Carpet Stains Reappearing After Cleaning?
Why Carpet Stains Reappear on my Carpet?
Cleaning carpet is a mystery not only to the layperson, but those who are well educated. The fiber type, thickness, and other key factors muddies the water when it comes down to job well done. One of the biggest mysteries as to why carpet stains return typically involves three main reasons: Fiber type, re-soiling and uric salt.
As the owner of EverClean Nashville, a professional carpet cleaning company in Nashville, TN, we've had our share of customer complaints that involved stains returning shortly after our service. Luckily, we have a 30-day stain guarantee the assures our customers we'll take care of those stains without pause, but the question remains, why do carpet stains return after removing them?
1. Carpet Wicking
If you have any polyester clothing, and you've ever spilled mustard on it, you were likely surprised when the stain vanished after you washed it. This is because polyester, an oil-based fiber, is hydrophobic. That is, it repels water, or organic stains - mustard, urine, blood, etc.
While this sounds great, it's one of the reasons your carpet stains keep coming back. Carpet has a primary backing, so if you spill red wine on your carpet, that wine also stains the primary backing, the absorbent pad and sometimes the subfloor. While you likely removed the stain from the carpet, it's still under your carpet. And because polyester is a nonporous fiber, that red wine stain can evaporate up the carpet fiber on days of heavy humidity.
2. Carpet Re-soiling
In all honesty, re-soiling stains are probably just as prevalent as carpet wicking, if not more so, but to keep in order, it fits the #2 spot, and here's why. Most people believe that the more detergent they add to a stain the better it will work. This is actually counterintuitive as once too much soap is added to the carpet, it will never come back out.
Rapid re-soiling happens when soap dries to the points where it becomes sticky, and sticky soap attracts soils. If your carpet stain that keeps reappearing is darker and not the same color as the original stain, you've likely added too much soap. If by chance you have Resolve, we highly recommend you not use that product on your carpet for one reason: It's too sudsy for DIY carpet stain removal.
3. Uric Salt Wicking
The third most likely reason your carpet stains keep reappearing is from salt. Mostly found in pet urine, uric salt is like any salt - it's thirsty! On days of heavy rain or high humidity, that salt absorbs the moisture, which allows it to reactivate salty stains - usually pet urine.
While this most likely occurs on polyester carpet, it can happen on nylon, wool or other natural or synthetic fibers. As that salt absorbs and re-saturates the stain, it evaporates up the carpet fiber thereby migrating that stain from the base to the fiber tips. The silver lining here is that most times, the stain is located at the very tips of the carpet fiber.
How to Remove Carpet Stains That Keep Coming Back
Finally - here is the answer on how to stop carpet stains from coming returning. And to make it incredibly easy, it comes down to just one or two chemicals you likely already have sitting in your medicine cabinet. If you have polyester carpet, which has the characteristics of matting down, you want to spray the areas (lightly) with isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol). Then dab the areas with a clean clothe until the stain is gone. Note: Always check for chemical compatibly in a hidden area prior to prevent damage.
As motioned, wicking stains are typically found on the tips of the fiber otherwise we'd have wine or chocolate milk colored clouds. Rubbing alcohol loosens the stain residue so you can remove it while also allowing the fibers to dry much faster than a typical water-based cleaner. This helps eliminate the the wicking stain for reoccurring.
As for rapid re-soiling, rubbing alcohol is also a defoamer! A defoamer knocks down soap suds when necessary, so it actually helps remove the soap that is caked in your carpet fibers. You may not get all of it out, but the alcohol not only removes the soils, but also helps remove soap residue thereby reducing the future re-soiling.
Lastly, if you have polyester carpet, rubbing alcohol will easily remove urine stains without much effort. If it doesn't however, it's likely you have nylon or another fiber type. If the rubbing alcohol doesn't remove the urine stain, apply equal parts 3% hydrogen peroxide with rubbing alcohol and cover with a plastic sheet for a day. The plastic allows the chemicals to work longer so they don't evaporate. Again, pre-test to ensure chemicals compatibility.
If you found this information helpful, we would greatly appreciate a Google Review for carpet cleaning company in Nashville, TN.
Thank you,
3926 Dickerson Pike #207
Nashville, TN 37207
Phone: (615) 379-3278
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