Carpet and Oriental Rug Cleaning in Boulder

 

 

Coffee Stains, Coffee Spots, Coffee Spills in your Office or Home in Boulder, Superior, or Broomfield?

 

Here is the enemy!

Here is the Solution to your problems! All Phase Carpet and Upholstery to the rescue! (303) 938-1793

Have your employees or husbands ever done this to your beautiful carpet or upholstery?

Whoops!!

According to our excellent employees in our Janitorial division, All Phase Cleaning Services (303) 938-1793, Coffee spills are one of the most common spills that occur in the office environment.  They are also one of the most difficult spots to manually remove, mainly because our clients try to remove them by themselves during the day when the coffee spill occurs.  If the spot is not removed properly, (at least blotted immediately), it can become a coffee stain- which is a horrible permanent eye sore, usually located right at the entrance to the conference room, office, or kitchen area.  Wicking of the spot on commercial carpet is also a huge concern. Wicking normally occurs when the person cleaning up the spot does not know what they are doing- it occurs when the components of the coffee just keep on coming up again and again from the backing of the carpet to the surface of the carpet- this can be very frustrating- especially when the Chairman of the Board is visiting the office in a few days!  If you are not able to clean the spot in a proper manner when the accident occurs, a thorough blotting and application of a powder called “Stain Absorb” can minimize wicking problems later. Call us if you have questions about this procedure at the above phone number.

Coffee Spills in the home

Oh no- not on the white pillow!

 

 Of course, both sides are affected.

  Coffee Spills are also a large factor in the home. One of our neighbors called four days ago in tears and asked if I could please come over and try to clean up a cup of coffee that she had spilled on her beautiful near new off-white nylon carpet a few hours before.  She was almost frantic, as she was hosting a dinner party the next day which she had been planning for over a month.   I asked why she had not called right when it happened, and she admitted that she had tried to remove the spot by herself first with a store bought all purpose cleaner and a scrub brush.  I rushed over to her home and was confronted with a very large spot that had obviously been scrubbed to death.  The spot was at least 3 times larger then it had been originally.  Using all the things I had been taught in IICRC classes, and in the field for 15 years, I was able to clean, and remove the coffee spill and all the residue.  I was able to reduce the effects of the scrubbing most of the way, but not 100% as vigorous back and forth scrubbing can permanently damage carpet fibers.

Coffee Spotting Guide

That brings up why I decided to write this little coffee spotting guide- to help you the office owner, or you the homeowner when a coffee spill occurs in your home or office.  Make sure you bookmark this site so if this happens to you, you will be able to find it again! Make sure you apply a protector such as Maxim, or Scotchguard to the area after you have removed the spot. Enjoy!

First things first- Blotting.

Every time a spill occurs, make sure you gently blot up the spot using a clean white towel.  Keep on blotting and folding the towel until no more of the fluid transfers to the towel- use as many towels as it takes to do so.  This is a very important step- so don’t try to save time by skipping ahead.

 

 

Keep going! Do this step until nothing is transferring to the towel.

 

 Second- Determining the type of coffee and additives, and extraction of the spot.

Attempting the removal of a decaffeinated coffee spill can be very different from the process of the removal of a caffeinated coffee spill because, in some cases, the decaf process changes the coffee in many important ways.  Decaf coffee- depending upon which method was used to decaffeinate the beans, may have a brown dye added after the decaf process as the color can be removed along with the caffeine. The brown dye makes the spot more difficult to remove, as an extra step may be needed to remove the dye.  Many people also add sugar, milk, cream, or flavorings to the coffee.  Each additional substance added to the coffee may require additional steps and procedures to remove the entire spot.  Heat is another huge factor.  The hotter the coffee, the more difficult it will be to remove the spot.  The heat enables the dyes to penetrate into the carpet or upholstery fibers much easier. Once you determine the source and ingredients in the coffee, you can attempt removal of the spot with a spotting machine or call a professional to do so- as soon as possible is best. Apply a safe spotter (make sure the PH of the spotter is appropriate for the type of effected fiber- especially on upholstery or wool carpet- the label on a good spotting agent will tell you if it is the right spotter for the fibers you are cleaning) to the entire area and use a gentle brush to agitate the affected area:

Apply spotter to entire effected area:

 

 Brush gently in one direction only- never scrub.

When you are finished with the application of the spotter and brushing it in, use the machine to begin extracting everything that can be extracted at this point. In a hand spotter machine, I use hot water, or hot water mixed with an acidic rinse agent to extract the coffee and all the spotting solution applied. I never use the emulsifier that comes with the machines- most cause more problems than they solve.

Keep on extracting until you do not notice any more change in the color of the spot. Make sure to use frequent dry passes (no water from the machine- just vacuum) to minimize over-wetting.

 

On upholstery, make sure you clean the entire piece that is effected to eliminate the chance of watermarks.

If possible, take the cover off the pillow so you can remove any moisture from the pillow filling, and so you will be able to extract the pillowcase on a flat surface. Make sure to place the cover back on before it dries- some fibers tend to shrink, and it will be very difficult to place the pillow back in the case after it has dried.

Third- you will want to apply a spotter typically known as coffee stain remover. 

You will have to mix the coffee stain remover according to directions- make sure the water is as hot as possible to maximize it’s effectiveness.

Spray the mixed solution on the stained area until it is saturated.

 

 Lightly brush the area:

 

Follow the directions on the spotter you choose- exactly.  Spray directly on the surface until completely moistened. The chemical will begin working immediately, but make sure to let it dry completely. If the spot still remains, re-apply. Vacuum and extract the area after the treatment has completely dried. If there is still a bit of color remaining, we have found that applying urine stain remover is effective for removing the final stain color- make sure you extract the urine stain remover after the area has dried. The use of an absorbent powder may also be needed if wicking from the cushion occurs. The wicking process is one reason why you see spots return again and again- that is why proper blotting, extraction, and removal of all cleaning agents is so critical.

If decaffeinated coffee is the cause of the spot, then a professional such as, All Phase Carpet and Upholstery- (303) 938-1793 should be called in to remove the dye that is still visible as another extensive step is involved.

Here are a few pictures of the results obtained by following each step in this article.  I hope you learned how to resolve a catastrophic situation that occurs on a regular basis in Boulder, and Broomfield Counties.  Remember, this article is only a general guide- if you are not comfortable performing any of these procedures- call a professional company in to do the job. Use gloves and eye protection when handling any of these chemicals.

Here is a picture of the finished carpet- even the areas that were not extracted look pretty good! We only blotted, and extracted the middle, but applied the coffee stain remover to the entire area!

 Both sides of the cotton pillow turned out very well.

 

 

I hope this article was helpful to you.  If you like what you have learned here- come back again, as I will be posting again on different topics.  If you have a spotting problem you need to ask about- just call us at (303) 938-1793.   Have a great day!

 

 

 

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 19th, 2009 at 8:40 pm and is filed under spotting articles, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.