Why do spots sometimes come back when I have my Carpet cleaned?

Carpet Stains reappeared in this Carpet!

It happens, the Carpet Cleaner leaves and a day or two later or perhaps a week or two and then a stain reappears.

3 Reasons Why Stains May Reappear.

Cleaning Too Fast: This is totally on the Technician. Sometimes a spot will reappear as soon as the carpet is dry. This is normally because the cleaner was moving the wand over the carpet too fast and the hot/steaming cleaning solution did not have time to flow down into the bottom of the carpets fibers before being sucked back into the suction stem of the wand, and out to the holding tank.  In other words he didn't go slow enough to get the dirt out of the carpet. He just got the tops of the carpets fibers. Therefore the dirt from the bottom part of the fiber came right back to the top of the carpet fibers as it dried. Otherwise known as Carpet Wicking. And surprise you still have the stain. Even though it was gone when the carpet was initially cleaned.


Inadequate Rinsing when using a spot cleaner: This may apply to either the Homeowner when they spot clean their carpet, or the Carpet technician. When any product is used on a carpet to clean it, it must be rinsed out fully. No residue is to be left in the carpet. When a spot cleaner or any cleaner, has been left to dry in a carpet, the detergent residue will not dry and will continue to maintain just enough stickiness to attract dirt. Every time your Hvac throws some dust around or you walk on it, that spot acts as a dirt magnet. The spot appears to come, back but in reality, it is the detergent located in that spot just getting dirty again. This is why it is so important to rinse, rinse, and rinse some more. Ensuring all the detergent is removed.

Wicking or Wick back: Another type of wicking. This is when a volume of liquid such as pet urine has reached down into the carpet backing and past the carpet into the carpet padding. No matter how much you clean it, this stain will never go away. It is in a place where you cannot get enough cleaner to provide lift to the actual stain material, and not enough suction to get it out of the carpet backing, and/or padding. You can re-clean it but it will come back.


How To Prevent Carpet Stains From Returning.


Rinse all the detergent out of your carpets: We're talking a preventive step here. Whenever using any type chemical product on you carpets or rugs you must rinse until all the detergent has been removed.

Dry your carpets as fast as you can: This means fans. Good fans, high speed fans. It is air movement rather than air temperature that dries carpets fastest. The faster they dry, the less time is allowed to wick up that stain from the pad. Also, if it is a high humidity day then close the windows and run the AC.

Use the wicking process to your advantage: Wet the area where the stain is located with fresh water. Next place a folded cotton towel on the spot to try and try to transfer as much of the stain as possible, using the blotting method. Lastly place another folded towel on top of the stain and place a heavy object (we're talking a concrete block or 2) on top of the towel placing a lot of weight and keeping it in place for several hours. This may be completed again using another fresh towel. The area may need to be re-whetted to wick up more of the stain. 

Clean it from the back side: That's right, pull up the nearest corner of your carpet and roll back until you have access to back side of the stain on the webbing and the pad. Clean it from this side using  steam cleaning, or by hand as necessary.
  

We'd love to hear your Comments and Carpet Cleaning Tips!