Leave No Stain Behind

In a study a few years back conducted with consumers who have had their carpet professionally cleaned, the interviewer asked them why they hired a professional carpet cleaner. One of the top THREE reasons provided by the respondents is because they believed that a professional could do a better job removing spots and stains. There is little doubt of the importance that carpet cleaning consumers place upon your ability to remove difficult spots and treat difficult stains.

If you have targeted a high-end clientele and priced your services appropriately, then you certainly are trying to live by the mantra of “Leave no stain behind.” So if the expectation is with time and the proper equipment and chemicals that you as a professional cleaner can remove just about everything, you had better make sure you are adequately equipped to accomplish the task. That is where the specialized spot and stain treatments contained within the Pro Spotting Kit come into play.

Due to space limitations, we are going to assume that you are encountering a stain that was not removed by basic cleaning procedures and general spotting. At this point, it is more accurately described as a stain rather than a spot or spill. Let’s start with this basic premise. The first thing you always want to do if you can is to identify the source of the stain. Then you can start with your advanced treatment procedures.

If the stain was caused by the natural color of the spilled material (for instance, mustard, wine, coffee, urine) you will want to apply KnockOut 1, a one part oxidizing stain treatment. Simply apply the solution, agitate the stain from the outside toward the center, and allow adequate dwell time. The stain will usually disappear. In the case of problematic mustard, you may want to reflect a high intensity ultraviolet light at the treated stain while you are on the job. Unlike most oxidizing stain removers. KnockOut 1 contains special additives that allow it to penetrate and deal with solvent based stains such as shoe polish and wood stain. In addition, KnockOut 1 also contains special additives which help keep the area from rapid re-soiling.

If the stain was caused by a color that was most likely added to the spilled material (for instance, Kool-Aid®, sports drinks, frozen children’s treats) you will want to apply RedBreak 1. Simply apply the solution, agitate the stain from the outside toward the center, and allow adequate dwell time. In most cases, RedBreak 1 will immediately make the stain disappear. On problematic stains, simply apply heat from a wallpaper steamer or steam iron to accelerate the reaction and make the stain invisible.

Stains caused by ink spills have always been a challenge for professional cleaners. While traditional solvent spotters, (PIG, POG, VDS, NVDS) have proven to be effective on some types of inks, there was always the problem of the time they took to work, making sure you had the right solution for that specific ink, and the number of spotting towels you used up blotting the ink. SpotMaster Gel XP eliminated the need for all of those different solvent spotters. This specially formulated solvent gel spotter has been demonstrated to be effective on a wide variety of ink spots and spills – ballpoint, magic marker, inkjet printer ink and more.

All of these solutions and more are are available in the Pro Spotting Kit.