Bryce C
Member
Apologies I don't have after pics, just was running late and forgot an after pic when we were done and packing up...
I tested this wool rug to see if there was any bleeding and there wasn't, agitated it with my terrycloth and saw it pull up a ton of soil. So I went ahead with cleaning it. I noticed partway through cleaning the rug that the area in front of the fire place you can see to the side of the pic stayed a dingy grey color.
After completely cleaning it I misted a section of the greyish area with an acidic browning treatment and agitating it with a terrycloth and it didn't pull up hardly anything. I went ahead and treated the area with a browning treatment anyway, scrubbed it with my crb and let it dwell, then extracted again and it got a tad bit lighter.
Is that damage from alkaline ashes coming from the fireplace? I grabbed the homeowner and showed him the dirt we extracted as I poured it out. Then explained to him that despite cleaning it thoroughly twice and removing the soil that it looks like there was years of subtle damage from wood ashes settling on it and being walked on, getting moist, etc.. He liked my assessment. I recommended that when he replace it he get a synthetic rug just for that room, all ended well.
Not sure if I was right about that or if I just made it up and saved my butt mid job. The semi circle of grey in the rug centered around the fireplace seems to me like it might be what's going on. If so was there something else I could have done? If this wasn't cleanable on site how would one know that before cleaning it?
Overall the rug looked a lot cleaner when I was done. However the grey semi circle in front of the fireplace was still plainly there. And it lightens up in a pattern around the periphery of the fireplace like in the pic.
I tested this wool rug to see if there was any bleeding and there wasn't, agitated it with my terrycloth and saw it pull up a ton of soil. So I went ahead with cleaning it. I noticed partway through cleaning the rug that the area in front of the fire place you can see to the side of the pic stayed a dingy grey color.
After completely cleaning it I misted a section of the greyish area with an acidic browning treatment and agitating it with a terrycloth and it didn't pull up hardly anything. I went ahead and treated the area with a browning treatment anyway, scrubbed it with my crb and let it dwell, then extracted again and it got a tad bit lighter.
Is that damage from alkaline ashes coming from the fireplace? I grabbed the homeowner and showed him the dirt we extracted as I poured it out. Then explained to him that despite cleaning it thoroughly twice and removing the soil that it looks like there was years of subtle damage from wood ashes settling on it and being walked on, getting moist, etc.. He liked my assessment. I recommended that when he replace it he get a synthetic rug just for that room, all ended well.
Not sure if I was right about that or if I just made it up and saved my butt mid job. The semi circle of grey in the rug centered around the fireplace seems to me like it might be what's going on. If so was there something else I could have done? If this wasn't cleanable on site how would one know that before cleaning it?
Overall the rug looked a lot cleaner when I was done. However the grey semi circle in front of the fireplace was still plainly there. And it lightens up in a pattern around the periphery of the fireplace like in the pic.
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