Carpet Cleaning Dilemma: Is It A Spot Or Is It A Stain?
Sometimes it is easy to forget that the carpet in your home is a textile much like a white T-shirt. Both need to be taking care of to stay looking nice and fresh. Spill a glass of red punch and ice cream on a white T-shirt and even if you immediately throw it in the washing machine, when it comes out, it will be clean, with the “spot” of all the ice cream removed, but it will still be “stained” red from the punch.
A “spot” usually adds substance or texture of fibers making them sticky, crusty, slick, greasy or stiff. Spots are more easily removed with general spot carpet cleaning techniques and chemicals.
Stains are a “horse of a different color.” Stains add color to fibers and sometimes may be “set” by cleaning chemicals or heat. Red wine, coffee, ink, mustard, vomit, furniture stain, copier toner and certain medicines all cause stains that even professional carpet cleaners can have trouble removing. These coloring materials contain dyes or pigments that are transferred to fibers when contact is made. Dyes are typically soluble coloring materials and pigments are insoluble. In other words dyes are like watercolors and pigments are like oil-based paint. Dyes are transparent, you can see thru them, pigments you can’t. With either, once they become fixed on the carpet fibers, they are no longer affected by the medium in which they were suspended (usually water). Similarly, when dry deposits of substances, such as furniture stain, carbon, graphite or copier toner become wet, they may be infinitely more difficult to remove.
Carpet Protector can help strengthen and re-new the invisible barrier that your carpet was purchased with. This barrier will help give you a “window of opportunity” to clean up and remove the material spilled on the carpet. However it is impossible to “bullet-proof” your carpets from all permanent stains. Your care to not spill and abuse your carpet is the best carpet protector available.
Sometimes it is easy to forget that the carpet in your home is a textile much like a white T-shirt. Both need to be taking care of to stay looking nice and fresh. Spill a glass of red punch and ice cream on a white T-shirt and even if you immediately throw it in the washing machine, when it comes out, it will be clean, with the “spot” of all the ice cream removed, but it will still be “stained” red from the punch.
A “spot” usually adds substance or texture of fibers making them sticky, crusty, slick, greasy or stiff. Spots are more easily removed with general spot carpet cleaning techniques and chemicals.
Stains are a “horse of a different color.” Stains add color to fibers and sometimes may be “set” by cleaning chemicals or heat. Red wine, coffee, ink, mustard, vomit, furniture stain, copier toner and certain medicines all cause stains that even professional carpet cleaners can have trouble removing. These coloring materials contain dyes or pigments that are transferred to fibers when contact is made. Dyes are typically soluble coloring materials and pigments are insoluble. In other words dyes are like watercolors and pigments are like oil-based paint. Dyes are transparent, you can see thru them, pigments you can’t. With either, once they become fixed on the carpet fibers, they are no longer affected by the medium in which they were suspended (usually water). Similarly, when dry deposits of substances, such as furniture stain, carbon, graphite or copier toner become wet, they may be infinitely more difficult to remove.
Carpet Protector can help strengthen and re-new the invisible barrier that your carpet was purchased with. This barrier will help give you a “window of opportunity” to clean up and remove the material spilled on the carpet. However it is impossible to “bullet-proof” your carpets from all permanent stains. Your care to not spill and abuse your carpet is the best carpet protector available.
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