By: Mitch Frieber, Bedminster ON-SITE Drapery Care
One of our claims to fame here at Bedminster ON-SITE, is successfully removing stains from fabrics. Stain removal is a high risk business because using the wrong chemicals or the wrong procedure can get one into big trouble
The “Before” picture shows a two-foot long, dark blue, nail polish stain on a light beige carpet in our customer’s living room. Our customer had tried nail polish remover she had on hand, which only caused the stain to spread (dye transfer). She then tried an unidentified, foaming product from the hardware store. Then, she called us.
The first good piece of news was that we knew what the stain consisted of, which, of course, allows us to use a more direct approach. Secondly, the stain, although dry, was only a week old. The sooner one can get to a stain, the better. The not-so-good news was that our customer had tried to get most of the stain out herself. While I applaud her efforts, it is almost always much more difficult to remove a stain if a stain is worked on before we get there.
We first extracted out the chemicals, which were still in the carpet. We then used a specially formulated degreaser to break down and loosen the nail polish dye. On top of that we used a second product to prevent the dye from transferring deeper into the carpet fibers and backing. We then scrubbed and rinsed with heated, distilled water using an extraction machine. We repeated this process numerous times as the stain slowly disappeared working on just two inches of the stain at a time. We then applied an oxidizer to remove any remaining traces of the stain.
Read, ” Holiday Upholstery Stain Removal”, here: https://www.theconnectionsnj.com/holiday-upholstery-stain-removal/
The whole process took over three hours but saved the customer from purchasing a whole new rug or wood floor, which she later told us was Plan B.