Stains wicking back up

[gimmeagig]

Hi,
Maybe this is a "Club Greenhorn" question but there's more traffic here and I'm hoping you guys will help me.
It's about my own rental which I rented out to a 21 year old and of course I should have known, after he moved the carpet was looking like hell. All kinds of big spills of some type of liquid everywhere.He had me fooled, he seemed like a nice kid which is why I let him rent the appartment in the first place, but I'm really regretting it now.
Anyway, the capet is midgrade medium pile beige nylon with a standard thickness pad underneath. I don't know what the spills are ( they are dark but not oily or sugary) so I did my regular prochem ultrapac prespray combined with some citrus traffic lane booster followed by all prochem fiber deep clean rinse and got it looking pretty nice again. I immediately stuck blowers on it to get it dry asap.
Well, I have new tenants in the unit now and within a couple of weeks most of the stains came back. I'm not super experienced but I have gotten great results in the past but this carpet was really in bad shape and is a real challenge for me. I figured I would really get the prespray in there with plenty of dwell time and then flush the carpet out afterwards. I figured that might be the way to go as long as I got it dry right away.
Obviously I still have a lot to learn, because this method did not work at all.
I do have a water claw should I try that, or how should I approach a situation like this in the future?
Do you have any pointers for me?
Thanks

 

[Lee Stockwell]

It worked. You just need to hit it again. The spots didn't "come back"...they just never left entirely.

Many will suggest a barrier type solution, perhaps encap or some surface only cleaning. That will work many times.

I prefer to Nuke it. Good prespray, a few minutes dwell time, and finally a slow deep flush and extraction.

 

[Doug Cox]

It sounds like a re- soiling issue not wicking. You have to remove what you put into the carpet for the carpet to stay clean. You also have to remove the cause of the stains. Just removing the stains isn't enough. If you leave soap in the carpet or use crappy detergents you will have problems also.

 

[ruff]

It sounds to me like wicking from the pad due to very heavy spills.

It depends on your goal.

If you just want it to be 'presentable', a bonnet cleaning may do the work. With or without an encapsulation products. Do mot spray heavy, as you do not want to cause another wick back. You may opt to just spray on the pad and scrub.

If you want to remove the soil from the pad you may opt for: A water claw, maybe followed with a bonnet or an encapsulation product. Another heavy cleaning (you may need to come back.) Or lift the carpet and see what's going on with the pad etc but that is a hassle.

 

[Ron K]

Isn't "wicking" as it dries and resoiling, after time, a result of residue?

 

[ruff]

Yes.

But wicking is usually because of capillary action, due to heavy soil in the pad, so as the carpet and pad dry it wicks up.

Fast resoling is due to leaving a lot of soil attracting residue in the carpet.

That is the non 'Webster' dictionary explanation. But as often is the case on this board, we can argue about that too !gotcha!

 

[Goomer]

It depends on your goal.

It's also occupied now.
Although another flushing might work, it could possibly wick again if there were a lot of big spills as you mentioned, further inconveniencing your new tenant. I would give it a once over with a bonnet/pad, maybe some Pro's Choice ARA, and give it a good flush next time it is unoccupied, so you have more time to deal with it if it does wick.

 

[RIP IT]

I use the same chemicals but would also run Prochems 'Heatwave' emulsifier through the rinse then do a post spray with the fibre rinse.
If the spills have penetrated the secondary backing of the carpet 'they', ( not you ) may have a problem. You may have to lift the carpet to check this.

 

[gimmeagig]

Thanks guys for not making me feel like a complete looser. I have all the good intentions but I don't have the tricks up my sleeve yet.
I'll just have to do it again soon. I don't mind.I want it to be nice for my new tenants.Unfortunately I don't own a bonnet cleaner ( I suppose I could rent one but I've never used one) I'm just getting my business going and I'm saving for a nice upholstery tool and an electric sprayer for carpet protectant so a bonnet cleaner wasn't high on my list (should it be?)
In retrospect I thought there might have been something I could have done differently. For my rinse I had a ratio on my flow meter that indicated about 6 GPH. Later on I thought maybe I should have followed up with a final rinse with much less concentration to make sure there wasn't any residue on the surface of the carpet.
Would that have kept the carpet from resoiling/wicking so quickly?

 

[encapman]

ENCAP!

:idea:

 

[lance]

I bet the spills got down into the backing and the pad. Go back and flush each area with very hot plain water. You want to clean the carpet again but flush it out really well first, and then go back four or five days later to see the results.

Wicking only occurs when there is something there to wick. Resoiling is from residue left over from cleaning. A really good flushing, especially with spills, can take care of both problems at the same time.

What wand are you using? Does it have a glide? At what flow and pressure are you using? These things do make a difference.

Keep on trucking.

 

[Ron Werner]

water claw the darkest areas, first use a good emulsifier to dissolve whatever is in there, then rinse it a couple times, follow all your water clawing with a rinse with your wand.
Really suck it out with your WC.
If that still doesn't get it, encap it. At that point, nothing to lose.

 

[tim]

Resoil...unless you didnt get it completely dry. Wickback doesnt occur on dry carpet, thats why wickback occurs in the first couple of days. You can clean the soil off the residue and not get all the residue and with traffic, it will come back. Wickback is generally seen in one or two days, resoil over a week or more. You have several options, reclean and flush well, dry until bone dry (I use a moisture meter to know) or you can encap, flush with a claw....I would probably just reclean and make several wet and dry passes, dry as quickly as possible

 

[Ron K]

If you don't have a 175 you can use a towel. We towel dry all our stairs we clean and it works brilliantly.

 

[Chriswa]

I had a similar issue and this thread has been very helpful, thanks a ton!

 

[Goomer]

Unfortunately I don't own a bonnet cleaner ( I suppose I could rent one but I've never used one) I'm just getting my business going and I'm saving for a nice upholstery tool and an electric sprayer for carpet protectant so a bonnet cleaner wasn't high on my list (should it be?)

You should look out for a nice used 175 rpm rotary machine. Very versatile machine, you can pre-scrub, post-bonnet, encap, and a lot more with it. Add one to your "stuff to get" list, somewhere near the top.

 

[gimmeagig]

I actually save all your answers on my computer on a word document categorized by topics, so I can read it again and really digest all the info I'm getting. Knowing that I can come here with my questions and problems that I encounter in the process of becoming a real carpet cleaner means a lot to me. So thank you all one more time for your help!

 

[Willy P]

ENCAP!

:idea:

Yep. Gotta have a barrier for the capillary action if it's a slop.

 

[ruff]

And that is why we call ENCAP the gift that keeps on giving.

It pays the bills when you are done..
and at the same time sows the seeds of your next cleaning.

All in one fell swoop.

Rick, I expect, will be here in a minute.

 

[steve r]

get some spray and go from chem spec. use as directed on a few spots. if its a single guy its probably beer and this will make them disappear. works on coffee and pop also.

they may still come back when it gets hot and humid though. if they do use it again but use more so it penetrates deeper let it dwell and lightly clean but use a lot of dry strokes.