Reappearing Coffee Stain

[mark63]

I have a regular 20oz olefin commercial carpet that I clean on a regular basis that has a 1ft x 1ft coffee stain that keeps coming back? I have been using a encap process with a cimex. Also they tried to save money about 1.5yrs ago and had another company clean it once, they saturated the carpet and after a couple of days all the stains came back and the carpet started to smell. today they told me that the carpet really started to smell yesterday, it was really hot and humid. I cleaned it last time about 2 weeks ago.

[lee@deepclean.us.com]

I would try Hydrox along with Odorcide.
Scrub first followed by bonnet and then put fans on it right away.
Do not saturate.
If there is some type of moisture problem below it will continue to come back.
At that point you may have to HWE the spot until clean and then bonnet VLM.


Lee

[Lounge Lizards]

Before wetting the carpet, do you have a Dri-Eaz Wet Chec??

   

This is a very inexpensive way to check if moisture is indeed under the carpet or if it is dry.

Simply probe the carpet & if moisture is present, it will beep.

The faster the beep, the more moisture content.

I carry one in the van at all times as it also is handy for finding urine before cleaning upholstery.

If no moisture present, carry on as Lee has stated.

Hope this helps.

[encapman]

Excellent suggestions above!

You could apply the Spill Stain Remedy (follow the instructions to the letter). It should take care of the problem. You could also use Encap-HydrOx as your encap juice with the Spill Stain Remedy, since you're dealing with a coffee stain. The Spill Stain Remedy should do the trick. Here's a link to our EncapBlog article on this... https://www.excellent-supply.com/Fixing-..._b_24.html

[Rick J]

Very timely. I have a similar problem.
(and thank you Rick for help with logging in!)

Rental office . Not terribly large. Really really low end commercial glue down.
A lot of use. Not well maintained at all on a daily basis. They have a vacuum in the closet that gets used regularly. ( last time there I spent 15 minutes unclogging it)

Anyway one spot. An obvious spill. Pretty large , has me fuming.
Overall the place cleans up ok. I have only used OP with various absorbant bonnets. Various well known products, and also peroxides.
I have never HWEd the place. I do not think they have had it done by anyone else.

On concrete. Older. Not an initial installation of carpet.

Anyway they swear it is an old coffee stain. But it is not a stain, but resoiling.
Have used the method Rick swears by, mentioned above.
When frustrated I have gotten aggressive with amount of solution I I lay down.
Have tried messing with a solvent on it, but carefully so as not to loosen the glue.

Same spot will not respond. Often, even while cleaning it I can still see a slight shadow.

Again, they swear it is an old coffee spill, as it is right next to where they used to have a desk.

It has been a while, but last time I dd it as a courtesy because I could not stand to see it looking so bad.
Then, there it was again taunting me!!!l

[encapman]

You said "Various well known products, and also peroxides".

Are you using Encap-Clean DS2? You might also consider Encap-HydrOx if it is a brown/coffee stain.

If you very carefully follow the directions in the link above on a spill stain - it will normally eliminate the recurring spill problem entirely.

[BrandonCrayden81]

If the stain really keeps coming back even after all that cleaning and time, then probably the problem is below the carpet itself. The coffee has soaked through the fabric and is embedded in the floor beneath it. Each time the weather gets hot, the dried stain dissolves and starts to smell. Wicking is very unpleasant and fixing that issue is not as easy as most people think. Simply extending the cleaning procedure won't do it this time. Treat the spot as you normally would, and after that stack towels and weights on the spot overnight.
If the stain reappears again, then the next step should be a professional carpet cleaning by hot water extraction, conducted using a truck-mounted unit, because they are much more powerful.

[GroovyJon]

If the stain really keeps coming back even after all that cleaning and time, then probably the problem is below the carpet itself. The coffee has soaked through the fabric and is embedded in the floor beneath it. Each time the weather gets hot, the dried stain dissolves and starts to smell. Wicking is very unpleasant and fixing that issue is not as easy as most people think. Simply extending the cleaning procedure won't do it this time. Treat the spot as you normally would, and after that stack towels and weights on the spot overnight.  
If the stain reappears again, then the next step should be a professional carpet cleaning by hot water extraction, conducted using a truck-mounted unit, because they are much more powerful.

Braydon.... if you are referring to Rick J's post.. I'm not to sure a "professional" hot water extraction will be anymore effective on direct glue down commercial carpet, nor how weather has an impact in a climate controlled environment. But I could be wrong.

The spot or stain sounds like it may have been treated before by someone else.... no telling what was tried, could be the customer bought some off the shelf product and tried to remove (not sure). In allot of cases it can permanently set and cannot be removed.

[Lounge Lizards]

I also agree with what GroovyJon has said.

If it is a coffee stain, then it is the tannin's that are staining the carpet, more-so than wicking.

The way Rick G outlined the removal of tannin's is also the way I effectively remove them & have been doing so for well over a decade.

A tannin stain will form on the top of the pile, I have never had one start to smell (after removal), when the weather gets hot.

My weather is fairly warm most all year 'round & I effectively remove ALL coffee stains with Rick's method, or my own. 

If it starts to smell when weather is humid, then that indicates to me that there are salts in the carpet that absorb the moisture from the air & then off-gas the odor.

Tannin, (coffee stains) will not do this, as far as I am aware.

After three decades + of porty & t/m use, I now use encap; & bonnet cleaning in over 95% of my work.

This has been for the last 14 years roughly, as I started back in the industry in '71.

Just because people may have some things bigger & much more powerful than what I have, does not mean that I cannot accomplish the same (or better) result with what I have & the knowledge I use, in fact, the majority of my work, a truck mount cannot be used, & a portable does not work as well as what I use, which is a Cimex & Sprayborg.

Just my thoughts on the matter.

If it was a great concern I would lift the carpet for further investigation to see what is under the carpet (unless it is a direct stick), & possibly even consider (after removing the offending problem), a specialized stain removal system or even dye rectification for any color problems, depending on the carpet fiber.

Without seeing the problem first-hand, we can only give opinions, then it's a matter of elimination.

Simple really.

[Rick J]

To try and further clarify my earlier post, and question.

The carpet is direct glue down., on concrete. It is not a stain, but recurring soiling. Area becoming soiled by something still in the carpet.

I have cleaned this carpet several times, using only VLM , utilizeing absorbant bonnets, . Microfiber, glads, bonnet pro wool pro etc.

And , using Rick's method(I think correctly) to prevent that stubborn spot.

I have not been there in a while. I plan on stopping by , and giving it a refresh clean. It is really not a large area.