No matter how well you maintain and care for your carpet and upholstery, staining can occur over time and accidents do happen. Our qualified technicians have the knowledge and experience to assess and treat different stains from general soiling to specialist stains such as red wine, rust or urine.
Emergency Stain Treatment
Stain treatment is an advanced skill and requires different techniques and specialist chemicals depending on the nature of the stain and the type of carpet. It is important to understand that incorrect treatment of stains or the use of household cleaning products may cause permanent damage, and stain treatment should be left to a qualified professional!
DO NOT Attempt to treat the spill yourself as this can cause permanent damage and may affect an insurance claim
Our qualified technicians have the knowledge and experience to assess and treat your stain in order to achieve the best possible outcome, and if the stain has caused irreversible damage we can help with an insurance claim.
What to do if you have had a spill
It is important that spills are attended to promptly by a qualified technician in order to minimise the chance of permanent damage to your carpet. However, there are a few things that you can do to minimise the chance of permanent damage before your technician arrives:
Here are some things you can do immediately
- Carefully scrape any excess solids off with a flat scraping tool such as a bread and butter knife – always scrape from the outside towards the centre of the spill to avoid spreading the stain
- Use a clean cloth or paper towels to gently absorb any excess liquids and prevent further penetration into the carpet – make sure to dab, don’t rub
- Place a damp white cloth or towel over the affected area to prevent it from becoming dry and setting. Please note, it is important to use a white cloth as dyes from any coloured material may run into your carpet.
- Isolate the area to prevent further spreading of the stain
Do Not
- Saturate the area with water as this may spread spills and cause problems with drying
- Rub the stain as this can scratch, break and damage the carpet or upholstery fibers
- Use any household cleaning products or detergents as these may contain bleach and cause permanent discolouration or bleaching to your carpet or upholstery fibers (as pictured below)
What you Need to Know about Staining
Over time and exposed to wear, there are three main processes through which your carpets, rugs and upholstery may become stained and lose their appearance. These are – soiling, fundamental colour changes and physical damage to the fibres themselves.
What does this mean for you?
There is an increasing chance that stains will cause permanent discolouration and damage the longer they are left untreated. It is important that all spills are promptly treated by a qualified technician. The sooner we are able to attend a spill, the greater the likelihood of a good outcome.
It is also important to have your carpets professionally cleaned as part of your annual cleaning regime. Stains caused by general soiling can be treated during the steam cleaning process where heat, suction and specialist cleaning solutions are applied to affected areas to help break down soiling and suspend dirt particles so that they can be effectively removed. It is important that this is done by a qualified professional as different treatments and solutions are required depending on the source of the staining and using an inappropriate treatment or solution may result in an adverse affect.
Regular steam cleaning of your carpets, rugs and upholstery by a qualified professional will help to reduce wear, prevent unnecessary damage and keep them looking great for longer. Unfortunately, no amount of cleaning or specialist chemical treatment can correct permanent discolouration or apparent staining caused by physical damage to the carpet fibres. In this case, you may like to consider a carpet repair.
Soiling – spills, pollutants and trapped dirt particles
Carpets become dirty with use through the collection of dirt particles that are blown or tracked in, spills, and pollutants in the atmosphere such as gases and suspended cooking oils. This is inevitable and even with regular vacuuming it is not possible to remove all of this dirt build-up without having your carpet and upholstery professionally cleaned….(Read More)
Permanent Discolouration
Change in the colour of the carpet fibre itself can occur through dye spills or bleaching – just as dyes are added to carpets and textiles during the manufacturing process to achieve desired colours and patterns, dyes accidentally spilt on these fibres after manufacture can also result in a fundamental colour change. On the other hand, bleaching can strip the colours from your
Physical Damage to the carpet fibres
Finally, some apparent staining is actually due to physical damage to the carpet fibres themselves. A good example of this is sun fade, where areas of your carpet or upholstery gradually fade and lose their colour over time as they are exposed to direct sunlight. Another example is a phenomenon called “traffic lane grey”…..(Read More)
A Special Note on Pet Soiling and Odours
A very common concern expressed by our customers is staining and odours caused by pet soiling.
In particular, urine can be very damaging and difficult to treat. This is not only because urine is acidic and can cause permanent bleaching, but also because patches of urine can often seep into carpet underlay, where it promotes bacterial growth and nasty odours.
The problem is that steam cleaning really only cleans the carpet, and does not penetrate through the carpet backing into the underlay. In fact, if steam cleaning the carpet did reach the underlay this would be highly undesirable as this would require over-saturation of the carpet and result in prolonged drying time and potential water damage!
This does mean that specialist techniques may be required in severe cases of pet soiling where the underlay has been affected. We recommend a thorough steam clean as a first course of action, but it may also be necessary to lift the carpet (if the affected area is near a wall or carpet join) and treat or replace the affected underlay, or to inject specialist chemicals through the carpet backing into the targeted areas.
If you have concerns about pet soiling stains and odours, our qualified technicians will be able to assess the area for you and discuss the most appropriate course of action.
Your choice of Carpet and Textiles and What this means for Staining
Different styles of carpet and textiles will wear and stain differently and some staining will cause more damage to certain types of carpet compared to others. We recommend that you discuss this with your supplier when looking to purchase carpet to help you find the most suitable carpet for the conditions of your home or office.
Another factor to consider is that different manufacturers and suppliers have different warrantees with varying cover, exclusions and requirements.
As with many products, price does often reflect quality and cheaper carpets will often stain easier and wear quicker, causing them to lose their appearance faster than more expensive but better quality carpets. If you are looking to purchase carpets or upholstery, we recommend that you consider these aspects of wear and stain resistance in relation to price and intended use.
WORKMANSHIP GUARANTEE
We guarantee the quality of our workmanship. If you are not completely happy with our service we will come back out and treat the area of concern free of charge*.
We guarantee the quality of our workmanship. If you are not completely happy with our service we will come back out and treat the area of concern free of charge*.
*Please note that due to the nature of some stains and damage, we cannot always guarantee the total reversal of damage, but we do guarantee that you will receive the highest standards of service and workmanship from qualified technicians. For more information about stains and permanent damage, please visit our stains page.
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