SODA
If soda or any other liquid spilled recently enough and it is still wet, get some dry towels and absorb up as much as possible and continue with paper towels until they can't get wet any more. you have reached this point when you can step on a paper towel with all of your weight and not get any more liquid to transfer. Many times this alone will solve your problem. now the hard part, let it sit for a day or so and see if there is any residual matter that has wicked to the top, if not you're done. If there is some contaminant still there it is now only on the tips of the carpet fibers and can easily be removed with a lightly damp microfiber towel by gently rubbing the carpet. If something is still showing try some of Quikdry's home pro spotter, hey if you're going to run out and buy something it might as well be something that will outperform anything in the store and not have the risk of damaging your carpets!
COFFEE & TEA
Ok, this gets a bit trickier, but the same principles apply. Absorb up all of the moisture and then you will have reasonable success with the home pro spotter, however, an old stain may be difficult bordering on impossible to remove. I will typically use something called a reducing agent, this will gradually "strip" away a tannin stain like coffee or tea, however, this should not be performed by anyone except a true cleaning professional. There are simply too many variables here to safely explain and quite honestly most of the ones I come across have had the panic factor and my client had already performed a cleaning attempt with 7 different store bought spotters and permanently set the stain in. Yes a regularly cleaned carpet with a fresh application of carpet protector will likely be as easy as blotting it up with a paper towel.
GREASE
Ok here I suggest a microfiber towel with a little bit of home pro spotter and some light agitation and done! Ok if you are a truck driver or mechanic with axle grease all over your carpet, there is no good way to spot that up shy of a professional cleaning. If you use a degreaser stong enough to remove that type of grease without a proper truckmount rinse, you will get big dark spots in the carpet where the strong degreaser didn't rinse out good and they will look worse than the original grease stain! Once again, a properly cleaned and protected carpet will be more resistant to things like this.
KOOLAID & GATORADE
if the stain is dark black or gray ,this means it has been sitting for a while.. (would you actually buy black or gray koolaid or gatorade?) and this is dirt sticking to the sugary residue it left behind or it is the residue of that dish soap you used to try and clean it up...or was it the carpet spotter you bought from the 99cent store? Regardless, take a clean damp towel and gently rub out as much of the dirty residue as possible. Believe it or not that piece o'crap carpet extractor collecting dust in the garage can actually be useful for something like this as well. just use it to rinse hot water through the stained area and maybe apply some home pro spotter after this and agitate it with a towel and follow it up with the extractor. DO NOT RUN CHEMICALS THROUGH THE HOME EXTRACTOR!!!!! It will simply leave most of the chemicals in the carpet and make your problem worse. The $250 machine is simply NOT comparable to my $70,000 unit! Now the fun part, what you are probably left with is a red or orange stain that will not come out with any spotting agent (including home pro spotter. Here is where I definitely recommend a competent cleaning professional. The remaining dye must be removed by playing chemist. There are simply too many variables to safely explain how to do this without discoloring your carpet. Using these chemicals is like playing with fire. Years ago when I had six trucks running, technicians needed about 6 months of experience to have enough of a background to safely use them. Misuse of this type chemcal can permanently damage your carpet. If you're not sure you are always welcome to call me.
Spotting Tips
Ok, so I thought a picture of the critter responsible for most of the urine-feces-vomit problems would look better than the actual stains in the carpet!
WE CLEAN
GREEN!!
Before getting too excited about removing every spot in your carpet, please remember the most important part...USE COMMON SENSE! One of the most common things I have seen over the years is that my customer base has a seemingly endless amount of money to spend on store bought "miracle" cleaners that either don't work at all or get grossly misused. If the spotting agent doesn't work, pouring the whole bottle of non working spotting agent on the stain will not make it work any better! However, it will create several probems in the carpet that were not there previously. Being an honorable guy, I have decided to compile a list of the most common scenarios I see go bad and hopefully provide some guidance. Before getting into the specifics, please remember this...BEFORE adding any spot cleaner or other cleaning agent, remove as much of the foreign matter as possible!! For example, if your dog got sick and threw up all over the carpet, spraying the vomit with spotter won't help! Remove as much as possible first, then we move on. This common sense approach alone will save a huge headache in many cases. Additionally, please understand that a spot that has been in the carpet for years will be more difficult to remove than one that just happened. And yes, there will be spots and stains that are permanent and knowing when to not pour chemicals on them will save much frustration.
Remember when you declined to purchase scotchgard or Teflon because your friend who's never cleaned a carpet in her life said something like "that stuff doesn't work". Remember a properly cleaned carpet with a fresh application of scotchgard or teflon or better yet Quikdry carpet protector will simply be more forgiving and save you a ton of frustration! After cleaning over 20,000 carpets I can honestly say that my customers on a regular routine of cleaning and protecting simply don't have very many instances of a damaged carpet due to a spill or the dog getting sick. I have provided some video proof to make my point of the benefits of carpet protector.
Double click here to add text.
FOOD
Obviously, there are too many types of food and variables here to get too specific, but here are some general rules to follow. If you just spilled something get as much up as possible before adding any cleaning agents. The next step would be a microfiber towel with some hot water and a bit of light agitation. Home pro spotter would be the next step if necessary. Again, a properly maintained carpet with a fresh coat of carpet protector will be surprisingly helpful here. (not buying carpet protector after a cleaning is like not insuring your car, crashing it, and then wondering why you can't buy coverage for it now and have the loss covered!) Also, if your "dog" tipped over the 12" skillet full of burning bacon and grease on the carpet, then it will likely be beyond the capability of touching it up wih some spotter. A situation like this would require a call to us right away. After all that's why we are here. :)
PAINT
If you have some dried out paint drops on the carpet that were not rubbed in
a careful quick trim of the carpet with some precision scissors (duckbill shears work best Home depot and Lowes both sell them) is the safest and easiest way to deal with it. Believe it or not a trimming of the very tips of the carpet fibers will virtually never be noticeable. If the whole bucket of paint tipped over and it is still wet, get as much up as possible and then keep the spot wet. Covering the paint spot with sopping wet towels works the best. Yes, you will overwet the carpet but that's Ok! Next call us immediately and cross your fingers! I have successfully dealt wit this situatiion in the past and had perfect results but keep in mind there are many variables that affect the outcome. If the paint is a large dried out spot and is hard, removal simply may not be possible with a cleaning. Even a carpet with a fresh coat of carpet protector will not help here. Moral of the story is: WHEN PAINTING USE DROPCLOTHS!!!!!!!
WOOD STAIN
The most common time I see this is when the last cleaner got lazy and didn't put blocks under the wood furniture legs ( still glad this guy claimed to be $20 cheaper!) or the dog or cat likes to urinate on the corner of the couch and the urine causes the furniture stain to bleed into the carpet. I have successfully removed these things before, but in all honesty the odds are low and this is one of the most common things that causes permanent discoloration to carpet. Most likely you are better off not aplying anything to it if it has already dried, if it is still wet absorb up as much as possible, keep the area wet and call me immediately!
URINE - FECES - VOMIT
This is the most pleasant of all subjects covered on my website! Just kidding! Once again, please understand that there are almost endless variables here and success will vary. The same basic rules apply, get as much of the contaminant out before adding any cleaning agents! Hot water and several clean towels may be necesary to remove as much organic matter as possible. For urine , you will want to absord up as much liquid as possible before adding any cleaner to it. Also, having a proper protein spotter and enzyme cleaner is highly recommended ( if you have a dog or a cat having a bottle of each in the house before you need it is very inexpensive insurance against a permanently damaged carpet! I can provide these to you in most cases for less cost than the junk you buy in the store that doesn't work very well) Please remember that the pet stains do better with a different spotting agent . Again, there are certain times that you will need us to come out and clean it for you. I have been to places where the severity and volume are simply unbelievable! In these cases there is no way of simply spotting it no matter how good you are. Call us anytime.
Mike's Cell : 909-921-5297
(call or text)
