Welcoming smiles, laughter, fond recollections of the past—and to top it all off—the perfect combination of red and white wines….
It was a great evening.
You met some old college friends and some new ones, you’re glad you threw this party.
But alas, your home now is a complete mess.
Overflowing trash bins.
Cups, bottles, plates everywhere.
And…
…a few stains here and there!
Not a problem; not a problem at all.
A mild application of a spot spray, thorough rinsing and everything is back to being…
Neat and clean!
You call it a day off and hit the sack.
Next morning you wake up and to your surprise:
The stain on your carpet which you cleaned last night—it’s back!
You clean it again, this time using a strong detergent solution. After a week’s relief, it reappears.
That spot on your carpet keeps reappearing no matter how many times you try to clean it. You’ve even tried vacuuming your carpet, but it just doesn’t go.
So why is it happening:
Why do some carpet stains reappear after seemingly being cleaned?
There are two primary causes behind reappearing carpet stains: one is wicking, the other is residue action.
Wicking originates below the carpet fibers. Residue action originates within the carpet fibers.
Let’s look into the details of both…
Wicking
Wicking is a carpet re-spotting phenomenon which happens when the original stain soils deep below the carpet fibers, penetrating into the fibers.
You try to clean the stain and you also manage to do so—but only on the surface. Your carpet looks neat and clean, until the deep-seated stain wicks back to the surface.
Why it wicks back to the surface?
Because of excessive rinsing.
*Cough* A mild application of a spot spray, thorough rinsing… *Cough*
The excessive rinse saturates the area with moisture and allows water to penetrate deep into the carpet backing. As fibers dry, and moisture evaporates, the water soaked by the backing (which is now dirty because it has mixed with the stain) gradually wicks to the surface.
The stain is now visible again.
If a spot reappears soon after the carpet has been cleaned, wicking is most likely to blame.
Residue Action
This happens when you try to clean a carpet stain with the help of soap, shampoo or some other carpet cleaning agent available at local stores, and you forget to clean the left behind solution residue.
*You clean it again, this time using a strong detergent solution*
Shampoo or soap residue acts like a magnet for grime and dirt. It attracts the dust particles and re-soils the carpet. The stain you see on your carpet is not actually the original stain, but the newly entrapped soiling.
And no, the cleaning solution residue does not go even if you try to vacuum clean it. You’ll have to deep clean your carpet to get rid of it.
Carpet re-spotting that occurs after a week or few weeks, can be explained by residue action.
What should you do if you’re struggling to permanently clean reappearing carpet stains?
Get your carpet professionally cleaned by a carpet cleaning service.
Wait!
You would not want to hire just any service provider, right? You want to hire the best one.
Check out this helpful guide about how to find the best carpet cleaning service in your area.
