Water stain..

[Zee]

What would you do next?


There was a leak from an hvac unit...the management at the complex, replaced the padding and reinstalled the carpet.

I cleaned it. Prespray: flex powder and 40vol.

Prescrubbed..

Rinsed with rv360xl hooked to dwellpro.
Post pad with cotton pads and left a dripod overnight.

Now, several days later, the water stain is visible again...

I know we all deal with these in one way or another.

Suggestions? Encap?

 

[Zee]

Here is a before and after..

 

[Scott S.]

encap, it may be wicking.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

Deal with the boundaries first, to remove mineral concentration.

 

[Jim Pemberton]

Deal with the boundaries first, to remove mineral concentration.

Use an acidic tannin and/or urine spotter. Think of the minerals in the water like scale in your truck mount. Just as an acid descaler breaks down the mineral build up in your water system, one of these mild organic acids should be sufficient to break down the minerals that could be causing that stain.

Apply the acid treatment, rinse it well, and just in case do what Scott said and apply an encap product that prevents wicking, like Encapugard by Bridgepoint or Anti Resoiling Agent by CTI/Proschoice.

That should take care of it for you.

 

[Zee]

What product would be the best approach without having to do another rinse? I have releasit ds2, encapuclean o2, encapuclean green ds, encapuclean with matrix. I know none of them are acidic...

Unfortunately these people are incredibly uptight and demanding (like a little water stain is life and death) and really want the community to replace their carpets because of this. Of course the community is pushing me to take care of this problem for them.

 

[Desk Jockey]

With everything you did I'm surprised you had it resurface. How long had it been sitting and how bad was the stain? It sounds like you flushed all you can out with the RE. What about just spraying a little Yellow Rx and pad with the Orbot.

 

[Zee]

I cleaned this home late February..

The water damage happened sometime soon after that. (I didn't know about it until last week) but by this time they had the padding replaced. So I cleaned it last week again.

Interestingly enough, nobody seems to be able to tell me when this leak happened. I just know it was after the cleaning I did in February.


Doc, look at the before and after above. That's what it looked like last week when I worked on it.
Right now, it's less visible than on the before picture...

 

[Zee]

Is yellow Rx a browning treatment?

 

[Jim Pemberton]

Its a yellowing treatment made back when BHT yellowing was a bigger issue than it is any longer. It contains citric and sulfamic acid and should do the trick.

I'd rather see you rinse it out if you can; it may leave a soil attracting residue depending on the concentration you might need to knock out that stain.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Yes, its the one we use but if you have another brand on hand I'd just use it.

http://interlinksupply.com/index.php?item_num=CR47GL

I'd rather see you rinse it out if you can; it may leave a soil attracting residue depending on the concentration you might need to knock out that stain.

Jim if you hit it with a damp pad following the stain treatment, would that be enough or would you still HWE?

I'm just trying to keep it as dry as possible.

 

[Zee]

I have a couple of different browning treatments available. (Cobb's and another one... Might be masterblend)
I would just lightly spray it down and go over it with microfiber and cotton pads under the rv360xl.

I guess the problem is with these stains that they disappear as you introduce moisture and you won't know how it turns out until later.

Which in this case, is, when the resident already sent emails out stating their "total displeasure with the situation and this needs to be resolved asap"



Man I hate being stuck in the middle... Where the resident wants to use me to get new carpet and management wants to use me to save their ass.

 

[Desk Jockey]

"total displeasure with the situation and this needs to be resolved asap"

You will not be able to please these people. They want new and that means no matter how great a job you do, it won't be enough. I'd make sure you get with your client. See if that's what they want or if they just want to bypass the whole deal and replace the carpet.

These are not homeowners, they have no skin in the game. They are just squeaky wheels and they will bitch and whine until they get their way. If it was a homeowner than they want you to do what you can before they would ever consider replacement. Whole different dynamic.

 

[Zee]

They actually have to "buy in" to move in. In some of these apartments that means over a million dollars. And THEN they still pay $6000-7000/month to enjoy living there.

So they do have skin in the game in an indirect way.

 

[Desk Jockey]

They actually have to "buy in" to move in. In some of these apartments that means over a million dollars. And THEN they still pay $6000-7000/month to enjoy living there.

So they do have skin in the game in an indirect way.

Actually it sounds like they feel they "deserve" replacement. You are in a no win situation. Even "if" you remove the stain, they are going to be like a hawk waiting for it to resurface.

 

[Zee]

We're talking about people that in some cases have a 100million dollars and they come here for the last 5-10 years of their life.

I see family members come to visit in RR Phantoms and such.

 

[Desk Jockey]

If you had that kind of money, what would you want?

 

[Zee]

Those of you wishing for these types of customers that are absolutely loaded... Lemme tell you: I feel happier when I work in the mobile home park and the down to earth folks hand over that couple hundred bucks while thrilled and appreciative with the service they received.

 

[Zee]

If you had that kind of money, what would you want?

Cut stone imported from Israel... And a few nice oriental rugs, that you won't find in stores.

 

[hogjowl]

Carbonated Solutions and a pad.

 

[GeneMiller]

Did you check it with a meter before you cleaned it. The only time I've had them resurface is when they are still a little damp. Second cleaning should fix it.

Gene

 

[Zee]

Carbonated Solutions and a pad.

In that case, I could just use Procyon powder don't you think?

 

[ruff]

Zee, at the risk of having my head handed back to me.
Did you also check that there's not nap direction change in those boundaries that emphasizes the difference?

Just in case, I like mine (the head that is) served with Falafel.

 

[Zee]

Zee, at the risk of having my head handed back to me.
Did you also check that there's not nap direction change in those boundaries that emphasizes the difference?

Just in case, I like mine (the head that is) served with Falafel.

It's a soft nylon and I brushed it with a carpet brush the other day. It lays nice and even in both direction. However, the stain ring only becomes visible in one direction. That's how mild this problem really is.

 

[Zee]

 

[hogjowl]

In that case, I could just use Procyon powder don't you think?

CS has citric acid in it.

 

[jcooper]

They actually have to "buy in" to move in. In some of these apartments that means over a million dollars. And THEN they still pay $6000-7000/month to enjoy living there.
So they do have skin in the game in an indirect way.

Holy poop!

Who ever is writing the checks is the one I'm hoping to please.

 

[Spurlington]

How about some stain zone .. Ive misted then brushed with a groomer with great success in the past !!

 

[Jimmy L]

Citric acid leaves a sticky residue.

 

[hogjowl]

Yeah, it does.
When it's overly concentrated.
In a well formulated product, followed by a proper extraction, it's not a factor.
Imbecile