I Browned a White Sofa!

Q: Hey Jim:
I recently cleaned a white cotton sofa and had a browning problem!
I preconditioned with a neutral prespray and a neutral shampoo, rinsed with an acid rinse, and then applied a water based protector that is made for upholstery. I also used a "dry tool" to do the cleaning ... why did it brown?

A: You used all the "right stuff".
However, the problem was likely caused by the fact that (#1) you used dual preconditioning steps, (2nd) you added the rinse, (3rd) then you added the water based protector! All this resulted in just too much moisture. Running additional fans, or using only one preconditioning step might have helped.

However, consider this . . .
The key to preventing browning in heavily soiled white natural fiber fabrics starts with pre-qualification: Anything highly soiled that might require extra preconditioning can brown, so the customer needs to be advised of this, as well as reaching an understanding that the necessary additional steps to correct browning will result in a higher price or charged for as an additional service if browning does occur, (rather than have you fix it for free later) as well as resulting in an unhappy customer.

You also should consider cleaning heavily soiled white natural fiber fabrics in plant.
In a controlled environment, you can precondition, rinse, dry, then start over again rather than try to "do it all at once", which contributes to over wetting and the risk of browning.

Likewise, you can wait for the fabric to completely dry and then apply the protector, when you work in a controlled, in plant environment.

I will present the correction process for a fabric browned in this fashion in our next Clean Tip.