Removing Indentations from Carpet?

[Tony Reyes]

Cleaned carpet today. Rental owner asks about some "dimples" in carpet from previous tenants furniture. I explained that the pad/carpet has lost it's resilience and with time the indentations may or may not come back. The Owner quickly pointed out that the last cleaner "gets those out" I was like Wow that"s awesome! Am I missing something? What are you guys doing to get these out? Thanks.
Anthony Reyes

 

[Ross Buettner]

10 bucks says the furniture was taken out a few hours before....

 

[Ron K]

So the last cleaner got the dimples out but really didn't do a good enough job to be called back. Maybe he was just a dimple cleaner.

I usually just put my wand over them get them wet a little scrubbing and a good couple of dry strokes. It all depends on how long and how heavy the piece was.

 

[Nate The Great]

So the last cleaner got the dimples out but really didn't do a good enough job to be called back. Maybe he was just a dimple cleaner.

I usually just put my wand over them get them wet a little scrubbing and a good couple of dry strokes. It all depends on how long and how heavy the piece was.

And how many jets your wand has... shiteatinggrin

 

[John Watson]

Anthony, the other guy probly had a bit more heat than you do with his machine. I have used a wall paper steamer with some sucess, but pad being colapsed is still an issue if the furniture was just removed. Some pads just require time to come back if they are going to at all. We never garentee removal with just cleaning, Sometimes we had to lift the carpet and replace flattened pieces of underlayment then resecure and restretch carpets.

Helen also says Hi..

 

[Newman]

I have used an iron on medium heat with a damp towel. This usually will lessen the indentations.

 

[Art Kelley]

I have used an iron on medium heat with a damp towel. This usually will lessen the indentations.

That's what I have used with good success. I like using the wall paper steamer now because you can leave it on longer, moving it around with your wand while you work.
Like the plate spinner on the Ed Sulliven show typically an O/O has many things going on at once. It's alittle safer to use a steamer if you become distracted.

 

[Dolly Llama]

So the last cleaner got the dimples out but really didn't do a good enough job to be called back. Maybe he was just a dimple cleaner.

Tony, the type carpet (fiber and construction) and how long and heavy the piece was can make them permanent, semi permanent or faitly easy to remove.
You can generally "improve" most of them, but you can't do anything about the pad.
Time and traffic seems to be the best thing for that.

for the carpet fibers, we spray it with HOT water and let it dwell .
Then pre-spray the room(s)
when we get to the indents, we trigger the wand and chop stroke along with SLOW keyed strokes .
That's works fairly well for water bed marks on cut pile nylons
For chair and heavy leg dents, you can also cuff them with the vac hose

still, some carpet you'll be screwed regardless, if he's expecting 100% removal


..l.T.A.

 

[sweendogg]

Like Larry said above... Olefin will not bounce back. Polyester is a 50/50 chance.. Nylon and wool will with heat and moisture but only if the pad still has some resilience left as well.

all of the above are great ideas. You should already have a steamer or clothing iron on board for red spot removal. Same procedure with wet towel or steamer.. just no chemical. The moisture and heat help reset the resilience of the pile on the right type of carpet. This needs to be done after you clean though not before.

Larry's procedure would work if you had good truckmount style heat and flow. But you may be limited to that style with a portable.

 

[J Scott W]

Another issue that may be responsible for indentations is the secondary backing breaking down. Usually the dimples can only be repaired for short term if this is the source of the problem.

Depending upon the room layout and the location of the dimples, you may want to turn the carpet back to examine the cushion and secondary backing. The cushion can also be replaced - at a proper fee.

 

[sweendogg]

Tis true... you can replace cushion. But its important that you replace with an equal quality cushion. AND generally if the pad has broken down enough to cause furniture indentation, the rest of the pad will be breaking down before too long as well.

 

[Ron K]

[/b][/quote]And how many jets your wand has... shiteatinggrin[/quote]


One blowme

 

[Bob Savage]

Put an ice cube in each indentation.

 

[amazingcleansc]

Cleaned carpet today. Rental owner asks about some "dimples" in carpet from previous tenants furniture. I explained that the pad/carpet has lost it's resilience and with time the indentations may or may not come back. The Owner quickly pointed out that the last cleaner "gets those out" I was like Wow that"s awesome! Am I missing something? What are you guys doing to get these out? Thanks.
Anthony Reyes

Yeah i had an apartment manager call me back swearing i didnt clean the carpet because of dimples. turns out they had bought CUT PILE OLEFIN that was surplus new single wide mobile home carpet.

First thing I would do if she tried to get smart with me (after slapping her) would be to get technical with her about what the carpet is made from.

ON EDIT: If you do a fiber test and it turns out that there is no way to get the indentions out, I actually ended up putting a pretty pattern of rx-20 swirls in the carpet which made it "look like it was just cleaned" and made the indentions not so noticeable. flame on flamers, but she was happy.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=39682&start=0&hilit=indentations

 

[The Magician]

A old cleaner told me to use ice cubes in a platic bag. I didn't have alot of sucess.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

I think the idea is that by the time the ice cube melts you've made your getaway, and the check has cleared.

 

[Goomer]

I think the idea is that by the time the ice cube melts you've made your getaway, and the check has cleared.

That's funny, but seriously, I have read this before about the ice cube, but never found an explanation on how it is supposed to help.
What is the idea behind it?

 

[amazingcleansc]

I think the idea is that by the time the ice cube melts you've made your getaway, and the check has cleared.

That's funny, but seriously, I have read this before about the ice cube, but never found an explanation on how it is supposed to help.
What is the idea behind it?

Well, from a technical standpoint,

It gives all the nasty little rat germ bacteria coating the outside of the nasty apartment carpet goosebumps, which causes the carpet fiber to stand on end, restoring the pile.

 

[Goomer]

Well, from a technical standpoint,

It gives all the nasty little rat germ bacteria coating the outside of the nasty apartment carpet goosebumps, which causes the carpet fiber to stand on end, restoring the pile.

I don't get it.
Can you just say it in layman's terms?

 

[sweendogg]

ice cue trick.. technically speaking.. the real answer. The ice cube lowers the temperature of the carpet. As it melts, it adds moisture to the carpet and the surround air.. "heats" the carpet back to room temperature in essence trying to accomplish the same task as we do with steamers. The same "energy" is added to bring the fiber temperature back.. but as many of us have found, the molecular energy is not the same to restore the resiliance of the fiber or rather does not work as quickly as we would like.

 

[Nate The Great]

[quote="Nate The Great":3jz7mab1]And how many jets your wand has... shiteatinggrin

One blowme[/quote:3jz7mab1]

You're so 70's it hurts... shiteatinggrin

 

[Bob Savage]

It is the prolonged wet action of the ice cube slowing melting without over-wetting the indentation, that gets the dent out.

You also use ice cubes to water orchids once a week - slow release of moisture.

 

[Ken Snow]

It is the prolonged wet action of the ice cube slowing melting without over-wetting the indentation, that gets the dent out.

You also use ice cubes to water orchids once a week - slow release of moisture.

Been getting them out for decades with this method. Us seasoned vets still rock!

 

[XTREME1]

oven mitt and a damp sponge in the microwave, heat the sucker up and place it on the dimple

 

[harryhides]

I have had great success by using a steamer as mentioned above but only on Wool and Nylon.
This method allows the Tech to "re-arrange" the fibers to standing up as they should but it does nothing for the distorted secondary backing underneath.

This is where the ice cube method MAY be more helpful ( just a theory ) since cold tends to shrink things, I wonder if the ice cube helps to "shrink" the backing that has been pushed out of shape, thereby restoring it to a more flat profile ?
When we get dimples in Leather furniture a block of cold steel pressed against the leather helps a lot.

 

[Pmatte]

Replace pad underneath,push the backside of carpet back up.Backing maybe damaged.Ice cubes can work also steam w/ iron over damp towel for fibers.Even then,may not return to brand new but as like new as possible.

You can also do inserts if it bothers them enough!

 

[cleann4kids]

Pre-soak with water from your wand and when you come back and clean over they will come out!

 

[DevilDog]

The ice cube deal actually works....sometimes. The ice cube melts at room temp, the fibers and backing slowly return to normal, and there is not much water left to worry about. It does work sometimes when other methods do not work.

The bottom line is this....if dimple dick got the dimples out and they were happy...they should have called him back.

Not all furniture dimples or marks come out and if anyone says they do...they are full of....

DevilDog

 

[Lee Stockwell]

DD your last two posts answer several questions I've had for a while...