water marks on upholstery

[lust1kiddo]

Any idea on how to get them out. I find them on both microfiber and blends.

 

[alazo1]

Have your tried anything yet?.

Usually wet the whole piece evenly.
Mist some reducer and let it dry in the sun if available.

Or maybe just the cleaning will take care of it..need more info.

Albert

 

[lust1kiddo]

it was just a general question. A lot of times there are stains that have dark ring around the outside. and the ring reappears after cleaning dries. I was just wondering what people do. I run into this all the time. I also sometimes have a problem getting milk stains out.
I always tell the customer about everything I see before I start and let thyem know that not everything is guaranteed to come out but the whole couch will be sanatized.
Then i prespray with like 8.5 or so then agitate a little with horse hair and rinse with either all fiber textile rinse (4) or sometimes I use One Clean from Chemspec. (7). If there are some stais left, I will treat with stain magic or something.

 

[Hoody]

Could be the spill penetrated to the foam. When you cleaned the piece, and added water, some residue wicked to the face, much like a wicking spot on carpet. You need to check for residue to make sure you rinsed the spot out properly. A lot of times an acid rinse will remove the water ring, and as albert said clean the whole cushion, or area affected.

 

[lust1kiddo]

thanks. I just wanted to be sure there wasn't something I was missing. Normally with upholstery I try not to pound water into the fabric and just use the chemicals and agitation. Trust me I wet everything..but i just don't go too crazy. To save myself I tell the custy that when you see a ring around the outside of a stain, sometimes that could be permanent damage to the fiber. I can clean it but it might not come out all the way..and they are normally cool with that. And obviously I almost never get to see finished dry work.

 

[colin fitch]

On Microfibre [ mostly polyester] a good pre-spray,brush and rinse should take care of it.
The dark ring is only soil build up[give it a good rinse]
Also dont forget to re- dress the pile.

Blends will be more difficult, use same process as above and do what Albert says mist some reducer and let it dry in the sun if available.

colin

 

[lust1kiddo]

Thanks guys. If there is no sun available, can I just use the reducer? And when you say lightly..what does that mean. I have reducing agents in powder form and I have like the cti products. Will they damage the fiber if I screw up?

 

[colin fitch]

Yes you can [not to many sunny days here in the u.k ] and leave to dry naturally,blends may require a second application of reducer.

Lightly in English = Spritz in American [ i think]

I prefere to use powder form for carpets and shampoo form for upholstery.

 

[Bob Savage]

I have had very positive results using Kleen-Rite uph pre-spray (ammonia based). Wet the ring with the pre-spray, and agitate with uph tool, in short choppy strokes. Heat is necessary, but not too much, as you have to be careful on uph not to disturb the micro-fiber set.

Repeat the process as long as you see improvement.

 

[GeneMiller]

i wouldn't tell someone that you sanitize their furniture, i believe there is a legal definition for what that means.

gene

 

[Gnu]

you can always tell your customers to stop having wet farts in the cushions.

it could be that your over wetting it from the get go. if there is problematic areas in the center of the cushion. it might be you overwetting the cusions and its pooling into the center. use a hand help pump up sprayer and atomize your prespray. then turn down the pressure to less than 100 psi. so your not injecting water/dirt into the middle of the foam or batting. thus causing a pooling effect. jmo

 

[lust1kiddo]

over-wetting is not whats happening. these are marks that are there from stains already. I also have problems getting milk stains out. they leave a white ring around the stain.

 

[Ron Werner]

use protein spotter on Milk stains, Steve covered that in his class. The milk stain "appears" to be cleaned off but returns after dry.

Water mark on a poly/micro fibre just means soil. Use a little higher pH to move it.

 

[cory kenyon]

Jim Pemberton in his class said to use distilled water. Try misting it with the water and dry it off quickly
and see how that works.

 

[Hoody]

use protein spotter on Milk stains, Steve covered that in his class. The milk stain "appears" to be cleaned off but returns after dry.

Water mark on a poly/micro fibre just means soil. Use a little higher pH to move it.

pH doesn't matter, [EDIT - as far as what it will remove] You can use a decent shampoo thats has great surfactants thats on the acid side. I like rinsing heavily soil/spotted microfiber with Prochem's All Fiber Deep Clean. It has emulsifiers that help during cleaning, but will also leave it soft and its still on the acid side.

 

[lust1kiddo]

I know I should acid rinse all the time but I find it frustrating that when I do, not everything comes out. A lot of times I rinse with One Clean from chemspec its like neutral. It helps get the crap that the prespray doesn't. Opinion?

 

[harryhides]

Stain magic or any product containing Hydrogen Peroxide will literally dissolve fabrics like Cotton or blends containing cotton or linen.

Peroxide works great for removing or rendering invisible, water marks on most carpet fibers.

True water marks are formed by the concentration on minerals and iron oxides contained in city water, lake water and well water. Distilled water contains no such contaminants and is the singe best preventative measure against water marks and will in most cases remove them ( by dissolving and spreading the minerals out ) if the entire panel is flushed out with it. DI and RO water also work for the same reasons.

Incomplete removal of stains require the appropriate solvent and more flushing.

NB ANY stain that re-appears after drying in not permanent and simply needs to be dealt with.

 

[lust1kiddo]

They make stain magic for wool. It has a totally different ph than the other and comes wiith color stabilizing solution.

 

[Jim Pemberton]

Treating water marks is like treating a cough.

The cough can be from a cold, noxious fumes or chemicals in the air, or throat cancer.

The water stains that Tony (Harryhides) and I recommend distilled water for are those caused primarily from sizing that has migrated from a spill or improper spotting.

Other events that can create water marks are a ring of soil from attempting to only remove a spot on a piece of upholstery that should be completely cleaned, cellulose browning, and color bleeding to name a few.

You need to determine the problem first, then you can find the best solution to correct the problem.

I'd hesitate to use Stain Magic for Wool on cellulose fibers (its not called "Stain Magic for cotton/linen/rayon" after all). Bleaching, even with non chlorine bleaches that contain peroxide, should be used only as a last resort, as it may weaken these fibers.