Advice About Carpet, Rugs and Upholstery Cleaning and Stain Removal
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by Jason Neale
About Stain Removal:
How are stains removed from carpets, rugs and upholstery? This is a job best left to a company that specialises in removing stains. A good carpet cleaning company would be able to do this. But they must have a good understanding of the different carpet types and know what cleaning solutions can be used on them.
With the correct knowledge, almost any mark can be removed. But there are some marks that will leave a permanent stain. This is called a set stain and it is caused when the colour of the fabric has been removed or replaced by the spill. This usually happens when the stain has been left for too long. Any mark or spill in the house needs to be treated as soon as possible. This will allow for the best outcome.
When a spill has occurred, the best thing to do is blot up the mark with a white towel as much as you can. Then, using a damp cloth try and remove as much of the remaining mark as possible. Then, call a carpet cleaner to totally remove the mark.
Most stains can be removed using water. But knowing whether to use hot or cold water is the key. Most people go straight for the hot water, but this is not the best thing to do for all stains. Using hot water on certain types of marks will lock the stain in and make it very hard to remove.
What a carpet cleaning company would do first is a dry vacuum. It will remove as much of the initial stain as possible. The type of stain and the type of carpet or upholstery the stain is being removed from will determine on the cleaning product to be used and whether to use hot or cold water to extract it.
The most common stains are red wine, white wine, cordial, red cordial, vomit and paint. All of these can be a challenge to remove. Thus, remember that prompt action is what is required to successfully remove stains from carpets, rugs and upholstery.
Calling your local carpet cleaning company is the best thing to do when a problem arises with a stain because they carry specialised cleaning solutions and also has the right equipment to extract it correctly.
Upholstery Cleaning:
Choosing a company with experience in all aspects of upholstery cleaning reduces the risk of damage being caused. With all the different new fabrics that lounge suite are made from today, it can be a minefield to know what the correct cleaning method is. Some sofas cannot be steam cleaned as the colours may run, so doing a test piece before any cleaning starts is very important. There are too many cleaning companies these days that don’t do test pieces before proceeding with the clean.
If a lounge suite can’t be steam cleaned, then a dry clean or low moisture clean can be done. When doing this type of clean on upholstery, it is very important to follow the manufactures cleaning instructions so that the colours don’t run into each other. Some fabrics these days are not colour fast before they are used, so the first time a steam clean is done can make all the colours run. Once this happens, the fabric is ruined and can only be recovered or thrown out.
Rug Cleaning:
Rug cleaning can also have its problems if the correct cleaning solutions are not used. Doing a test on the rug before the cleaning starts will limit the risk of burning the fabric. It is also important to know whether the rug is made from a manmade material or wool. If it is a woollen rug, only certain cleaning solutions with a lower pH level can be used or damage can result. Lots of rugs these days have many bright colours in them. To bring these colours back out after the cleaning process, a product with optical brighteners should be used.
It’s always best to hire the services of a professional rug cleaning company that has experience in cleaning the different materials that rugs are made from today. When cleaning rugs, it is also important not to get the backing wet as this can stain the flooring underneath it. If a rug is sitting on a wooden floor, the staining can come out of the timber and permanently stain the backing of the rug and eventually that stain can come through to the top side and stain the surface.
Carpet Cleaning:
Carpet cleaning can make a house look and feel clean again. Choosing a cleaning company that takes pride in their work and pays attention to detail is the key to a good steam or dry clean. It’s the little things in a carpet clean that makes the end job look good. These little things are making sure the edges are properly pre vacuumed and the cleaning machine gets right up to the edges. If the edges of carpets are left, it can make the whole job look bad, so attention to detail is very important.
Before applying any carpet cleaning solutions, a good inspection of all the rooms to be cleaned should first be done. This will determine if any spot cleaning of stains is to be done prior to starting the cleaning. After this, a shampoo is applied. When spraying the shampoo onto a carpet, it is very important to get right up to the skirting boards. The shampoo should also be applied in an even manner. By doing this, a cleaner is allowing all of the carpet to have the same treatment rather than some parts potentially being missed.
If any parts of the carpets have been missed when applying the cleaning solutions, it will show up at the end of the job and look very uneven. Thus, it’s very important to know how to correctly apply the shampoo. Once the cleaning solution has been applied, it should be left for about 10-20 minutes to dwell. This will give the product time to act on the marks and help to remove the dirt from the traffic areas. This step can be helped by using a rotary spinning pad to agitate the carpet fibres.
If a rotary pad is used, it will give the carpet a much deeper clean. This is because the rotary pad is spinning and isolating at the same time. This effect moves the carpet fibres in all directions, at the same time as massaging the cleaning solution into the fibres. This method also helps to release the in ground dirt that is found at the base of carpet.
Once the carpet has been agitated, it can then be extracted. This will remove the dirt and the cleaning solutions used, leaving a clean and fresh carpet once more. Carpets should be cleaned every 12 months to help keep down the build-up of bacteria and prevent permanent stains from forming.
