Using The Rug Doctor On Dark Spots And Stains...Especially Old Stains!

This video shows a carpet with lots of dark spots throughout. The customer has children who spill food on the carpet, which often gets stepped on and matted into the fibers. They also spill lots of drinks and don't get them blotted up quickly enough. In addition they don't vacuum very often (gave up on it because of the age of the children who continually make messes). Due to a complaint from the manager about the bad condition of their carpets, they hired us to clean up the mess. This carpet hadn't been cleaned in a couple of years so the stains etc. represent what a Rug Doctor can do with well set stains.
Before running the Rug Doctor, it is essential to vacuum thoroughly to remove loose debris and soils. We recommend that vacuuming be done from multiple angles (90 degrees is ideal, so that the nap of the carpet is agitated from two directions), and with multiple passes (some experts recommend 7 or 8 passes at a slow speed), to prepare the carpet before putting any chemicals or water on it (creating a sludge...which is bad). We pre-spray the carpet soap directly on the carpet with a pump up sprayer, especially on a real stained carpet. This allows the soap to break down the stains and soil (ten minutes or so of dwell time is ideal for this). When running the Rug Doctor it is advised to adjust speed of operation according to how dirty the carpet covered in that pass is. You can move rather quickly over cleaner area's but slow way down for bad stains. If a stain doesn't come out after a few passes over it, you may need to spray additional soap on it (be sure to clean elsewhere for a few minutes to allow the soap to work on the stain). Some stains won't respond to cleaning attempts (usually you can tell if this is going to be the case by whether the stain lightens up initially or no...try using an old toothbrush to gently scrub the stain with the detergent applied). In some cases, carpet shampoo won't work on a stain, but a product like Greased Lightning will (be sure and test in an inconspicuous place first for color fast of carpet). After all attempts are completed, go over the area with the Rug Doctor to flush all remaining soap etc from the carpet. Leaving chemicals in the carpet (residue) will lead to rapid re-soiling. Making several suction only passes with the Rug Doctor will help remove as much water as possible from the carpet, which will prevent a situation referred to as "wicking" or "wick back". This condition is caused when too much water is left in the carpet. As it drys, the individual fibers pull up stain from the padding or even from the matting, if any dirt was left from the extraction process. After all these processes are completed it is a good idea to rake the carpet to make all the fibers (the nap) stand up, which aids final drying, and of course aids final appearance. Aim fans if available onto the carpet if you want to speed up the drying process. In the home, you may find that occasionally cleaning your carpet with water only...no detergent, will soften the feel of the carpet, and help give it a good deep cleaning which vacuuming only doesn't provide. Go to my YouTube channel joerwheelervideo for more tips and videos showing how to use the Rug Doctor to keep your carpets maintained...