[moc]

HI lads.. Encountered a slight problem doing a domestic job today. Beige wool carpet (what else..) all rooms, was going along fine cleaning nicely until about half way through, to my disbelief the carpet started actually getting dirtier as I was doing it. It wasnt too dirty at all to begin with, but it got really dirty (as if i was spraying dirty water on). I tried another part of the room and it was fine, then another part again and same thing happened. At this point I had to stop and tell the customer there was a problem with the machine and I would have to return to finish the job. The section that I did is definitely worse than before and needs to be fixed. The machine seems to be fine, full suction power & the solution being sprayed out was clean. The carpet is relatively new. Im thinking possibly something to do with the (concrete) floor under it.....upstairs was fine (wooden floor underneath).  I'm going to try Ultrapac renovate.. but if there is dirt coming up through the carpet wont do much good...  I've been cleaning carpets 3 years and never saw this before.. Any ideas?

Thanks
Mick

[Mark Lane-Matthews]

Hi Mick
What is the construction of the carpet?do you pre-vac,Do you pre-spray and agitate?How wet is the carpet and what is the spec of your machine?

                                                 Cheers Mark

[stevegunn]

Wool does not like ultrapac renovate

[Derek_Walker]

Hi Mick,

The problem could be due to soil & grit in the traffic lane area's which you are pulling up to the surface as mud with your wet extraction process. The solution would be to vacuum thoroughly when the carpet is dry to remove the soil, then extract again.

Another possibility could be the presence of a dog. The oil & dander from the skin will be pulled to the surface, it is normally a reddish colour. Try slowing down with the wand for a better rinse and give it plenty of dry strokes.

You may also want to go over it with a rotary machine and bonnet mop if you have one.

Derek

[*paul_moss]

Easy one to sort out.
VAC, VAC and Vac again.
Then clean and extract.
Just incase its not dry soilage have a quick check of the underlay.

[moc]

Thanks guys.. 

Mark..
carpet is shag pile wool or wool mix. I do pre-vac, pre-spray & agitate, of course! It was just bit damp, did plenty of dry strokes, was almost dry before i left. My machine is a steemeasy 400

Derek..
They have a dog indeed.. 2 in fact. Lots of dog hair & pee. Whats oil & dander? from the skin of the dog? Although it was more brown than red. on the part that wasnt dirty, it seemed to have just darkened/dulled the colour (im not talking about a huge area here just a few square feet, i stopped rather than continue!)

Possibly just really ground in dust/dry soil then? Doesnt easily move by dry vac!? I'll thoroughly vacuum again and extract again and see how it goes. If no joy I'll try the rotary..

[*paul_moss]

Moc
What type of Vac you using?

[Jeremy]

You mentioned that this is only occurring on the concrete floor base and not the wooden base.

Could this not be alkaline browning due to a woollen carpet being laid on a newly screeded concrete floor, with a poor quality underlay.

Try going over the carpet again (just a small section) using something like Prochem all fibre rinse or (my own solution) plain water with acetic acid to drop the PH to about 4.

Regards
Jeremy

[Damian]

Hard to say without seeing it, but it does sound like browning to me too

Regards

Damian.

[craigp]

i cleaned a carpet once that had a spillage of black soot from when the builders had done a loft conversion, it was a very high quility cream wool carpet, when i started to clean it went black in dry form the soot had been vaced by customer but as its disturbed the other half of soot falls to bottom of pile, you need to dry vac lots first but you cant get it all up, you just have to let it get worse before it gets better

to me sounds like this is simular to the prob you have.

[Robert Watson]

"The carpet is relatively new. I'm thinking possibly something to do with the (concrete) floor under it"

That's my worry, is it a new build? If it is, then there's a fair chance they have been too lazy to clean up properly

Hope you get to the bottom of it.
Good Luck
Rab

[Damian]

Craigp-had a similar prob today with draught edging marks. It just got blacker until eventually it pulled clear and clean If this is what you are encountering moc, it might be an idea to put a powerbrush over it to agitate the pile?

[moc]

paulmoss..I use an ordinary numatic hoover (the new ones are henry)..does the job fine normally but maybe need something stronger for this..

Jeremy.. Yeah its concrete downstairs & wood upstairs. I did try going over it again with fibre&fabric rinse but there was no improvment 

Rabby.. Yep its a new house... couple months old id say.. floor maybe not sealed properly.. Whats puzzling me is that the same thing is not happening in all parts of the carpet.. within the one room..

Thanks everyone for your posts, I'll be going back on saturday so I will post back!
 

[STEVE PARKIN]

17 years in the biz seen it loads. due to poor vacuuming by the client, extract, pass over areas as many times as u can dry, follow with pre-spray containing shampoo and solvent addative, pad with rotary machine, this usualy gets rid

[calmore]

paulmoss..I use an ordinary numatic hoover (the new ones are henry)..

Numatic do a power brush thingumy that goes on the end and has rotating brushes. Only about £30 iirc.

[Paul_Ashworth]

why not buy a sebo BS36 excellent hover, really brings the pile up and has excellent suction

[moc]

Was fine, nothing too serious, must've been just soil at bottom of pile. Relieved to see that it didnt look bad at all today. That was the first time i had actually seen dirt appearing as i cleaned! 4 males sharing the house so that explains the poor vacuuming! Gave a good vacuum again and quick rotary shampoo, nice 'n clean now. Thanks for all the posts, as i know its hard to tell when you cant actually see the problem 

[Damian]

Glad its turned out ok for ya moc