Stain Removal
You wanted your carpet to look like new again, so you hired a professional carpet cleaner in Dallas to come and restore the original beauty to your carpet. Simple task, you thought. Your carpet cleaner starts rambling how it isn’t a spot that normal cleaning will take care of, you have a stain. So what does that matter? You just want it to look new again.
Well, there is a vital difference between the two. A spot can be washed away. It is something that has attached itself to the outside of the carpet fibers. A stain is more difficult because it has made itself a part of the fibers. It has altered the dyes that give your carpet its beautiful color. In other words, a spot is external to the fiber and a stain is more internal.
“A blind man can find a spot, but he can’t find a stain.” -unknown
To understand spots and stains you need to understand a little about the carpet fibers. There are different types of carpet fibers and every type has different properties, some positive, some negative. We can discuss those later. Right now we need to know that much of the carpet installed is dyed after the carpet yarn has been made. But not every dye site constructed into the carpet fiber has accepted a dye.
When a foreign dye is added to carpet, you get stains where another color has been added to the fiber. You can also have stains where bleach or acne medication gets on the carpet and color is released from the dye sites and lost. Both leave unsightly conditions that carpet cleaning alone will not be able to reverse.
A spot, however, can be from chemical residues left behind from spot cleaning. Or a sugary substance that gets on the floor. Or any type of soil, dirt and grime that gets on the carpet. Usually these will clean up with normal cleaning and your carpet will be like new.
Sometimes you can be taken by surprised at what will stain a carpet and what will clean right off. Some of the worst staining agents are vomit, feces, urine, or other bodily fluids along with any type of artificial or natural food dyes like red punch, coffee, or tea. With any of these the best recommendation is to call a professional immediately. They will be able to give you some options like stain removal, carpet dyeing, or carpet patches. Remember that the longer a soil or particulate sits on the carpet, the more chance it has at making a permanent bond and leaving an unsightly stain.
If you have any spots or stains give us a call and see what we can do for you.
Carpet Cleaning Definitions
Soil – any matter that is foreign to the basic construction of the carpet.
Spot – foreign material on carpet that is removable by standard cleaning methods.
Stain – foreign material on carpet that is not removable by standard cleaning methods; may be permanent.