Wicking is the phenomenon where water and cleaning solution moves upward from the base of the carpet, depositing soil on the top of the carpet fibers. This normally occurs while a carpet is drying after being cleaned, but may not show up for days afterwards.
Surely you have gotten your carpets cleaned sometime during your life where they looked great when the technician left but suddenly mysterious brown stains showed up on the carpet. Then you had to call back the technicians to re-clean the carpet. If so, this phenomenon is familiar to you. Professional office cleaning companies are quite familiar with this problem.
Why Wicking Occurs after Office Cleaning of Carpets
Let’s say someone spills coffee on the carpet. The liquid leaks down into the backing and perhaps the padding. When the carpet cleaning is performed, the liquid cleaner tends to re-liquefy the dried coffee underneath and that liquid migrates back to the top of the carpet. It usually shows up as a brown stain, even if it was not coffee that was spilled.
These are common errors which create wicking:
* The most common error is the technician over-wetting the carpet in the cleaning process.
* When the carpet takes a long time to dry, this can also be a cause.
* Using too much pre-spray is another reason wicking can occur.
Although not a technician error, when there is a very heavy accumulation of dirt in the carpet, wicking can result. Wicking is much more prevalent in loop pile carpets and Berber.
Actions to Reduce Wicking before You Start Office Cleaning
By a very thorough pre-vacuuming, dry soil and particles will be removed and will result in less wicking in a carpet. The vacuuming should be done with a high-quality commercial vacuum cleaner. Avoid excessive water from seeping into the backing by not using too much liquid. Speed-drying can help tremendously in stopping that wicked old wicking from occurring.
Getting Rid of that Wicked Stain
Consolidated Facility has had the opportunity to confront many such wicking disasters. When companies have hired them to do their janitorial work, they often enter the office spaces to see the stains that wicking has caused. The company owners never seem to have a clue on how to handle these. However, this commercial janitorial service knows exactly what to do.
Certain processes in cleaning carpets with wicking stains are used that remove the stains effectively. The tips of the fibers in the carpet are polished with a low-moisture product. This pulls the dirt out of the fiber and it drops into the backing where it can simply be vacuumed out.
With very deep stains or very large stains, it can be difficult to completely handle the wicking with simple cleaning and vacuuming. In some cases the carpet needs to be pulled up and the padding replaced.
Any wicking stains can be addressed and should be. The contaminated and stained carpet is ugly and creates the wrong impression to visitors, workers and clients or customers. It is important to ensure your office spaces are clean and your carpets are stain-free.
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