Posted by Bob Bulmer on Wed 26th March 2008 at 06:00 AM, Filed in Cleaning
Removing chocolate stains from carpet or upholstery is reasonably straight forward.
1. Simply scrape off the surplus chocolate with a knife.
2. Treat the area with a good carpet shampoo.
3. Stubborn stains should be treated with cleaning solvent.
Posted by Peter Brady on Mon 11th February 2008 at 04:23 PM, Filed in Cleaning
Having a nice cup of tea is one of the finer things in life. But what happens when your mug tips over spilling it’s contents onto your new shag pile?
Easy, just follow these simple steps:
1. Stretch the inside of a nappy over the tea stain. Push down hard on it and repeat. You should be able to pick the worst of the liquid. If you don’t have a nappy handy, use an absorbant tissue paper.
2. Treat the stain with a good quality carpet shampoo.
3. If any stain remains, wait until dry and apply a good quality dry cleaning solvent which will remove any fatty deposits from the milk.
Bolts and screws can often become corroded and fused together. In some instances this can be reversed by using the following procedure:
1. Soak the fused bolts or screws with penetrating oil. You may need to do this several times over 48 hours.
2. Use a monkey wrench and spanner to gently remove the bolt.
3. If the screw and bolt do not move, you can use a nut splitter (as per the below picture) that will cut through the bolt.
4. The screw head can be drilled out using a specialist metal resistant drill bit.
Posted by Bob Bulmer on Mon 29th October 2007 at 06:00 AM, Filed in Cleaning
Ketchup is full of sugar and tomatoes which can cause fairly potent stains on carpet.
The best way to remove ketchup from carpet is as follows:
• Using a knife, scrape up the excess ketchup. Do this as quickly as possible.
• Try to keep the stain isolated to where it fell. You really don’t want to make the stain bigger.
• Using a cloth, gently rub in a carpet shampoo. You should see a nice lather over the stain.
• Using a damp cloth, wipe away the lather. Use a dry sponge or cloth to dry out the area.
• If a stain remains, you can try using a dry cleaning solvent.
Posted by Bob Bulmer on Tue 23rd October 2007 at 06:00 AM, Filed in Cleaning
Anybody that has done some DIY decorating will probably have experienced a few drips of paint on the carpet. It’s very frustrating to say the least.
However, there are some key principles that should help remove any resulting stains.
1. It’s critical to deal with any drips immediately.
2. Scrape up all the paint you can using a knife.
3. If the paint is emulsion. Dab with cold water using a cloth. Then take a dry sponge and again dab at the stain. Repeat the process several times. Wait for it to dry off a little, then use a conventional, spray on carpet cleaner to remove the last bits of residue.
4. If the paint is acrylic. Dab with a cloth soaked in warm water. Pick up as much of the excess paint as possible. Then dab with a dry sponge. Finally, dab with methylated spirits and soak up with a sponge. Be liberal in your application of the methylated spirits - excess application can discolour the carpet itself.
5. If the paint is gloss or oil based paint. Dab with a cloth and white spirit. Soak up residue with a sponge. If the paint is dry you can attempt to soften it by using a paintbrush cleaner.
