Carpet question

mjpatey

Hi, group-

I hope this is on-topic... we had a berber carpet installed in our family room about 3 years ago. Since then, our dual recliner's metal mechanisms have left awful gray stains in the carpet from rubbing against it.

I assume the gray stain is from whatever lubricant is used in the mechanism.

Any idea how best to remove this type of stain from the berber?

Thanks for any light you can shed!

-Mark

Floorwizard

if the berber is Olefin it may be tough as the oils may have done deeper damage.
Try using one tsp of liquid dishwashing detergent with a cup of water.

mjpatey

Thanks, I'll try that! We keep a small bottle of that mixture on hand for other spills, but I wanted to get an opinion before going headlong into it.

I appreciate the help!

-Mark

onlinehandyman

The nice thing is that nothing that you apply to the stain can damage the color, unlike any other fiber. the only thing though is to make sure that you are dealing with 100% Olefin, not an Olefin blend. The previous comment was correct, try dish washing liquid first.

The rule of the thumb when removing stains from carpet is to begin with mild neutral or close to neutral ph cleaners and then gradually move to the stronger stuff. Also, you are dealing with a difficult stain being that the grease from the chair adheres to the oil based Olefin. Odds are that you can definitely lighten it though. Your stain is probably more on the surface than others that I have seen such as oil and vinegar salad dressing.

If the dish washing solution doesn't help to your satisfaction I would recommend a grease remover. Professionally I use one called POG which stands for paint, oil and grease remover. Customers also tell me that the product that they use that works the same is called AFTA and can be purchased in most hardware stores. If these don't quite do the trick you are going to need to call in a professional.

Floorwizard

if you are going to test out stronger products, perhaps it's best to try it in a closet or some other out of the way areas.....just in case-

Good advice OnlineH