Quick help with Stiff / Hardened carpet after wash

T

Toymachine2009

New member
So I did someones floor mats yesterday they were trashed all stained up. I cleaned them pretty much 100% there is no more stains..



My method was



Brush carpets to loosen dirt

Vacuum Carpet to get loose dirt out

Spray APC on carpet and brush again

Then take a towel and wipe carpets clean

Sprayed carpet down with a hose

Use Wet/Dry vac to suck up water

Let dry



This morning woke up and the carpets are very stiff and hard and crunchy? They look kinda bad cause the fibers are sticking straight up and they just look stiff... All stains are gone but they have hardened..





Any ideas what I can do to make them soft again? Throw them in Dryer? Lightly go over them again with APC?
 
Accumulator said:
Maybe it's mineral residue from hard water and/or residual APC (I'd bet on the former myself).
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I will try dry scrubbing them thanks...



Accumulator your probably right.. any way to soften them up?
 
before i got my little green machine i had the used the same method you use... i noticed that even though all the soap or what have you was rinsed away the carpets would still dry stiff. i am pretty sure the amount and the hardness of the water was the cause. maybe its time to invest in a lgm. best $100 i've spent this year : }
 
Little Green Machine by Bissell? I have one of those and used it to extract the last 15% of water out after I have squeegeed the water out.. Still dried hard..



BTW i just soft brushed them for a bit and they did soften up a little bit not stiff or crunchy anymore thats forsure.. I know they could be softer but atleast there not sticking straight up and crunch when you step on them!



Thanks for the quick responses guys :)

I knew I loved this forum..
 
toymachine2009 said:
Accumulator your probably right.. any way to soften them up?...i just soft brushed them for a bit and they did soften up a little bit not stiff or crunchy anymore thats forsure.. I know they could be softer but atleast there not sticking straight up and crunch when you step on them!
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If you want to try getting 'em better, I think I'd get a gallon or so (maybe more :nixweiss ) of distilled water and try doing a *VERY* thorough rinse with that (and still try to extract/etc. out as much of it as possible).
 
David Fermani suggested I get AutoMagic Heavy Duty EZ clean for carpets, said it wouldn't leave the carpets stiff - he was right! Your method was fine, if you have a power washer - electric one will do fine, it will rinse cleaner.
 
I dry scrubbed them and vacuumed them and they did soften up. But not 100% They were still a little harder than what I got them with but all stains came out and they softened up to the point where it wasnt crunchy anymore and they didnt crunch when you step on them!



But I feel like they could have gotten softer if I re rinsed them with distilled water..



This was just a test Van I did that was trashed and I put my skills to the test to see how I could make the interior look because it had SOO much trash and food and candy all melted and stuck in the carpet and on matts and I got it all out! Whole interior had to be scrubbed. All surfaces I did with a tooth brush and a little bit bigger brush and some APC as to dirt was in each of the crevices of door panels and on the dash and what not.
 
Here was the interior carpet of the van I got most of the staining out. Its hard to see in the pic because of the shadow which makes it still look like the rug was kinda stained. But in person it looked 10X cleaner than before!



Before!!

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After!!



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Here is one mat! This was one of the cleaner matts in the car as well/



Before:

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After:



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Fabric softener next time you wash the carpet!! haha. the wolfgang carpet products i use tend to leave my carpets very soft after applying and scrubbing/brushing. I imagine other carpet "rejuvenator" products would do the same. just apply brush and vacuum since they are already clean.
 
is there a good actual carpet shampoo? I am ordering a Brush attachment soon for my Griot DA and wondering if there was a good carpet shampoo I can use with it.. Instead of just spraying on some APC
 
toymachine2009 said:
So I did someones floor mats yesterday they were trashed all stained up. I cleaned them pretty much 100% there is no more stains..



My method was



Brush carpets to loosen dirt

Vacuum Carpet to get loose dirt out

Spray APC on carpet and brush again

Then take a towel and wipe carpets clean

Sprayed carpet down with a hose

Use Wet/Dry vac to suck up water

Let dry



This morning woke up and the carpets are very stiff and hard and crunchy? They look kinda bad cause the fibers are sticking straight up and they just look stiff... All stains are gone but they have hardened..





Any ideas what I can do to make them soft again? Throw them in Dryer? Lightly go over them again with APC?
Click to expand...



You need to add more steps to your process. You need more than APC to loosen up and lift the dirt. Plus a hose will do nothing but oversaturate and cause more problems. Look into a dedicated carpet shampoo or remove the carpets and powerwash them. After you vac the water, use a cotton towel to lift away remaining dirt. Those carpets are stained pretty bad, but should come out nice if done differently.
 
David Fermani said:
You need to add more steps to your process. You need more than APC to loosen up and lift the dirt. Plus a hose will do nothing but oversaturate and cause more problems. Look into a dedicated carpet shampoo or remove the carpets and powerwash them. After you vac the water, use a cotton towel to lift away remaining dirt. Those carpets are stained pretty bad, but should come out nice if done differently.
Click to expand...



What is a good carpet shampoo? As stated earlier in this thread I asked what a good carpet shampoo was because I am going to get a brush attachment for my griots DA. Also what would those other steps be that I add.
 
Keep in mind that the stiffness is from a combo of either residual dirt and or chemical left behind. Avoid using heat to dry the carpet and try lifting soiling by toweling.
 
David Fermani said:
Keep in mind that the stiffness is from a combo of either residual dirt and or chemical left behind. Avoid using heat to dry the carpet and try lifting soiling by toweling.
Click to expand...



I actually did towel twice.



Dry Brushed

Vacuumed

Spray APC

Scrubbed APC

Towel

Rinse with hose

Extract water with LGM (little green machine)

Towel again to get remaining moisture out.



I am going to order some carpet shampoo to lift the dirt out like you said though. Instead of use APC
 
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