Making chicken sh^t into chicken salad - results

[boazcan]

Arrived at a repeat customer today to clean to recliners (cleaned them 2 years ago) and a sectional. Never cleaned the sectional. Customer claimed was 25+ years old. Just cleaned 2 pieces like this the last two days. You know what is coming.......

I use my normal cleaner, spray it on, brush it in. Partner cleans the chairs, I start on the sectional. It had some slight fading on the cushions - to be expected and pointed it out. I clean two cushions and notice how well it is cleaning up and the fading of the colors is more than thought. 3rd cushion, start cleaning more aggressively as it is a little more soiled and POW. No more color is in that spot.

I grab another pretreated cushion and.......

I go to the arm and PA POW...

I don't claim to know it all or done it all, but with 14 yrs experience in this industry this has never happened to me.

Funny thing is, the customer just got new carpet and the pink/blue tones in the sofa did not match at all. She really liked the new neutral color. Not all of it came out even, I am going back tomorrow to look at it and try some 40 vol straight on the splotchy areas. If I can get the unevenness out of it, she may actually like the result. Needless to say - I did not charge her a dime plus told her if she doesn't like it then I will buy her a new sectional. Luckily one of our commercial clients has several furniture stores. May be time to barter.

I post this for one reason - a learning tool. I have certainly learned to always test furniture now. This color loss was happening with just hot water as well as chemical. There was no bleeding in the cushions on inspection, nor was there any bleeding on the underlying material under the fabric.

 

[truckmount girl]

Re: This will make your lunch come back in your throat

Oh boy, that'll put the pucker back in your butt!

Take care,
Lisa

 

[boazcan]

Re: This will make your lunch come back in your throat

Oh boy, that'll put the pucker back in your butt!

Take care,
Lisa

Yeah, that too,

 

[The Great Oz]

Re: This will make your lunch come back in your throat

I guess we can all get cocky and not test, or not test on the back of a cushion...

A good reminder for everyone.

PS: Does your 'normal' include the MikeyBoard gurus' suggested amount of peroxide?

 

[boazcan]

Re: This will make your lunch come back in your throat

PS: Does your 'normal' include the MikeyBoard gurus' suggested amount of peroxide?

Sometimes I have used 2oz of sodium perc mixed in with gallon of cleaner - normally Judson. This time I only used Judson with nothing else. Applied with a pump up as normal and brushed in with a horse hair brush. We cleaned the 2 recliners the same way, although they were much newer microfiber. I have never had anything remotely close to this happen with any prespray for that matter.

At first I thought it was maybe the prespray, but then cleaned the side with only hot water and it did the same thing. Not in one stroke, but in 3. This had nothing to do with the prespray. This is a great example of "oh, I have cleaned these a hundred times" and moving on. It was just my time.

 

[handdi]

Re: This will make your lunch come back in your throat

Thanks for sharing

 

[Dolly Llama]

Re: This will make your lunch come back in your throat

PS: Does your 'normal' include the MikeyBoard gurus' suggested amount of peroxide?

LOL!!!

i posted this a day or two ago


"hmmm, wonder if a sodium perc/peroxide addiction applies?

it's real trendy on this board to dump mass quantities of oxidizers on everydamnthing
Makes me wonder if some can clean a carpet without blEEching it ..."


..L.T.A.

 

[K P]

Re: This will make your lunch come back in your throat

A cotton cleaner is what I use on those,and because it has a reducer in it,it might have held the color.

 

[ruff]

Re: This will make your lunch come back in your throat

A cotton cleaner is what I use on those,and because it has a reducer in it,it might have held the color.

Yes, cotton cleaners are on the acid side (acidity acts as a dye stabilizer) however no need for the sodium bisulfite that will potentially lighten the color. A regular acid rinse or an acid cleaner, without a reducer, will do for stabilizing colors.

Anyhow, it sounds like that may still not have worked with this particular sofa either.

Hey, Bryan, just for the general knowledge, if you have the chance try an acid cleaner on it. Prochem DeepClean is one. To see if that too will damage the color.

Also, which Judson product did you use?

 

[boazcan]

Re: This will make your lunch come back in your throat

Also, which Judson product did you use?

O2

I had put a drop of power gel on an ink spot - and that took the color right out also.

Would 25 yrs of cigarette smoking caused the colors to be unstable? The color actually removed the easiest on the lower front (foot area) of sofa. With or without prespray - it was gone in two passes. That I didn't really understand.

 

[sam miller]

Re: This will make your lunch come back in your throat

Also, which Judson product did you use?

O2

I had put a drop of power gel on an ink spot - and that took the color right out also.

Would 25 yrs of cigarette smoking caused the colors to be unstable? The color actually removed the easiest on the lower front (foot area) of sofa. With or without prespray - it was gone in two passes. That I didn't really understand.

Could have been a past cleaning or like You say 25 years Its ugly any way buy new already.

 

[Leslie Judson Jones]

Re: This will make your lunch come back in your throat

Also, which Judson product did you use?

O2

I had put a drop of power gel on an ink spot - and that took the color right out also.

Would 25 yrs of cigarette smoking caused the colors to be unstable? The color actually removed the easiest on the lower front (foot area) of sofa. With or without prespray - it was gone in two passes. That I didn't really understand.

Bryan,

Seeing that the couch has not been cleaned in 25 years, and the color was removed by water only. This couch obviously was made with defective materials. The color was not set during mfg.

I have had a similar situation happen on a brand new $5,000 couch. One of my customers cleaned it with the O-2 System. I went to the job site to look at the couch and the pillows were bleeding and the colors were fading out, but the body of the couch, the armrest and the back did not fade or bleed. This was due to the material being from a different lot that was being used from the pillows and the main body of the couch. We called the mfg. and they told us that they had similar problems with other couch's that they had sold, that the color was not set in the fabric. They replaced the couch.

In your situation, I would like to suggest that when you go back tomorrow, I would like for you to mix the O-2 PreSpray very strong. Mix something like 8-10 oz per gallon. Apply to the couch very lightly to minimize overwetting. With the use of the Dupont Zonyl in the O-2 System, which is a dispersing agent, it allows the chemical to penetrate that fabric without a lot of moisture.
Then extract with your hand tool. Make sure that you use the O-2 Extraction Rinse to accelerate the drying and to correct the Ph. This combination will remove all the color that is not set in the fabric. It will no longer be pink, but at least it will be even and look like a new couch. Also, seeing that it had 25 years of smoke, the D'Limonene will remove all the smoke stain and odor.

I think once you are finished you will have a very happy customer.

 

[Mikey P]

Re: This will make your lunch come back in your throat

How hot was your water?


ben der don dat.

 

[steamclean]

Re: This will make your lunch come back in your throat

25 year old sofa, I would have never offered to replace it.

 

[daniel@procarpet]

Re: This will make your lunch come back in your throat

I see a little color but the fabric is so dirty it's hard to tell.

At least you got it clean.

 

[Royal Man]

Re: This will make your lunch come back in your throat

25 year old sofa, I would have never offered to replace it.

Last i knew sofas have a 12 year prorated value.

I'd be like getting a new car for a rusty car on blocks.

 

[rwcarpet]

Re: This will make your lunch come back in your throat

How far from the Ocean? Could it be years of exposure to "sea salt air"?

Jim Pemberton needs to get in on this one.

 

[boazcan]

Re: This will make your lunch come back in your throat

Here are two better pictures of what I was dealing with

When I went back, it had lightened but was still pretty splotchy. She actually liked the lighter color to go with her new carpet as I mentioned above. I didn't know whether to take her seriously or not. So, I took Les' advice and mixed the O2 @ 8oz per gallon. I had a spray bottle of 40 vol handy for the tough spots. I can honestly say that this was the cleanest that I have ever left a piece of furniture. :mrgreen:

She was very happy in the end. I did not charge anything for the job. Spent a little over 6 hours there over 2 days. Inexpensive education. Luckily she was only 5 mins from the house. Turns out she is the M-I-L of a business associate that I have volunteered with at charity functions over the past year. :shock: You never who knows who.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Bryan do you think it could have been the extreme heat of your cleaning solution? Or do you think the sunlight light broke down the dyes?

What a close call! I think I'd have stopped when it came out of the cushions..................un hooked my TM and headed for Mexico. :mrgreen:

I would have stopped when I first noticed the color loss with hopes of salvaging the set some how.

I copied your pictures to be shared with my tech's, that's just scary.

Sorry for the bad luck, at least it was just a loss of time. Fortunately you had a very understanding person.

 

[ruff]

What a close call! I think I'd have stopped when it came out of the cushions..................un hooked my TM and headed for Mexico. :mrgreen:

Mexico!
I thought you were still on their 10 most wanted list?

 

[boazcan]

Bryan do you think it could have been the extreme heat of your cleaning solution? Or do you think the sunlight light broke down the dyes?

Richard - I am glad you can use those pictures. That is the only reason I took the time to post this. I was assuming it was UV exposure and/or all that smoke. However, the picture above of the bottom part of the frame of the sofa did not have direct exposure to light. It removed with relative ease.

I am going to guess that the dye was never set correctly. I would also say that the heat was the number one cause since I was removing it with or without prespray. The water was in the 230 degree range.

 

[Dolly Llama]

DAMNFINE SAVE, BO!!!

..L.T.A.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Thanks Bryan, I appreciate it maybe it can keep us out of hot water.......maybe. :mrgreen:

 

[Lee Stockwell]

Wow, when I showed my wife and and family this one we ALL said the same thing: "I've cleaned several JUST like this!"

Sobering. Thanks Brian and Les too.

 

[Ron K]

230 degrees? Isn't that a little hot? My TM can't reach that even when it's on fire!

 

[renegade_cowboy]

I hope you put some of those pics on your website so future customers can see the great work you do.

 

[Bob Foster]

:shock:

 

[Ron Werner]

so, in hind sight, if you had tested the fabric and discovered the unstable dye, what would you have said to the client?
Would you have tried to clean with another method?

 

[Vivers]

Wow! We have cleaned the type of fabric lots of times. Sorry for that happening to you. I have not seen that on upholstery but that exact thing happen on leather before. Seems 25 years of smoke may have caused that other wise maybe prior cleaners left something in it that made the dyes unstable?
I personally would study the effects of tobacco residue on upholstery.

Good luck

 

[boazcan]

I hope you put some of those pics on your website so future customers can see the great work you do.

Thanks for infinite wisdom - you are such an ASSet here.