Have you ever wondered why spots return after having your carpet cleaned?
There are two reasons that spots return:
Reason # 1: Wicking. Wicking is the upward migration of moisture or other substances during drying.
Many times,
the spots in your carpet have seeped into the backing of the carpet. This is common with liquids such as pet urine, beverages,
and anything that is spilled in “volume”. The substance dries in the backing and
the cushion (pad) of the carpet.
When the spot is cleaned, only the material in the “pile” of the carpet is removed. However, moisture is introduced
to into the backing of the carpet.
As the spot dries, the material that is in the backing of the carpet “wicks” back into the pile of the carpet and comes to the surface much like a candle wick.
Even traffic area soil that is
embedded can wick back. This is especially common in glue down carpet that is
heavily impacted with soil. When the carpet is cleaned, it looks good. When it
dries, the spots and traffic areas come back.
The good news is that if a spot
actually wicks back, it can be removed. When spot cleaning yourself, place a
folded white terry cloth towel over the spot just after you clean it while the
spot is still moist. Place a heavy object on top of the cloth. Be sure to use
something non porous that won’t transfer color onto the carpet (like a paper
book cover). Use a brick, a planting pot, or something like that.
When you have your carpet cleaned
professionally, be sure to point out spots that have wicked back in the past,
so they can be treated properly.Often, getting the carpets dry quickly will help prevent wicking. Your carpet cleaner can do this by running air movers to help dry the room (one of Overturf's Cleaning's steps in our 12 step process). You can assist in your carpets dry time by running any available fans like ceiling fans, along with turning your air conditioner on to about 70 degrees. The sooner the carpet dries, the less chance for any substance on the backing of the carpet has to wick up to the surface.
We will discuss reason number 2 for spots returning in a future post.
