Having trouble with spots.

Okay, I get a call to quote a Chiropractors office and a bunch of rooms, I land the deal!.....the previous cleaner was doing some horse trading and the Chiro wasn't happy with the deal anymore...carpets looked sad.

I cleaned them two weeks ago and they looked nice when I was done....I noticed some spots (3) about as big as dinner plates where obviously someone used something to "spot" with....she mentioned it was the previous cleaner. I cleaned as usual and those spots cleaned up quickly...prompting me to flush them really good suspecting residue from resolve or something this other guy used. Got paid moved on.....she calls and loves the carpets so much she wants her whole house done....while we do it she mentions the spots that were as big as dinner plates are starting to come back (we don't know what it is) so, today I went out and looked...they didn't have soil but looked almost damp....like something oil based was used, So, I pre-sprayed them and brought my heat up to 240 (rarely go that high) and they easily disappeared.

I'm suspect they will maybe come back....mainly because they did the first time as I tried to get them flushed out already and wouldn't have left had I not felt like I did my job. So, if they come back, what would be your plan of action? It's a CGD and looks like someone just sprayed WD-40 in the carpet 5 minutes before I get there. It's not the office people doing it. they are just re-appearing.

One of the spots has a slight wrinkle to it like something heavy was used and compromised the backing, glue, etc. so I'm limited on being able to do much to them. She does have extra carpet I'm thinking about putting down in the section all the spots are on BUT didnt want new carpet matched next to some aged carpet.

I'm convinced it was the other cleaner using something harsh to remove maybe tar or something. Thoughts?

Do they have a janitorial company clean at night? Maybe they are setting buckets or wet trash cans there?

If not, and it feels oily, then your water psi may just be pushing the oil into the concrete during cleaning since it can't extract it. It will dry very slowly and wick back into place.

I had that happen with a customer who spilled a cheese fondue bowl onto her poured cement steps. It would clean up fine, but always came back a week or two later due to the oil content beneath the carpet.

It can be very frustrating on CGD as there isn't much of a pad there to act as a barrier to the cement either.

IF you can get underneath it, that would be the ticket, but it probably isn't possible without cutting it out. You could saturate it with emulsifier and claw it out, but it will still probably come back to some degree.

You may also be right about the former cleaner....who knows what he / she used there and WD-40 would be a very possible suspect.

I don't think I helped much here, but just throwing out some ideas. Sounds like an interesting mystery.

Sounds to me like the same problem I have with a chiro office I do, in which in the massage rooms where they use and spill massage oil.
Are they massage rooms, or have they ever been used for that??

Low moisture clean with cotton pad and encap

Water claw and hair dryer. Takes a lot of time though.

I would post spray encap if they are disappearing after a rinse.

should take care of it, of course what ever it is will still likely be there but it wont be visible most likely.

he might have used solvent gel and too much in some spots and it de-lam the carpet or broke down the backing and its leaching/wicking while it drys

Davey, that's what I thought first but she told me the carpet guy spotted some spots right there and is why she called. It's not wet Rob...It was cleaned and before it could attract soil shows a light moist look but has no odor, and wont transfer to a blue tissue at all....its not releasing anything. I think AC best describes what I think happened. This is the same guy that cleaned my carpets at my home that made me get back in the game lol....he dumped from a gallon of concentrated cleaner onto a soiled area.....I bet its still there. anyway, I will see if this last cleaning will do anything....It bothers me so much I cant wait for results.

Can you get a picture of it.....could be a good learning opportunity?

I didnt think to take pics but if its still there when I go back I will get some shots of them.

Oil? Encap it and flush.

If it was just oil I think I would have gotten it up Matt....not sure though....I guess it could be oil and just wicking from concrete

I would bonnet it and then spray it with ARA.

Devon07 wrote:If it was just oil I think I would have gotten it up Matt....not sure though....I guess it could be oil and just wicking from concrete

That massage oil is very thin like baby oil. So yes it would soak the backing and likely concrete, if any more than a few drops were spilled.

That was why I was asking for a photo.

I did a job awhile back where the customer spilled a quart of olive oil (in the bedroom, mind you) on a ranch home built directly on concrete slab. I flushed it with over 50 gallons clawing as I went, but it always came back a week or two later.

Once the carpet was pulled up, you could see why. That concrete was oily for about 4 feet in all directions....likely pushed into it with my water pressure. We had to lay down a sheet of plastic over the area to prevent it from wicking any more.

If this was a massage oil of some kind.....there might be a mountain down there and you are only seeing the tip.

She says its not massage oil...I even asked again. It wasnt, its from the carpet cleaner she claims...may be the massage therapist not telling! lol either way I'll check on it next week.

It might be from the hack cleaner, but I can't think of anything on my trucks that couldn't be fully flushed out.

Does it have any odor to it? Did you test for ph?

No odor, PH was between 6.8 and 7.3 with 4 readings being done prior to the last cleaning....the first cleaning I didn't test as I assumed it was an easy situation.

When I had one company do my own carpets before I got back in....he dumped concentrated solution of some sort on my carpet and I can assure you he would have struggled to get it all out. I was sure it went to the pad....once in the pad it was toast for an easy extraction without lifting carpet.

I feel like I may have got it out on last cleaning,...im curious to see.

I agree, whatever it is, it must be in the backing.
I have a storage lobby that I clean twice a year, if I do back and forward motion with the trigger pulled, the carpets got brown everywhere due to dirt / sand under the carpets ( concrete slab subfloor ), what I did was to pull the trigger in backward motion only, that leaves the carpets just slightly damp and it never got brown again, it does take time to get that job done, my productivity dropped to 600 sq ft / hour, I was going to raise my price last cleaning, as he pull my last invoice out of his cleaning folder, I saw a stack of my competitor's estimate papers, I held back and thought about it, may be I will be more gutsy next cleaning if I'm busy enough, lol.

Protect it after cleaning? Could help

Checked spots and they are gone....I still have my suspicions though.

Sometimes they are just something really simple.

I spent 15 minutes scrubbing a spot the size of a basketball a few years back, but couldn't get it to budge at all. It drove me nuts until I realized it was actually a shadow from some over-heard lights hidden behind a decoration.

Sounds like you may have found your white whale....hopefully it is gone for good.