Stiff Carpet

I am relatively new in business, building a retirement career ( I know, I could find an easier retirement career) I haven't a truck mount and am actually hauling my equipment in the hatchback of my car. The process I use is a rotary scrubber with natural solution, then rinse with a commercial extractor.
I ran across a customer with a section of semi deep pile newer carpet that was stiff. No stains in the area, nor evidence of a solution spill or anything like that. I was quite confident that my double scrub and extraction would solve whatever problem it was. After doing the entire job, upon drying, the same area remained stiff.
I was curious if anyone has ever ran across this before, and might be willing to help me with some advice from your experiences. Thanks if you can.

Sounds like possibly an area where something was spilled that would harden as it dried. Such as paint or maybe some type of adhesive.......seen it many many times.

How large is the area?
Is the area stained or discolored at all?
Is it just on the surface, or does it go deep into the pile?

Unless the customer can tell you what it was, You need to do a little CSI type work to try to determine what it may be, so you can figure out what it's going to take to resolve it.

BTW Welcome to the forum!!

If its a small area/spot, most likely some thing spilled. Pop, juice; the syrup would need to be flushed real good. An encap product would help a lot with any wicking.

if its really stiff then the area might just need to be replaced, especially if its a pretty small area. I replaced a whole room recently... Brand new carpet was $80 for some builders grade tan, took about 2.5hrs to cut and install but thats because Im not very good at it yet.

If you go back to try again just keep in mind that an hr of carpet cleaning time should equal 100-200$, so cant spend too much time on it or else replacing makes more sense.

Thanks for the responses everyone. It a pretty big area, I want to say from the wall to 4'out and 8-10' in length. It repeated in the same rectangle like shape along another wall by the fireplace. Now that I have thought more about it, it leads me to believe it could be a reaction with some type of product at install. I'm going to take the encap product suggestion and go back to see if that might help. If nothing else, the investment in time may pay off for referrals because of trying. Thanks for the advice and heads up on pricing vs. time info.

I haven't been charging near enough.

Aroma Clean Solutions wrote:Thanks for the responses everyone. It a pretty big area, I want to say from the wall to 4'out and 8-10' in length. It repeated in the same rectangle like shape along another wall by the fireplace. Now that I have thought more about it, it leads me to believe it could be a reaction with some type of product at install. I'm going to take the encap product suggestion and go back to see if that might help. If nothing else, the investment in time may pay off for referrals because of trying. Thanks for the advice and heads up on pricing vs. time info.

That would no doubt be wall paint...probably latex. I've run into that a lot with couples trying to flip houses and they spill paint or set a can down with paint all over it. They can often get the color out with a terp or acetone, but the fiber is pretty much ruined at that point and dries to a crusty feel.

I've had some luck with pig product like Pro's Choice Pro-solv and lots of flushing. It will never be a perfect match with the clean fibers near it, but if it is in an area that people don't really care about, it can be a solution.

If it is in a highly visible area, then you only have 2 choices: Replace that section; or buy them a lamp and end table to cover it up.

Beyond that, we all charge too little for what we do and never, ever, turn there problem into yours. They have paint encrusted carpet, don't drive yourself crazy trying to solve it for free....it isn't your problem.

Good luck, and thanks for posting

Wow. You guys are great. The latex theory makes perfect sense to me. I will try not to be a nuisance, but you guys have already helped me so much. I laughed at buy them a lamp and end table to cover it up. I will head the advice given. I just want to make sure I'm not the one out there giving guys like you here a bad name. Thanks again

Welcome Aroma Clean. Your process of pre scrubing with a rotary and extraction is is a pretty tough process to beat.

The carpet stiffness is also caused by using high PH cleaners with out proper rinsing. Not the case in this situation because its localized.

Another possibility is some scotchgards or wood finish, both of them are clear ( no color ), if I were you, I would sprinkle some solvents and agitate a lot, then extract it with as hot water as possible.
Good luck and welcome to the forum :-)

Is it a concern for the customer??
If yes; extra attempts but no better results...tell them I've tried but that's the best I can do.
If no, don't worry over it.