Cleaning Questions & Answers

Here are questions from carpet cleaners around the world and answers to them. If you'd like to have your carpet "cleaning" related question answered, drop me a line!. I'll send a personal answer directly to you and also place it on these pages for the benefit of other carpet cleaning technicians. Check back often, these pages will be changing frequently...

Hi Ron,

This is more of a cleaning question than a marketing question. Recently I cleaned a sofa and love seat. They are about 1 year old and cleaned for the first time. The color is light beige to off white. After cleaning a dark casting occurred which didn't become noticeable until a few hours later.

The material appears to be a cotton. There is no dark underlining to bleed through. We used a light mist prespray of a 25% water based detergent mix followed by a rinse/extraction process. This was applied in a spray form and vacuum extracted. We did not flush the material directly or use extra hot water. There is not a distinct watermarking but rather an overall dark casting that stops just short of the edge of the pieces so as to show the difference. The dark casting is not overly noticeable, but is there. WE DID NOT DO ANYTHING DIFFERENTLY THAN WE DO ON ANY COTTON OR OTHER DELICATE FABRIC.

I have three questions.

1) Is there a way of lightening this dark casting?
2) What do I tell the customer who sees his furnishings damaged after cleaning and I don't believe we did anything negligent in our approach?
3)When I tried to get insurance for this type of thing, I was told that the policies in general did not cover problems resulting from workmanship. What do you recommend?

Thank you very much,

Dave

Hi Dave,

Let me address each question one at a time. For your first question, "Is there a way of lightening this dark casting?" The answer is most likely yes.

What you describe seems to fit the definition of a classic case of 'brownout'. Usually the fabric appears to turn slightly golden-brown or yellow. The chances of a brownout occurring amplify greatly when one or more of the following things are present:

1) White or off-white fabric (Generally cottons but I've seen this occur on synthetic fabrics as well.) 2) A high PH cleaner
3) A dry time that is longer than 2 hours.

The bad news is it's going to take a return trip (or two) to fix it. The good news is you can usually fix this problem in 99% of the cases you run into.

You mentioned that you used a prespray as a cleaning agent. I personally don't like to use presprays on white furniture because most presprays are very high on the PH scale. And the greater your PH, the greater the chance of discoloration occurring. Most presprays on the market today contain Ph levels in the 12 to 14 range.

When cleaning white or off-white fabrics, you want to keep the Ph level much lower. I use a shampoo specially formulated for cotton fabrics. It's Ph is about 7.5. A low Ph cleaner greatly reduces the chance of a brownout occurring.

After you've applied the cleaning agent and agitated it into the fabric, and after thoroughly rinsing, you have to do something that most cleaners who regularly get brownouts almost always drop the ball on.

What is that?

Dry, dry, DRY the material! I'm not talking about going over the material once or twice with your machine, but going over the material as many times as necessary to get it to the point where it's almost dry to the touch. This is a critical key! You see, the longer the fabric is wet, the more the chance of a brownout occurring. There exists a direct relationship between the two. Long dry time=greater chance of brownout; Short dry time=lesser chance of brownout. I've used a low Ph cleaner and still had a brownout occur because the fabric took several hours to dry. I've also used a high Ph 'prespray' (as a test of my theory) and extracted like crazy, dry time one hour, and had no brownout occur. Drying time is a critical factor in preventing brownouts.

So when you're cleaning white furniture, remember use:
1) Low Ph cleaner
2) Dry, dry, DRY the material

So how do you fix the predicament you're in? The sofa you've cleaned has already browned-out. This is what I would do...

1) This time, use a low Ph cleaner, like 'haitian cotton' shampoo.
2) 'Test' a small area on the fabric, apply the shampoo and agitate it in. This should get rid of the discoloration.
3) Rinse
4) DRY! Go over area like crazy with your extraction hose. Get it almost dry to the touch.
5) If the test area is successful, cautiously proceed with the rest.

You know you've cured the problem when the fabric is dry and the discoloration is gone. Many technicians will clean off the brownout discoloration and leave, only to hear from the client the next day with the same problem. In most cases, you won't see a fabric brownout while it's still wet. You'll see it once it's dry. So clean off the discoloration first, dry it quickly, and the problem should be solved.

Your second question was, "What do I tell the customer who sees his furnishings damaged after cleaning and I don't believe we did anything negligent in our approach?"

From what you've told me earlier, I don't think the upholstery is permanently damaged. Let's say, for the sake of argument, you did permanently damage the upholstery. What is your position even though you weren't negligent in your approach but damage did occur?

Well, it's not a position I want to find myself in. If the client were to take you to court to pay for his damages, the judge would probably reach a verdict in favor of him. You see, you are holding yourself out as an expert in upholstery cleaning and as a cleaning expert you should take precautions to prevent a discoloration from happening. If you did take precautions and it still happened, the plaintiff (the client) wouldn't have too hard a time convincing a judge you were somehow negligent and as a result of your negligence responsible. Small claims court tend to be consumer sided. This is the reality we as technicians have to face.

So how do you protect yourself? Well, a smartly worded contract is a big help. My contract is full of conditions and disclaimers that I feel absolutely are necessary in order to protect my interests. Specifically, my contract says:

Conditions: The Company-Preferred Carpet, Upholstery, & Drapery Cleaners agrees to perform or cause to be performed the service indicated in a proper and workmanlike manner, using equipment and detergents standard for the cleaning industry. The customer agrees that the Company shall NOT BE LIABLE FOR THE FAILURE TO REMOVE STAINS nor for any DISCOLORATION OR BLEEDING from non-fast dyes or backing threads, nor for any CHANGE IN COLOR of the carpet or upholstery regardless of the cause; nor CHANGES IN TEXTURE OR SHADING that may appear either before or after cleaning; nor for any SHRINKAGE, opening of pasted seams, FADING OF FABRICS which may appear in the process of cleaning. FRAYING of fabrics in areas of normal wear will not be a responsibility of the Company or bad smelling carpet or padding. WHITE OR OFF WHITE FABRICS CLEANED AT CUSTOMERS RISK. The Company will accept no liablity for conditions existing prior to cleaning, nor will the Company be responsible for any damage to fabrics cleaned, unless caused by the negligence of the operator.

This has worked for me in a number of situations I've encountered in the last 13 years. Now, it certainly doesn't cover every possible occurence, but it has worked for me. I recommend you consult an attorney.

Dave's third question was, "When I tried to get insurance for this type of thing, I was told that the policies in general did not cover problems resulting from workmanship. What do you recommend, Ron?"

Not all policies are alike, Dave, but in general, most carpet cleaning insurance policies won't cover your negligence if you ruin something in the course of it's cleaning. BUT they may cover a ruined item if the damage was not a negligent act or fault of yours. (Although this never happened to me, I heard of a carpet cleaner who cleaned a sofa and a black number bled through, that the manufacturer used to identify the foam stuffing. No way of knowing that was gonna happen unless he were to pull out a pocket knife and cut open the fabric. In that case, I understand the insurance paid for the damage.)

Some insurance policies WILL cover damage no matter what the cause is. Every policy is different. Unfortunately, you have to do some investigation and asking around.

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