[Graham Rogers]

Hi there I was looking for some advice please.

We have got an office and last Winter when it was freezing outside our washing machine couldn't drain as the pipe was frozen. All the dirty water from the washing machine came out and flooded our office floor which has carpet tiles. As we run an oven cleaning business and we were washing dirty rags we use in for oven cleaning the dirty water had a large grease content. When the water had dried there was a large black stain across a third of the carpet.

We had the carpets cleaned about four months ago by a guy with a van outside and a long pipe into the office - so I think you call it a truck based machine. It looked good when he finished.

Now however large black patches on the grey carpet floor - really much the same after the flood had dried out.

How do we get this clean? We are in Bristol if someone knows someone who could fix it.

Thanks

Graham

[paul wallace]

its called wick backmate!not enough airflow between thewand and the carpet, the cleaners should of gone over it with a bonnet system, and that would of rectified this problem

[Carpet Dawg]

Shake and vac it! sorry a personal joke...

Personaly this myth about wick back being created when using hwe on low profile carpets needs to be put to rest!

For instance, i demo cleaned an area of low profile carpet 5 weeks ago in a health center. I later found it it was carpet tiles (it was that minging!) these tiles where 10 years old and never been cleaned, apart from vaccing. And bear in mind that its a very busy health practise open 6 days a week! Infact, the day i did the demo, the manager choose the worse traffic lane that had stains that looked like coffee or coke on it!
Anyways, this 8m x 3m area that i cleaned came up like new! Fast forward 5 weeks +, I went round yestarday to actualy measure up and quote and that area is still clean! Even tho people where walking on it once i left!

I could go on and mention other times where i get great, long lasting results with low profiles using nothing more than hwe but i cant be bothered lol

So riddle me that vlm'ers and lm'ers alike!?

I think its down to the person behind the wand and possibly the chems used.

So to answer your question Graham, crap technician and probably left the carpet too wet.

[The Great One]

Hi

Hmm, that's weird, wick back was explained to me on my prochem course 7 years ago, don't remember them being LM,ers though :

Martin

[Gary Webber]

Hi Graham,

We are based in Bristol and can probably fix this for you. If you would like us to have a look, give me a call on 01173250087

Regards

Gary
Advantex

[robert meldrum]

Paul Wallace

I sincerely hope this is not an example of how you'd communicate with a prospective customer.

[benny d]

Not "mate"... but "Sir" , or Mr Rogers.  :
Robert Saunders would have had a fit!

[Neil Williams]

*We had the carpets cleaned about four months ago
*Now however large black patches on the grey carpet floor -

Are we sure this is wick back?
4 months ago and now they look like they did before. If there was wick back you'd have known within days not months. I'm more inclined to think that these have just got dirty again because all the grease wan't removed in the first place or either alkaline detergent wasn't rinsed out correctly.

[Graham Rogers]

Hi guys,

Thanks very much for the info although I didn't really understand the technical bits.

I'll contact Gary and see if what he can do.

Thanks very much appreciated.


Graham

[martin19842]

hi there

i ight tend to go with Neil suggestion about the detergent not being rinsed out properly, therefore leaving a dry but potentially sticky carpet, that attracts more dirt.

the other thing that may need to be considered is the sub floor, what is it ?? are there any courses of moisture, etc ??

regards

martin

[Peter Blackburn]

Graham,

Filthy low profile carpets such as the tiles you have in your office cannot be successfully cleaned using Hot Water Extraction. This is the method your truck mounted guy used.
He has however done nothing wrong in the eyes of this profession, as this is the most practiced method for cleaning these types of carpets. This is Incorrectly practiced by millions on a daily basis. Most don’t see the wick back after the clean as this happens gradually over a long drying period and is made worse with foot traffic.

The tiles need to be removed and marked in order of removal for ease of re-fit. The backing needs to be checked for suitability. They need to then be submersed in mild ph cleaning solution suitable for 5th generation fibres for a while to suspend the soil and emulsify staining. The tiles then need to be blasted with a power wash to remove the ground in dirt. Once dry they can be re-fitted in order of removal using good adhesive such as STK100.
Hope this helps

Regards
Pete

[Carpet Dawg]

Peter, how do you explain my example of the medical practise that i mentioned in the post above?

[stuart_clark]

Hello there Mr rogers, Paul wallace was very correct in what he said with regard to wickback, its a common problemwith low profile carpet tiles and hot water extraction cleaning, and low moisture cleaning in your situation would of been a better choice, but you were not to know that! , we have a national contract with a well known optical group and clean many thousand of square feet of this type of carpet on a weekly basis, so i do feel qualified than some others in our profession to make this statement
Best regards Stu Clark

[robert meldrum]

Peter Blackburn

Are you serious...........by the time youve got halfway through the job your charges would be higher than buying NEW.

[Peter Blackburn]

Tony,
Yes I don’t doubt what you’re saying but normally low profiles that have been neglected by lack of vacuuming and also had everything under the sun spilt on them cannot be properly cleaned using HWE nor surface bonneting. LM is a quick fix to the problem, within 1month they will look just as bad if not worse than they did.

Robert,

Nowhere near the cost of supplying and fitting new ones. Yes the cost is more than a standard clean but your client will understand this. Removal is very quick and can be stacked in order of removal, submersed in order of removal and power washed and restacked in order of removal, The re-fit involved no cutting, just gluing back. It’s a very quick process.
Larger offices are done sections at a time and we leave trip hazard signs on the un-laid floor.


Peter