by proper testing and inspection of the fabric. Taking a few minutes (and it only takes a very few minutes) to look over the piece of furniture before you clean it, and conducting a few tests, will help you determine three VERY important things that you and the customer need to know before you begin cleaning:

1. Testing and Inspection helps you better inform your customer as to what they should expect in the way of a result from your cleaning efforts. Simply put, a heavily soiled and stained white polyester sofa will clean more quickly and look a lot better than a heavily soiled and stained white rayon sofa.


2. Testing and Inspection helps you to chose the best products. The "best" products doesn't mean defaulting to "safe" either. This means you can use aggressive and effective products on durable synthetic fiber fabrics, and of course gentle and safe products on less durable, perhaps non colorfast natural fiber fabrics.


3. Finally, Testing and Inspection helps keep you out of trouble and from paying claims. Finding out that the dyes in a fabric might bleed, or that fabric weakness might result in a torn area during cleaning keeps you from paying needless claims.

Understanding Traffic Lane Presprays

At my last count, we sell over 30 different traffic lane presprays here at Pembertons! That can make things pretty confusing for the most experienced cleaners. Much of that variety exists because of brand, fragrance, and other preferences. To simplify things, you can break prespray products down into four categories:

Standard Traffic Lane Cleaners, Olefin Preconditioners, Enzyme Presprays, and High pH Presprays. The names of these categories are mine, but they give you an idea of what each one is.

Standard Traffic Lane Cleaners usually have a pH around 10, and are considered by most carpet manufacturers and fiber producers to be safe for all synthetic carpets. These products have solvents and surfactants as part of their formulation to create products that really do most of your cleaning. You'll find that they emulsify oils, suspend soil, and break down most spots so completely that you need to use little, if anything, in your extraction solution. Products such as these have lead to the use of acid rinse agents and detergents, and sometimes simply the use of clear water rinses. There remains a place for alkaline cleaning detergents of course, and we'll discuss that at a later time.

Olefin preconditioners are made primarily to cope with the issue of the way oily soils, especially oily particulates, cling to oil loving fibers such as olefin, polyester, and triexta. These products use advanced surfactant technology to break the bond of these oily soils and allow for easy suspension and later extraction. The use of such products will lessen the chance of wicking as well.

Enzyme presprays work specifically on food based soils, such as proteins, carbohydrates, and starches. If you clean restaurants, cafeterias, and other food service areas, such products can speed up your cleaning, and eliminate the need for special spotting. These products are not necessarily as effective on the oily soils that are often found in Asian restaurants, however.

Your ultimate "nuclear option" is the use of highly alkaline presprays. Such products have pH ranges between 11 and 12, and may not be suitable for non colorfast carpet fibers. Their distinct advantages are the fact that they can be used for abused rental property carpet, as well as restaurants and other carpets that have been exposed to heavy traffic, accumulated synthetic and protein based oils, and general abuse.

Introduction to Cleaning Chemistry

This is the beginning of a series of presentations I’ll be giving about how your cleaning products work. I was struggling to come up with a way to begin this series, and my good friend and fellow trainer Jim Smith shared this idea with me, and I’d like to share it with you.

“In order to remove soil and stains from carpets and fabrics, you need to change those soils to a free flowing nature. An example of something with a free flowing nature would be sand or water running through your fingers.

If soil behaves like sand, it can be readily vacuumed away. If stains behave like water, they can be blotted or extracted from the textile.

Where we need cleaning chemistry is where a soil or stain is not free flowing, but instead it is sticky or oily, and therefore no longer “free flowing”. Sticky can include, by the way, the process where electric charges hold very fine particles to fibers that otherwise resist vacuuming.

Once we understand what chemistry is needed to break those sticky or oily bonds away from the fiber surface, we can better choose what products are needed.

Stryker Cleaning & Extraction Wand

This new carpet cleaning wand is changing how carpet is cleaned! The primary reason that this tool was invented was to create a wand that minimizes repetitive stress issues with what used to be called "the trigger hand".

The Stryker eliminates two key stress areas in the following ways:

1. Solution Flow. On the Stryker wand, this is controlled by an ball valve that is activated by the left hand. This allows the right hand (or opposite if you are left handed) to simply push the wand.


2. Wand Use: The handle on the Stryker is designed to be used like a wood plane, or saw handle. This "straight push" design allows for easier movement of the arm, and eliminates the "45 degree" grip needed when the operators hand has to reach around a conventional wand tube and activate the solution valve.

In addition to these two ergonomic improvements, the design of the cleaning head enabled hot water to flow out of several small holes instead of jets, which means that the hot solution pours directly onto the carpet yarns, rather than allowing heat and pressure loss into the air.

Finally, the rotomolded body gives unimpeded airflow for better extraction and drying.

Try this wand out with our 30 day "no questions asked" money back guarantee!

Upholstery Pro Tool

This tool has changed the way that I clean upholstery, and it can for you too.

The Upholstery Pro is more than "just another dry tool". Instead it combines a shearing effect to keep cleaning solution from penetrating into fabric, along with a light weight design and a few never before used features that put this tool head and shoulders above the rest.

The features that make this tool so unique include its ability to use either a conventional "off on" trigger, or a "constant flow" design that only needs to be turned off when the fabric is vacuumed or the tool is moved. This enables the operator to have maximum solution flow control on delicate natural fibers when needed, and constant flow for increased heat and decreased fatigue on heavily soiled synthetics.

Perhaps the most overlooked feature is the design of the face of the tool that contacts the fabric. The rounded design and jetless flow has nearly eliminated cleaning tool marks and texture distortion during cleaning. This makes this tool ideal on microfibers, velvets, and chenille.

If you wish to try a tool that is easy to use, easy on textures, and yet aggressive enough to clean the most soiled fabrics, give the Upholstery Pro a try. As with any Pembertons purchase, you have the security of knowing that we will honor our 30 day, no questions asked, money back guarantee if you don't love this tool.

FAQs - Rust Colored Marks on Chenille

Q - Hey Lisa:

Here in the Orange County area I periodically come up against a problem with furniture covered using a "Chenille" fabric and my ability to clean it.

When the couch has "DOWN FEATHERS" filling in the cushions and, (depending on the age of the couch), during pre-inspection I see what appears to be orange or seemingly rust marks on the outside of the fabric.

I have been told by one of the local high end upholstery shops that it is the breaking down of the fire retardant (sprayed on the feathers), fabric protector and long term moisture in the air.

To date I explain but most normally walk away from those couches – Have you seen this before and do you have any suggestions on how to remove this discoloration?

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Lisa - Re: Chenille question

If I started out by sharing my opinion of chenille RUGS with you (which are sold at Pottery Barn, and shrink to about half their size when washed...) - we would have a long dissertation here. :)

As a fabric on upholstered furnishings, this type of tricky textiles needs advice from someone in that field. So I'm copying this to Jim Pemberton who is the best I know. (Jim and I are team teaching Aug. 6-7 in Vegas with a new program combining hands-on rug and fine fabric topics.)

JIM - any advice on this topic? Or explanation? Is this stenciling?

Please copy me... as I'd like to learn about it as well.

Lisa
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
A – from Jim Pemberton

Lisa Wagner asked that I comment on your questions on rayon chenille upholstery and the discoloration that you're seeing.

I'd like to have a digital picture to look at, but I think based on your report to Lisa, that I can make these conclusions:

1 - I doubt that its flame retardant. Flame retardant, when exposed to excessive moisture, usually leaves a white stain, not a brown one.

2 - I doubt that its fabric protector. The only discoloration that I've seen from some over applications of fabric protector has been yellow, not rusty-brown.

3 - Whatever the cause, I also doubt that its from within the cushion, as you did mention that the discoloration is at the tips of the yarns.

This is what I have seen in rayon upholstery, as well as draperies, that can cause this type of discoloration.

1 - Oxidized spills, especially those that are sugary or oily. These can start as clear and turn brown over time. I do NOT think this is your problem, as the discoloration should look like a spill.

2 - Reaction to cleaning agent residues. This isn't like the browning you see on unprocessed cotton, but the result is the same. You haven't indicated that you cleaned it, though, so I'm assuming its not that.

3 - Sizing: Water marks on rayon turn rusty brown when sizing is present. I doubt its that only because its usually seen as a ring, and I'm not convinced there would be a great deal of sizing used on chenille. However, based on the moisture you say might be present in the environment, it is a possibility.

4 - Oxidation from exposure to light and pollutants. This is what I believe to be the cause. You can see this sort of problem on draperies that are exposed to direct sunlight, humidity, and fumes.

Correcting the problem is problematic, as rayon is sensitive to both moisture and bleaches, as well as the fact that repeated clean and rinse processing will distort the hand of the fabric.

If you wish to try, I would use a neutral detergent and an mild, non chlorine bleach additive that contains sodium percarbonate. You can apply the solution in a mist, GENTLY agitate with a soft horsehair brush in one direction; allow about 20 minutes of dwell time, then extract with an acidic rinse agent, followed by fast drying.

I would hesitate to do this on location, especially as you mentioned the humid environment. Take this to a location where you can control the humidity and closely monitor your results.

Before you go to this trouble, you might consider testing a small area with fresh 3% hydrogen peroxide. If that doesn't work, the above formula likely will not.

Resist trying stronger concentrations of hydrogen peroxide, as these might weaken the fabric.

Let me know what comes of any tests or remediation processes that you attempt.

Best regards,
Jim Pemberton

Pets don't only contaminate carpet! Small pets often have "accidents" (some are "on purposes") on your customers' furniture. The processes used to treat furniture for animal odor are much like the processes that you use on carpet.

If cleaning and a surface application of deodorizer does not suffice, you can inject deodorizer into cushions. To distribute this deodorant throughout the cushion foam, put the cushion in a plastic bag and use your vacuum hose and extractor to draw the air out of the cushion in side of the bag. This will more evenly distribute the deodorizer that you've injected.

Note: Be sure to clean the cushion again afterward, as you very likely see watermarks appear on the cushion as injected deodorizer wicks to the surface.

If this measure is not sufficient, consider removing the cushion foam and using a sub surface extraction tool, such as the Water Claw Spot Lifter or the Flash Extractor.

In cases of extreme contamination, cushion foam might be better discarded and replaced.

Do not inject deodorizer into the body of a sofa or chair without a specific written release. Injecting deodorizing materials into the structure of a chair or sofa may cause materials or markers used beneath the fabric to bleed through and leave permanent stains.

Protector Failure -- Are You Guilty?

I have a strong belief that fabric protector is even more important for furniture than it is for carpet!

The nature of people's activities in their homes, along with the fact that a large percentage of upholstery is made from absorbent and difficult to clean natural fibers and blends make the need for the protection critical.

However, in your efforts to clean and protect fabrics, have you considered what you might do that keeps protector from working?

You should.

Here is an example.

This picture is of a fabric that was protected after cleaning. You should be able to clearly see how well the protector has worked.

Note, however, what happened in an area where a red dye stain remover was applied, and to the technicians point of view, rinsed out.

The protector was not able to properly bond this area that had a spotting agent residue.

Its arguable that the removal of an unsightly red dye is more important than fabric protection, but before applying a protector, think carefully about whether or not difficult to rinse residues might keep that product from performing.

FAQs - Cotton Denim-Like Fabric

Q – Hi Jim,

A customer has a sectional comprised of a light colored denim fabric. There are numerous baby formula spots on multiple panels.

I mentioned to the customer that there is a good likelihood that the spots will not be removable, but they would like me to try. I will burn test it, but, assuming it is cotton, I was thinking of trying either cool protein spotter (Zoop, or possibly Avenge or Perky spotter), letting it dwell for a few minutes, rinsing with Clean Rinse in my rinse solution, then force-drying with a blower.

What are your thoughts on this? I would appreciate any advice you would be willing to give.

----------------------------------------------------

A – From Jim . . .

Much of the outcome will depend on whether the fabric had a protector on it, how long the spots have been on the material, and if they tried anything first.

What color is "light color"? Dark denim, like jeans, loses color easily, and spotting often causes color loss. To be on the safe side, I'd follow this procedure:

• Precondition the entire fabric with Avenge Heavy Duty Prespray. It has a high enough pH to break protein bonds in most cases, especially if the furniture was protected.
• DO NOT apply it only in spots.
• Allow ten minutes of dwell time, and then extract with your Clean Rinse. You will take out some, if not all, of the spots. If any do remain, you can try the Zoop Enzyme Spotter, as it is very mild and unlikely to cause color loss. Also, if you apply it immediately after you rinse the fabric, the presence of moisture will prevent water marks.
• You can accelerate the Zoop by lightly steaming it with a steamer or iron, but hold the steam back and do not let the iron touch the fabric.
• Rinse again with the Clean Rinse and see what you have.

If any spots remain, you should get some sort of release. Once you are clear of liability, Protein Stain Spotter is one of the best baby formula spotters I've ever used, but it can pull color from natural fiber fabrics, so apply on a small amount at a time, and rinse it as quickly as possible.

If you have any before and after pictures, please send them!

Jim

Research Reveals Key Reason Why Carpet Cleaners Don't Clean Upholstery

"I've been engaged in an ongoing study about why cleaners don't make enough money cleaning upholstery to feel that its worthwhile to position themselves as an upholstery cleaning specialist.

Much of this attitude appears to come from the fact that, unlike carpet, its difficult to predict how long it will take to clean upholstery because of the wide variety of fibers used in the constructions, as well as the differences of durability of those constructions themselves.

I recently did a study on a chair made from a blend of rayon and polyester fibers, that was both heavily soiled and stained. The techniques used initially on this chair to clean it improved the appearance over the way it looked before professional cleaning, but the process took longer than most cleaners could afford to take on location, and results were still less than stellar.

Check my blog on Monday afternoon to see pictures of this chair, along with the improvement conventional on location techniques were able to give, and what processes were finally used to restore the chair to an almost “like new” condition.

Pet Odor Removal: The Right Tools Aren’t Always Enough!

The most important tools to enter our industry have been “sub surface extraction tools”, such as the Water Claw and Flash Extractor. With proper use of these tools, heavy spills that create wicking, as well as odor causing urine contamination, can often be removed from carpet and carpet cushion without the need to disengage the carpet.

Is It Magic?
Unfortunately, as with most new tools, many cleaners feel the tool alone is the answer. I recently received a question about urine odor treatment where the cleaner treated the urine odor with a high quality deodorizer, but not a product designed to remove urine contamination.

Even though he used the tool properly, the lack of using the right product resulted in failure to remove the odor.

When it makes sense to remove deep urine contamination by using the advantages of subsurface extraction, the product that you use is critical.

Remember These Facts:

• A conventional deodorizer works on odor, but does not remove the source.
• An enzyme deodorizer may remove the source, but requires hours if not days to work.
• The best product to use is one that using oxidation, such as Pet Zone or Occelerate.
  
  • These products work much like the non chlorine oxidizing boosters you might be using to boost carpet or upholstery pre-sprays, but also have an additive that makes them work MUCH quicker!

When mixing an oxidizing deodorizer, mix it in a watering can or open bucket, as the rapid oxygen release may burst your sprayer!

Pour the product liberally on the affected area, then extract with the subsurface extraction tool (Spot Lifter or Flash Extractor).

You will see yellow foam, then just foam, and after another application or two, you can use water and rinse till clear.

NOTE: DO NOT use this method when you have wood subfloor without pulling back the carpet and pad and placing plastic underneath. If you are working over concrete, no protection is necessary.

FYI - Hidden in the Ductwork

FYI - Hey Jim . . .

I just cleaned the ducts in a house I was preparing for a new tenant - and was I ever shocked! OH MY! I had cleaned the ducts last year as a practice job, so I had no idea I would find anything amiss.

However, after the practice job last year, I let a contractor into the house to do some remodeling. I felt it would make the house a better rental unit. But, what a mess he left hidden in the ductwork!

I guess registers make good dust pans when nobody is looking! It was a good training for my new employee. He had to make 3 passes in one duct!

The insulation pieces were flying around in the clear view vac box like crazy. Fun to watch, but certainly made me angry.

(People enjoy seeing the junk coming out of their ducts. Makes them feel the money is well spent, but this didn't make me too happy.)

Any how, he removed nails, saw dust, and even wood chunks. The filters in the system were plugged solid! Even a couple dead mice. Must have gone in there after some food they swept in there.

Dead though....hmm. Contaminated ducts must not be good for mice either!

FAQs - Acrylic/Modacrylic Fibers

Q - Hey Jim,
I got a couple of Acrylic/Modacrylic area rugs in yesterday. White back ground with colored polka dots.
Should I have any concerns?

A - from Jim P
Good question!

In my limited experience with acrylic rugs, I find some to be cheaply made, so do a thorough inspection to look for any weakness or preexisting damage. The PRC (China will always be "Red China" to me) makes cheap stuff, including rugs. I have had some non colorfast acrylic rugs that were manufactured in the PRC, so test the colors carefully, even though we usually think of thermoplastic synthetics as being colorfast.

You'll also find that if there is any wear or distortion, that you cannot readily fix it with grooming or steaming like you often can with wool or even silk.

Send me some pictures, front and back!
Jim

Q - comment from reader

Thanks Jim,

The rugs do not appear to be anything too special. Typical tufted rugs, just wondering about the modacrylic fiber characteristics.

Thanks again

A - from Jim P
OK, that being said, let me know a little more, if you can.
Tufted rugs can have their challenges, especially if cheaply made. They likely have very low value.
Jim

Q – comment from reader

Jim,

Here is what I observe . . .

As I said, the rugs are from China. There are two identical rugs. One for some reason is darker/dirtier looking. After cleaning, pet spots are almost gone, 99%, but the darker rug still looks darker. Neither was super soiled, but they just don't look any better except in the pet spotted areas.

On another note, I had a badly abused wool rug with numerous dye looking colored spots or medicine spots that didn't clean. I went back over with Stain Zone (I know, I know!) lightly. All responded beyond my expectations with no (visible) bad results.

Interesting how our industry has matured over the years to come up with so many specialty products to so easily fix things that were next to impossible except for the real spotting geniuses.

A - from Jim P

Hi again, and thanks for the updates.

You'll see I've now copied your emails to my mentor in "all things area rug related", Lisa Wagner. I think she'll have some insights regarding your Chinese acrylic rugs, though my guess is that she doesn't see them as having a very high value, and therefore that any further restoration likely exceeds the value of the rug.

But she never ceases to surprise me with her creativity and standards of excellence, so we'll see what she says.

Likewise using Stain Zone (stabilized 9% Hydrogen Peroxide Lisa, if you weren't sure) on wool.

Not a great idea, but if you can do it safely and not take on excessive liability, why not? My father was using peroxide back in the 60's, but since from the 60's to the late 80's most carpets were dark, most urine stains were bleach stains. In the last 20 years carpets are light, and the early stages of urine contamination are visible, and can be treated before dye damage occurs.

Jim

A-2 – comment from guest expert
From: Lisa Wagner
Subject: Re: Acrylic/Modacrylic

Jim is right that acrylic is really the bottom of the food chain... it's like trying to clean a styrofoam cup to make it all uniformly "white" again - the question "why bother?" comes up from all directions.

It is a very weak fiber - not as horrible as fake silk (rayon) but fake wool (acrylic) still has those concerns about too much agitation, and weakening from just about every corrective stain remover you could use.

With hydrogen peroxide on wool... yes you can improve some stains with that. Most rug plants do use this on certain stubborn stains - within reason, because it will create deterioration of the wool fibers as a result, so these areas will be weaker over time, and begin reflecting light differently, so as the rug ages, those areas you worked on will become more apparent. So it is a short term "win" with a long term consequence.

But - if the rug is not high value (i.e. an investment piece), from India or China, then this might not matter much. Actually, if it has urine stains on it, the rug even if valuable is no longer valuable... so it may be a moot point.

In these scenarios, I write on the invoice - "significant pet urine damage has permanently devalued the rug - we will attempt to lessen this damage with some corrective measures but will not be able to reverse what has been done by the pets."

Something along those lines. She needs to know her rug is less valuable - so if any work you do seems incomplete, or a different version of a problem, that she cannot come back and say YOU devalued her rug. You can damage a damaged rug, that's what I say.

So, protect yourself if you do any more work. I usually try one area, let them tell me if they want more done - give them the cost - and let them know that bleach/peroxide/stripping agents/whatever WILL damage the fibers. I make it their educated call on what they want done.

Hope that helps... please do send the acrylic photos. I hope your clients don't think they bought a wool rug, -- that would be sad.

Lisa

Understanding Fiber Families Key to Getting Better Results in Upholstery Cleaning

Cleaners who use a "one size fits all" approach to choosing upholstery cleaning products and procedures usually end up existing in a world where they skirt safety occasionally, and fall short on the best possible cleaning results most of the time.

This happens because of the fact that you can't clean "plants and hair" (cotton/linen/rayon and wool) like you do plastic (olefin, polyester, nylon, and acrylic).

The cleaning products and processes that clean one type well do not readily clean the other type well, regardless of safety issues.

Think of it this way: Natural fiber upholstery (plants and hair) absorbs water readily, and is usually stained by common spills and body discharges; it’s also sensitive to over-wetting.

Synthetic fibers (plastics) resist water based spills, but draw in oily soils and spills, whether from petroleum, vegetable, as well as animal oils or fats.

In our upcoming webinar on June 22, you'll learn which products and procedures best remove water based stains from natural fiber upholstery, and which ones help to remove oily soils from synthetic fibers.

I plan to share techniques that work and I promise that you will learn
“How to Get Dirty Upholstery Clean, and Get It Done Quickly”.

----------------------------------------
Join Jim Pemberton the evening of June 22nd for a 60 minute webinar co-sponsored by Bridgepoint and Mikeysboard where Jim will spell out the simple steps you can take and products you can use to clean upholstery both safely AND effectively.
----------------------------------------

Don’t miss this one! We will provide more details in upcoming issues of Pembertons CleanTip

May 28th FREE FRIDAY Tile & Grout Cleaning
June 25th FREE FRIDAY Successful Pet Urine Decontamination,
Deodorization, and Stain Removal.
July 16th BOOKED SOLID Seminar by Jeff Cross

Do You Have What it Takes to be an Upholstery Cleaning Specialist?

In January of 2007 I wrote an article for Cleanfax regarding the lack of true upholstery cleaning specialists in most market areas.

I was prompted to write it because of the number of furniture retailers who approached me for training so that they could handle skilled upholstery spotting, stain removal, and cleaning for their clients.

I want to be sure you understand this:
None of them have opened cleaning divisions as a profit center! Instead they had their delivery and repair staff trained and equipped to clean fabrics that their customers could not have taken care of anywhere else in their community.

Cleanfax recently reissued this article and sent it out over the internet. What surprised me was the amount of inquiries I received about how to be such a specialist in just one day after it hit!

As I pondered the questions that I have been asked, and reflected on what I’ve learned in the three years since I wrote that article, I’ve come to a conclusion that might make some of you uncomfortable:

You may NOT be able to be an upholstery cleaning specialist!

I do believe that, with one of the new “dry tools”, some specialty upholstery cleaning products, and a couple of days of training, that you can clean most fabrics safely (and at a profit).

But I am no longer convinced that simply working with such tools, products, and with the limited industry training available, that you can clean most fabrics EFFECTIVELY enough to be considered an “Expert” in your marketplace!

I also feel less convinced that every cleaner is willing to commit the resources of time and finance to take the cleaning of upholstery to that next level, and to effectively market the fact that they can and will offer this specialized service to their marketplace.

If YOU wish to make the commitment to go beyond a tool, a few products, and a few days of training and become the upholstery care specialist in your market place, stay in touch with us at Pembertons. We will be offering ways to help you make that next step very soon.

In-Plant Upholstery Cleaning

I recently taught an upholstery cleaning class where the class was given a wingback chair made of a rayon/polyester blend fabric that was heavily soiled. The upper inside back had a brown hair oil stain, and the cushions and arms were likewise heavily soiled and stained.

The class was able to improve the appearance of the chair dramatically, but not perfectly. And the process took an hour to complete. One student said: “How can you make money spending this much time cleaning one chair?” The answer is: You probably can’t, especially if some of the soiling and staining were still present, regardless of the fact that the overall improvement was dramatic.

I pondered this, and thought about some of the upholstery cleaning experts I’ve known in my life, and there is one thing that “the best of the best” of them had in common:

They cleaned heavily soiled natural fiber fabrics “in-plant”.

By taking such furniture from the customer’s home, they did incur higher labor costs of pick up and delivery, but they also then had the furniture in a controlled environment where there was a greater range of cleaning agent options, plus the ability to dry the furniture quickly with the use of both dryers and dehumidifiers. Mostly, there was also the ability to “touch up” the furniture after drying, do some minor scratch repair to wooden legs and trim, as well as apply polish the trim, do minor upholstery repair, and apply protector in more controlled setting for more even application and no fumes in the home.

With this in mind, I cleaned the chair two more times, and did some minor repair work.

The result is one that someone would likely pay three times as much for as the more limited job that could be done on location.

If you are already considering setting up a small rug cleaning plant, consider adding restorative cleaning of fine fabrics in-plant to your service mix. You may find what was once a frustrating and unprofitable part of your service offering to become one that is rewarding both financially and personally.

FAQs - Dull & Hazy Marble

Question -
Hey Jim,

I just cleaned some white marble, and it looks clean, but the traffic areas look dull and hazy, what do you have to clean that?
---------------------------------
Answer -
Good observation!

Those hazy areas are not likely dirt, but instead scratches where the tracked in gritty soil has damaged the marble. No matter how much cleaning that you do, you can't fix those scratches without polishing the marble.

Depending on the depth of the scratches, you'll either need to use industrial diamonds and a weighted scrubber, or at least the Spinergy pad system. Also, advise your customer that the higher the shine that they require, the more often you'll be back polishing out the scratches.

Simply put:
Marble in an ancient temple in Europe is white, but not reflective (sort of like chalk). That flat finish will not show scratches. If they want the marble to make a mirror type reflection, it can possibly show scratches in days.

FAQs - Water Stains on Carpet

Question: I have a commercial carpet with dark water stains that appeared after drying out a flood loss. Any tips on how to remove them?

---

Answer: Water stains are usually simply wicked soil. If the stains are brown or rust colored, they may also contain cellulose or mineral materials from the water itself or structural materials.

Some water stains may be removed with an acid based spotter, or mild reducing agent, such as would be found in Browning Treatment by Masterblend or Coffee Stain Remover by Bridgepoint. Severe water stains often come out more readily with the use of an oxidizer, however.

I worked on one such stain that was a dark rust color, and had defied every conventional removal process. I then tried a new product of ours, Groom Solutions Peroxicap. This unique product works primarily for use in encapsulation cleaning, but it also has peroxide in its formulation. By applying the product to the stained area and the surrounding carpet as well, then following with agitation with a rotary scrubber and encapsulation pad, every bit of the water stain was removed.

One of the above processes should work for you, depending on the severity of the stain and the equipment and products available to you.

FAQs - Does it Pay to Protect Polyester and Triexta?

There has been some discussion in our industry regarding or not polyester (PET) or triexta (PPT) require protector, and even if protector works on these fibers. While triexta is a new fiber, there is nothing in its make up to make us feel that the application of a fluorochemical protector, such as Scotchgard, Teflon, or Maxim would not help. These products protect against the primary soiling and staining problems that beset both triexta and polyester: Oily soils.

We have been able to conduct long term testing of polyester (PET) here at our training center. The polyester sample carpet was 20 years old, and obviously without any remaining factory protection. After cleaning, 3M Scotchgard (tm) and Bridgepoint Maxim Advanced were applied to opposite ends of the carpet, with the center left untreated.

The carpet was then put down in our repair shop, and rotated every day to make sure that the carpet soiled evenly. The carpet was also vacuumed every other day.

After 30 days, it was obvious that the two protected sides were resisting oily soil and spills, and that the untreated center was soiling more rapidly.

In 60 days, the carpet was thoroughly cleaned. Within another 30 days, the same degree of protection was still evident, as the treated areas continued to resist soil and spills, and the untreated areas did not.

As polyester (PET) becomes a larger percentage of the carpet you clean, you should feel free to apply fluorochemical protector to it. According to industry studies, it should remain on the carpet for about 12 months before it wears off.

FAQs - Acrylic / Cotton Upholstery Fabric

Question -

Subject: Acrylic/cotton upholstery fabric

At least that's what the Interior Designer said the fabric is according to her records on a chair I am to clean. It's red and off white. There is no place to cut a sample to test. -- This designer keeps all records so I trust what she sold her customer.

I'm thinking to treat it as a natural, should I use the shampoo made for problem wool rugs. I typically shampoo and steam/rinse. Otherwise I have foam solvent. There may be a slight chance I have cotton shampoo.

Tips?

Thanks
-----------------------------
Answer:
Subject: Acrylic/cotton upholstery fabric

Acrylic is the only synthetic fiber that I've known to bleed. I'd feel more comfortable with the Mastertech Shampoo than the cotton shampoo, as the red might fade from the reducing agent in the cotton shampoo. Foam Solvent Shampoo would even be safer (acid pH).

Do your rinse with Fabset or All Fiber Rinse with lukewarm water, dry it fast, and you should be fine.

Do a color test of course.

Jim

FAQs - "Triexta" Carpet

Question -
Hey Jim,
Do these new "Triexta" carpets clean better than the regular polyesters? The dealers seem to think it's the new miracle carpet fiber!

Answer -
Glad you asked about this new fiber.

Following my comments is a press release you should read & keep a copy.

But first, just why is this press release of importance to you, the carpet cleaner? Simply this: "Triexta", often marketed under the Mohawk brand name "Smartstrand ™", has and is promoted as a "new and better" carpet fiber. While this product is partly made from sustainable resources, and has been claimed to have superior resiliency than the original "PET" polyester fiber, it is important to note that no claims of superior oil resistance are being made for this product.

You should, of course, work as closely as possible with any manufacturer's directions if asked to clean a carpet while its under warranty, but do not be overly enthusiastic about stain resistance claims made about this product.

It is true that "Triexta" has superior WATER BASED stain resistance, and that even stains that contain dyes may be easier to remove, but there is no evidence that this product is any less oil loving than "PET" (polyester). For that reason, you may need to use preconditioning agents designed to break the oil bonding that occurs with such fibers before you can successfully clean this carpet, or any other oil loving carpet such as “PET” (polyester).

Feedback on your experience with this new fiber and how it has responded to professional cleaning is welcome.

PRESS RELEASE:
A New Carpet Fiber!

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued a final rule, effective March 26, 2009, that establishes the subclass name triexta as an alternative to the generic name polyester for a subclass of polyester fibers made from poly(trimethylene terephthalate).

The petitioners who sought this designation stated that PTT fiber, while having the same general chemical composition of polyester, has distinctive features of durability, resilience, softness and ability to stretch with recovery that make it significantly more suitable than conventional polyester for carpet and apparel.

The FTC has concluded that each of the four criteria for creating a new generic fiber subclass have been met:

1. PTT has the same general chemical composition as an established generic fiber category


2. PTT has distinctive properties that make it suitable for uses for which other fibers under the established generic name would not be suited or would be significantly less well suited


3. These properties are important to the general public


4. These properties are the result of a new method of manufacture or PTT’s substantially differentiated physical characteristics.

(Source: Centexbel website, www.centexbel.be)

Question

Hey Jim,

Do these new “Triexta” carpets clean better than the regular polyesters? The dealers seem to think it’s the new miracle carpet fiber!

Answer:

Glad you asked about this new fiber.

Following my comments is a press release you should read & keep a copy.

But first, just why is this press release of importance to you, the carpet cleaner? Simply this: “Triexta”, often marketed under the Mohawk brand name “Smartstrand ™”, has and is promoted as a “new and better” carpet fiber. While this product is partly made from sustainable resources, and has been claimed to have superior resiliency than the original “PET” polyester fiber, it is important to note that no claims of superior oil resistance are being made for this product.

You should, of course, work as closely as possible with any manufacturer’s directions if asked to clean a carpet while its under warranty, but do not be overly enthusiastic about stain resistance claims made about this product.

It is true that “Triexta” has superior WATER BASED stain resistance, and that even stains that contain dyes may be easier to remove, but there is no evidence that this product is any less oil loving than “PET” (polyester). For that reason, you may need to use preconditioning agents designed to break the oil bonding that occurs with such fibers before you can successfully clean this carpet, or any other oil loving carpet such as “PET” (polyester).

Feedback on your experience with this new fiber and how it has responded to professional cleaning is welcome.

PRESS RELEASE:

A New Carpet Fiber!

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued a final rule, effective March 26, 2009, that establishes the subclass name triexta as an alternative to the generic name polyester for a subclass of polyester fibers made from poly(trimethylene terephthalate).

The petitioners who sought this designation stated that PTT fiber, while having the same general chemical composition of polyester, has distinctive features of durability, resilience, softness and ability to stretch with recovery that make it significantly more suitable than conventional polyester for carpet and apparel.

The FTC has concluded that each of the four criteria for creating a new generic fiber subclass have been met:

1. PTT has the same general chemical composition as an established generic fiber category

2. PTT has distinctive properties that make it suitable for uses for which other fibers under the established generic name would not be suited or would be significantly less well suited

3. These properties are important to the general public

4. These properties are the result of a new method of manufacture or PTT’s substantially differentiated physical characteristics.

(Source: Centexbel website, www.centexbel.be)