[Steve Chapman]

Hi all,

Just looking for opinions on how you would deal with this carpet disaster, i have my own idea of what i will do, just interested in your approach to it,


A customer has spray painted his fridge with black car paint in his lounge and didnt cover the floor very well, and consequently a large pattern of overspray covering about 2 mtr square has been left on the carpet, plus there are some footprints where he walked in it afterward ( yeah I know  : )

The carpet is a fairly new 80/20 and is in a very large lounge, so replacing will be expensive,
The paint is not deep into the carpet and mostly a light spray, but carpet is a biscuit colour so contrast is quite high,

I dont think cost will be problem,

What would you do to rectify ?  or would you just decline,

Sorry no pictures as i quickly had a look over bank holiday when not working.


Regards
Steve

[Carpet Dawg]

Have you done a spot test to see if it you get any colour transfer on to a towel Steve?

I'd try that before saying yay or nay to the client. If it doesn't come out offer to write him a letter on letter headed paper for his insurers and charge for that.

The strongest solvent stain remover i could get my hands on would be the weapon of choice for me. Followed by HWE (the whole room may need doing)

I did a enamel paint removal a couple of months ago with citrus get, came out nice.

Infact thats a question i have. I currently use POG, citrus gel and white spirit. Is there more powerful solvents out there? I hear that Craftex have a good one?

Tony

[M.Acorn]

I did the same with a bonnet in my kitchen  But by the time the paint hit the carpet it was dry,just had black spots all over it where it had stuck to the greasy spots.
I just cleaned using power burst,but in your situ I would use a solvent,or as a last resort thinners ? Or very last resort nitromoors on cotton wool swabs and rinse

[Steve Chapman]

The paint does seem to shift with white spirit, albeit very slowly,

The problem is the sheer volume of the overspray, you'd be there for a very long time if you did it by hand, thats why im wondering if its viable ?

The other problem i see is the use of too much solvent on the carpet could cause some damage to it and it looks like it would need a fair bit to shift it.


Steve

[John Kelly]

Basically why would you want to bother. I used to get involved in jobs like this but soon learnt it just wasn't worth the hassle. Rather be cleaning Mrs Smiths nice resonably clean carpet with a cuppa and choccy biscuit.

[Mike_Roper]

Ditto, John,
A fairly new 80/20 will pill trying to get that out ,then it could become your problem !. Yes people can turn t round like that. The only claim I've had was when the ladies son had been woking on his car thn walked over the lounge carpet leaving oly footprints . The carpet had just been fit . Explained the prblem ith pilling  but didnt put in writting . Gently removed with citrus gel and rinse. Came out geat but very slight pilling- to cut alohg story short my insurance paid out £2500 . She went on holiday , carpet stayed down. I know cos I cleand it a number f times for the next owners .Nosign of pilling once carpet used abit !
Lesson learn't
Mike   

[markpowell]

dont even bother wasting your diesel mate
mark

[Hilton]

If the paint overspray was light and sitting on the top of the pile, we would have used carpet shears and taken the tip off, unfortunetly our carpet shears were stolen a while back and we have not been able to replace them as the suppliers went under.

Cracking bit of kit but rarely used and you have to be trained on them otherwise you could set them to the wrong depth and take a nice chunk out of the carpet. Not that I ever did this  

We would have charged around £200 for this carpet and it would have taken a couple of hours all in.

By carpet shears I dont mean the little knapping Shears but a hand held shearing machine called a TS120

[Steve Chapman]

Why bother indeed 

I have told myself this, but there is alot of commercial work riding on whether i come up trumps, so am thinking about at least giving it my best shot.

I was thinking of using a rotary to bonnet with the bonnets sprayed with solvent to break down and reduce the majority of paint then try and hwe after to neutralise the carpet,

Can any one see any problems with this before I go ahead ?, ( I will obviously get a disclaimer signed to be on the safe side ),


Regards
Steve

[Steve Rothwell]

I can see a major problem.....................

the solvent could dilute the black spots, and make them into one very large faded black mess.

You need to be very very careful, and make sure that the paint does not spread.

A faster than normal speed rotary may be better than the usual 150 rpm.

but think about it before diving in.

[Simon Gerrard]

I would leave it well alone. The problem with this kind of situation is that the moment you take on the job you also take ownership of the outcome. Sometimes these things can look a lot worse than when you started and the blame for that will fall upon you and YOUR insurance company. Obviously these people aren't covered for accidental damage or they would have claimed so you and your insurance company could be the next best thing.
Simon

[craig partridge]

Lots of commercial work riding on it??

What so if you can't do the impossible you don't get other work? Nice guy!

Be careful some people like to suggest lots of work maybe to come just to get a cheap price or you to do a job they know you might not want.

If you do it make it pay, ask for 140 odd, don't do it as a favor.
 

Good luck.

[craig partridge]

Oh also I agree with Simon 

Don't take on HIS problem, it'll end up your problem, I'd walk.

[John Kelly]

Must be a tight git if he's spray painted his fridge

[jasonl]

My step son decided to spray his plastic airfix type submarines in black matt paint on our new lounge carpet with no newspaper last year, he was 23 at the time!

I cleaned it and it came up fine.


How I would deal with it .

This would be in 2 distinct phases ,

Damage management phase  then the cleaning phase.

For the damage management phase , I clearly explain that the carpet as it stands is scrap , and that I will attempt a restoration , and that the carpet may or may not improve with cleaning. I would document this on the invoice , this would take 2-3 minutes.

 I then explain that the clean will cost £60-100  and that if the carpet was not satisfactorily cleaned  I will produce a report for their insurers  which will verify a claim by them . Almost all customers accept this , and  I have earned a tidy sum from this sevice over the years.


The cleaning phase

Rake carpet -a lot , vac -a lot.

Spray with nemesis /fusion8 clean with brown scrubber pad under buffer. The paint will be softened up now .

Then I put a liberal amount of orange gel onto the paint , and leave for a few minutes , then go over with the buffer again , rinse out with upholstery tool .

[garry22]

Jason,

I presume you do a lot of insurance work. Have you noticed any change in attitude with insurance companies lately?

The reason I ask is I had a conversation with my insurance broker a few days ago.

She said there was a trend towards Companies only honouring claims only if the carpet cleaner had carried out their work to the letter of "official" training courses. This would be "by the book" as opposed to using their judgement and experience - which is what most people pay them for.

That is a worrying sign.

[jasonl]

I have not heard that at all .

That would never work anyway , which training course would the insurers recognise?

IICRC , LMCCA, CRI, NCCA?  MANUFACTURERS OWN? machine dealers own?

I can see that sometimes a carpet cleaner may be lazy and not attempt a clean , I have been to jobs where this has  occurred and succesfully removed a stain.

[garry22]

That would never work anyway , which training course would the insurers recognise?

IICRC , LMCCA, CRI, NCCA?  MANUFACTURERS OWN? machine dealers own?

Precisely.

I wonder which one a smart arsed lawyer would try to use as the "standard"?

[Steve Chapman]

Thanks Jason for the detailed answer,

I know alot have said dont bother but i do like a bit of a challenge and didnt get into carpet cleaning only to clean the 'clean' carpets 

They accept that this is last chance saloon and it will be new carpet time if it doesnt work, and this will be noted on the quote,

Apart from anything else im curious if I can restore it,  If I walk I'll never know 

The school of thought that if you dont succeed you will own it is rubbish if you ask me, i've never had that happen when the clean has not been successful,  if you explain clearly what the possible outcomes are then its there decision to go ahead, if they want to.

If they have spray painted their lounge carpet i dont think it can get much worse anyhow 

Steve

[craig partridge]

I would try a non volatile solvent like prochem solvex

Make sure you get paid even if it don't come out!