[cannon]

Been to quote today where the woman showed me various smallish black spots that she says reappeared a few weeks after the last company cleaned her carpet.

Been thinking tonight and my grandmother is complaining of the same thing, she says she cleans and gets rid of them only for them to reappear a few weeks later. I really should clean her carpet shes been asking me for 3 month 

What is the likely cause of this?

[Joe H]

Residue from previous cleans ie if they using Astonish/Vanish or the previous cleaner has used high ph and not flushed well.

Go and flush, clean with non detergent ie Nemesis/MPower, then flush well

[Simon@arenaclean]

Two likely answers.

1)There is detergent residue in the carpet, in general terms the soap or treatment has not not been rinsed with a stabiliser like an acidic rinse or plain water. Any residue left will remain 'sticky' attracting soiling thus creating a 'new' stain. If you are treating stains or re-soiling rinse first with clean water to remove residue from previous treatments and bring to your customers attention any lightened areas or discoulourations before you treat it. The most common household one is vanish which can bleach so beware. Poor carpet cleaning techniques can cause re-soiling on a larger scale, always ask if the carpet has been cleaned before and use defoamer.

2) Wick back. This is when a stain has been treated but only the surface staining is removed. As the carpet dries the stain will be drawn up the pile as it dries by cappillary action, like a sponge. The solution is to inspect the pile to make sure there is nothing left in the depth of the pile. As a follow up it is of course possible there is a small stain on the top of the pile but the backing may harbour a much more serious problem. This can happen with ink and blood amongst other things. Sometimes lifting the carpet can be only way to discover a larger problem.

Hope that helps.

[Simon@arenaclean]

Joe beat me to it.

[Griffus]

Sounds like wick back.

The worst case I saw of this, prior to a clean, was caused by a toddler dripping water from her 'anti-spill' cup over a number of months. Trails of dark spots could be seen all over.

It took a short while to work out, but after a chat with Mom it seemed the only possibility. The irony was that they only allowed her water when out of here high chair so as to avoid staining the carpet with spillages 

Pre-Sprayed with Multi-Pro, Rinsed with F & F rinse, turbo dried and all stayed nice, no doubt the anti-spill cup has done it's worst ever since  :.

[cannon]

Well i think i think i must be getting the hang of this carpet cleaning  

Thats pretty much how i handled it, asked if they reappeared soon after (wick back) she said was a few weeks so i explained about residues. I also said it could be soft drink spill etc that wasnt fully removed by last cleaner and is attracting soils.

Just wanted to clarify if i had been right in what i was telling her.

She wasnt going to have them cleaned again thought she would be wasting her money.

Thanks for the replys