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tip bloom
#1
Hello and Merry Christmas everyone!

I recently cleaned a 2nd home for a family from Chicago. The upstairs carpet was almost new but had a few stains on it. The wife had tried unsuccessfully to remove these stains with a scrub brush and store-bought stain removal solution.

I cleaned the carpet with my Challenger, DS2, and microglides. Only 1 stain remained (it was a bad rust stain and I told this lady that it would be difficult to remove.)

Upon inspecting the carpet, i saw that, wherever she had attempted to remove a stain, there was now a clump of fuzzy carpet. I am assuming that it was tip bloom?? Nowhere else did I find any type of fiber damage except where she had attempted to remove a stain.

I used lubricated pads, kept the machine moving, ....


Here are my questions:

1. Was this damage in fact from the scrubbing with a scrub brush? I explained that the fiber damage was due to the scrubbing, in a very nice way.

2. Should I mention that fiber damage can happen if there has been scrubbing?

This happened also in the basement where the carpet was older. I used good technique there, too, but there was some fuzziness, especially on the stairs. Can a residential carpet cleaner, like a hoover, cause this kind of damage?

Of couse I want to be honest and take responsibility if it was my doing that damaged the carpet. But I don't think it was my newbieness in this case.

I would love any advice. Thank you.





Of






2. Should I explain that if any scrubbing has been done in the past that this tiblooming could occur? I didn't say that (it has never happened to me before) but now I think that I may have to say that in my inspection.
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#2
Ps sorry for the repeat of question 2 at the end of the post. My kindle could not edit it.
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#3
I'll start by saying that it's possible that you caused the damage with your OP machine. Possible, but not highly probable. Now that I've covered the fine print, let's get down to business.

What type of fiber was this? Polyester? Could it be "builder grade" carpet? That will have a huge impact on its durability. Some of the cheapo carpet looks great when it's new and will continue to look great until it gets walked on, or cleaned.

Brushing the carpet WILL cause the carpet to abrade and look awful - been there done that. Wear patterns on stairs are very common too. Stairs get higher stress than any other location.

Or it could be a combination of all of the above... Cheap carpet, OP cleaning, hand scrubbing torture, and traffic on stairs.

Using an OP can cause fuzzing. But your technique sounds like you are doing it right. You stated that you had a lubricated pad (KEEP IT WELL LUBRICATED), used MicroGlide bonnets (very soft), and that you kept the machine moving. That's a good formula for OP cleaning. Yet even still, an OP can fuzz up a carpet. Especially if the problems you're seeing are in the more challenging areas. I'm guessing that you went over the trouble spots extra? That can contribute to wear and fuzzing. In the future, I would recommend using Encap-Punch for OP cleaning. It's better for bonnet cleaning.

I hope this brief explanation gives you a few possible things to consider. And I hope others will share their input on this too. There are some sharp fellas here!
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#4
Thanks Rick. I think it was cheap carpeting. The former owners seemed to cut a lot of corners in other areas, like paint. It was very sloppy.

How can I tell what the carpet is made of? Is there a test that I can do on it?

Do you have a book that you would recommend for us newbies to help us be better carpet cleaners?

The bedroom carpeting had fuzziness only in the stained areas. I did spend more time on those areas, but I used a criss -cross method and kept it moving.

I would be horrified to think that I produced carpet damage. What would you experts do in this situation?
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#5
Take an IICRC class in your area. You will learn so much. It's worth it! "Knowledge is powerful." Yes, there are ways to test carpet fiber. And you'll learn all that and a whole lot more in your first IICRC course. So run and do it. You'll thank me later Smile
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#6
Lynne, go here to see the courses and do a class search. Good luck!

http://www.iicrc.org/education-certifica...-schedule/
With Respect,
Stephen
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