Restoring and Repairing Carpet Color
Here is an all too common scenario: your grandchild is visiting while on spring break and wants to be helpful. You ask him to sort the laundry and pretreat any spots. You give him a bottle of oxygen based pretreatment solution and a bleach pen. You give him very precise directions about how to treat each garment. You do not give him any direction about where to do this. He does the job well but he does the job on the bedroom floor. The next morning as you climb out of bed you notice a round, yellow spot in the carpet. You think it might be a spot of sunshine. It is not. It is a bleach stain. On your beautiful New Zealand wool carpet in Dusty Rose. The one color and type of carpet you saved hard for and planned to live with for a very long time. It's frustrating. What do you do now?
The bad news is that carpets can be dyed. The good news is also that carpets can have their color restored. Carpet dyeing is one of the ways that landlords have extended the life of carpeting in rental units; it is much more cost effective than replacing carpet everytime a new tenant moves in. In the past, spot dyeing produced iffy results, so most people opted to have the entire room of carpet done instead. The new color being dyed always needed to be darker. The way the color was applied required that it just be left on to dry. Essentially, the dye just sat on top of the fibers, and subsequent cleanings would start to fade the carpet back out. Usually, after one or two cleanings, the carpet looked worse than ever. The good news is that over the past few years, the science of carpet color restoration has evolved to produce better results. No longer is it necessary to spray coat your expensive carpet with gunky dyes that will coat the fibers and make your carpet feel stiff and unappealing. Now, color can be restored to only the areas of the rug that need it. Furthermore, larger areas can be done as well and still allow for the integrity of the rug to be maintained. Corrective cleaning cannot always remove stains. Stains caused by pet urine, bleaches, acnes medications, laundry pretreatments, red wine and over zealous spot cleaning often cannot be improved upon merely by getting them clean. Although, getting the entire carpet thoroughly cleaned is the first step in the process of color restoration. There are several companies that make advanced carpet restoration kits, or do the repairs themselves. They also train local carpet cleaning companies in their patented processes. If you need this type of service, begin by contacting your local carpet cleaning professional and ask about her training in carpet restoration. Ask which process she uses and ask to see before and after photos and real samples. Carpet color restoration usually costs between 70 cents and a dollar per square foot depending on the severity of the stain and other factors unique to the rug being treated. The cost of new carpet, especially wool or silk blends, is well above this. Color restoration should definitely be considered before you go to the trouble and expense of replacing a whole room of carpet. If you would like further information about this subject, or to book a regular cleaning, then please call us at 352-505-4703. |
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