[benny d]

Unfortunatly I didnt take photos. I thought it would dry ok.

Cleaning a lounge carpet two days ago, as I was using the wand on the end of the TM. I had pre sprayed with Ultrapak Renovate and aggitated. As I was cleaning in certain areas it seemed to bring up dark underlying stained areas. Also in another part, there was an arc of shade, but I could tell using the wand that the floorboard dipped very slightly so  leaving a dark arc. I saw it at the time, but didnt mention it to the owner, believing that the area would dry out.

She called today, saying about these areas, and I told her of the dipping. She said perhaps the wand had had a leak, which was definatly not the case. I said I had done nothing differently there than the other carpets also done in the same property. Which is true.

Also if you bring it to the custys attention at the time, they are still going to point the finger at you?

Based on this, any idea as to what has occured?
Thanks, Ben

[wayne zabel]

I cleaned a carpet a few weeks ago that was cream when i presprayed it areas of dark patches/stains/spots appreared all of a sudden all over the carpet.I nearly died as I thought Id done something wrong.

It transpired that the guy had had the ceiling replastered a month or so before and patches of plaster had fallen on the carpet and dried back to exactly the same shade as the carpet and was completely unoticable until the prespay rewet  the plaster.

Could yours be a similar occurance???

I dont know what the carpet was like after drying,the guy just said he would try to scrape up the plaster when the carpet was dry.

[Neil Williams]

Ben what type of carpet was it?
Underlying stains will become darker once a liquid comes into contact with it but if flushed out correctly will be fine once dry (preferably the sooner the better to prevent wickback).
Arc of shade - pile distortion?

If there's an issue I always bring it to the customers attention, it's better to discuss it then rather than doing a 'runner' in the hope it will all be ok. Which if it isn't is only going to look dodgy to the customer.

Wayne. If you have a peice of carpet to experiment with dry rubbing some dirt into it. If you can't see the dirt then good, because now spray it with water and you will see the darkness appear where the dirt is.

[Simon Gerrard]

This is always a tricky one. From the customers perspective it wasn't like that before you started, so therefore it must be our fault. What they don't take into account  is that there may be an underlying reason for the problem which cleaning the carpet has merely brought to light. The most logical way of dealing with it is to point out that you treated the whole carpet identically, so if you had done something wrong all of the carpet would be the same and as it is not that surely points to some other cause. How dirty was the carpet? The reason I ask is that cleaning dirty carpets obviously flushes the majority of the dirty out and thereby brightens it, but the dirty may have been masking the problem, like a deep set stain that hasn't come out and because the surrounding carpet is so much brighter, that area stands out.
It may seems silly, but check it isn't a shadow!

Simon

[Steve Chapman]

If the floor is uneven its possible if the carpet is rubber or foam backed that it has worn prematurely and the cleaning is dragging it through the carpet,

Had this a few times myself and is the sort of thing that only comes to light with wet cleaning


Regards
Steve

[Jim_77]

My first thought similar to Steve's suggestion.  If the floor boards are uneven, at the 'angle' where the two boards meet, foot traffic might have caused the underlay to have crumbled, and also stressed the back of the carpet to allow more air flow through it.  You could have been dragging up bits of underlay dust into the top of the carpet, or just general crud from underneath it all.

If possible you could maybe lift the carpet, put a waterproof tarpaulin or similar between the carpet & underlay (to block airflow) and then re-clean.  Bit of a faff but might do the trick?

Do you have a set of standard terms & conditions supplied along with your quotes?  Your T&C's should have some sort of disclaimer referring to underlying faults that could not be known to you prior to cleaning.  Then you're watertight.

[benny d]

Thanks for all your replies.
It's possible that I will go round early next week to take a look, and possibly re do the area.

The carpet did look perfectly fine before, and I was surprised as to what was happening, not seen anything really like it before. The rest of the same room, dining end and 'tv' end looked like new, so I said, which was true that the iffy area was done in exactly the same way as the other ends.

On a side note -

Has anyone heard of Les Fletcher, who possibly used to have a cleaning business quite a few years ago. He told me thats what he used to do, and had a lot of staff etc etc.
I had some slight doubts about the situation before I did the cleaning. Possibly I have been set up? Perhaps knowing that the carpet was dodgy at those points before I started.?I have no proof, but when I asked where did you get my number, leaflet of YP etc, he couldnt really tell me. And a few other things I dont want to write here.

[wmidsgw]

Ben

As Jim as already mentioned I would place  some waterproof material under the 'affected areas' if at all possible......this will prevent any further 'draw through' of  contaminents. You can now concentrate on cleaning those stained areas without any further interference from forces beneath. I would make sure it's completly dry before leaving using towels / driers.

Best of luck
Gordon