HELP with Iron Marks

Fresh&Clean

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Feb 3, 2011
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Situation: cleaning church pews with lots of wax spots on seats. Fabric feels synthetic.

So I used a dam cloth and an iron to remove the wax. (tech was instructed 3 or 4 seconds tops)It did an ok job but on one of the pews and iron mark was left. The pew does not feel like the material was burned but you definately notice the shape of an iron. And only on one of the pews out of 75 that were cleaned. So I am trying to find out what happened here.

1. Did tech leave iron on too long? (there is not burned fabric)
2. Did the heat accelerate the cleaning agent and where it heated it basically either cleaned or bleached on this one spot. ( the iron may have been used after pre-spray but before the rinse)

Any help or ideas for fixing this would be appreciated. Thanks.

Steve
 

Papa John

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Does the fabric feel hard, similar to melted plastic? If so then that's what happened. The iron melted the fabric.

Hopefully it will be easy to re upholstery.
I would have used brown paper bags with NO printing on it a to soak up the wax while never leaving the iron in one spot.
 

Old Coastie

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Lots of wax spots means that the chirch goers ruined the pews, not you.
If it is fuzzy fabric, the iron may have set the fibers a little.
Steam and swipe over a towel to warm it, then use the towel to sort of brush the fibers back into position. It may work.
Otherwise, flip the cushion, knock $10 off your price and live with your blackened conscience, hahaha!
 
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Desk Jockey

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It scorched it. While not burned the heat pattern will be difficult if not impossible to remove.

I have in the past unzipped a cushion cover and had the dry cleaner push live steam up from the backing. Worked pretty good but still was not perfect. Maybe an option to avoid replacement. ???
 
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Fresh&Clean

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Thanks for replies. It was not a fuzzy material. The material does not feel hard as though it was burnt but the iron must have been on too long. There was a lot of wax all over on multiple pews. Hundreds of small little spots. I will say that the heat from truck mount did not remove it. I definately learned a lesson on this one.
 
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Jim Williams

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Don't feel bad. I shrunk a ladies drapes 4" last week. Luckily they stretched back out after they dried. Sometimes we learn things the hard way. Won't be doing that again anytime soon.
 
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