Hi Ken,
Ok Ill clarify and my posts so far are as clear as mud. I will probably include this as an article in our site, so come and visit us for better description and pictures.
We got called in to deal with Fake tan carnage that 2 major franchises in our area had knocked back. There were no fewer than 21 individual stains.
The test
This is essential!!!! Never miss it out if your going to use our method for removing fake tan.
In an area that is hidden from sight, apply a small amount of premixed ammonia and peroxide (see above for quantities and reasoning) Heat this to dryness with a hairdryer. If you are going to loose any
colour from the carpet this will show it up. Some lightening is to be expected, but if its a major colour change then walk away now.
The first spot removal
This will show the customer that its going to work, so pick the darkest and nastiest looking spot. If you dont hit 22 spots on the same carpet then you could use this to remove all of them. It would have been too time consuming for me to do this to every spot, so i did it with the first one to prove to the customer that it would come out. Apply a small amount of premixed peroxide ammonia to the spot using a sponge. Wear gloves if you dont want white fingers. I dab the solution on then gently rub with the sponge while applying heat from a hairdryer. When its nearly dry, evaluate the colour change. If its nearly gone, continue with the heat and gently rubbing untill its completly gone.
If its still there in its full glory, aplly more peroxide/ammonia mixture and repeat.
I had to undertake 2 applications to get our test spot to budge.
The remaining spots
Apply a larger volume of premixed peroxide/ammonia and gently rub in the mixture with a sponge. Open a window and ask the client not to walk on the spots for the rest of the day. Basically, the reaction will still occur, but much slower. Inform the client that you will return the following day and undertake a full clean and protect of the carpet.
The best bit about this job was that the client was so happy the following day, she offered to pay us the full amount without us undertaking any other work. All the spots had gone and this was the primary reason for the call. Alas, i convinced her that the carpet would benefit from it and we would be happy to proceed. So we cleaned and protected the carpet, blending all of the minor light patches left from the bleaching. I think she will be reffering us and this was our main objective.
I hope this is a bit clearer.
If anyone has alternative techniques for removing fake tan, i would be very interested to hear them.
Graeme Thurston
Access Cleaning Solutions
Edit: Kens point about steam >> I prefer to concentrate the peroxide using dry heat, i guess steam would still work, but it might be a bit on the hot side and you could run into problems. Using a hair dryer gives you 2 effects. It concentrates the reacive species and also provides heat to catalyse the reaction.
