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Tip: Carpet Stains – Fruit

A series of tips to help you get rid of the toughest carpet stains.

Fruit:
You need the following equipment and products:
White cloth, vinegar, glycerine, cotton ball or old toothbrush, talcum powder, vacuum cleaner, carpet cleaner or Napisan Oxygen, paper towel.

Make sure the carpet is colour fast*. For stains from fruit that go brown such as apricots, kiwifruit, apples, bananas and so on, put glycerine on the stain with a cotton ball or old tooth brush and sprinkle talcum powder over the top of it. Vacuum. Then use a carpet cleaner. Vacuum again. An alternative to carpet cleaner is  a paste of water and Napisan Oxygen on the stain for a few minutes. Wipe it off, rinse and dry with a paper towel, leave the carpet to dry, then vacuum.

*To test for colour fastness, soak a white cloth in vinegar and apply to a part of the carpet not on display. If any colour comes off, it is not colourfast and you may have to patch the carpet

Source: Spotless by Shanon Lush and Jennifer Fleming

Tip: Carpet Stains – Lipstick

A series of tips to help you get rid of the toughest carpet stains.

Lipstick:
You need the following equipment and products:
Dry-cleaning fluid, cotton ball, bicarb, vacuum cleaner

Use dry-cleaning fluid applied with a cotton ball to soften the colour of the lipstick stain. Then sprinkle bicarb over the stain and vacuum.

Source: Spotless by Shanon Lush and Jennifer Fleming

Tip: Carpet Stains – nail polish or glue

After a recent linkedin discussion on how to treat red wine stains on carpet we decided to post a series of tips to help you get rid of the toughest carpet stains.

Nail polish or glue:
You need the following equipment and products:
Fine-toothed metal nit comb, tissue, cotton balls, acetone, hairdryer, cloth, methylated spirits; or super glue removing liquids.

Wrap a fine-toothed metal nit comb in a tissue so the teeth come through the tissue. Don’t use a plastic comb as the acetone will melt it. Place the comb at a angle to the base of the carpet and wedge it underneath the stain. Dip a cotton ball in acetone and rub it over the top of the stain row by row, using a clean cotton ball for each row. Acetone can affect the carpet so make sure it doesn’t penetrate the base. Replace the tissue if it is wet. This is a slow process and may have to be repeated several times. If it is an epoxy resin stain, warm it first with a hairdryer. Then dip a cloth in boiling water, wring it and lay it over the stain until the cloth starts to cool. Then pinch and pull the cloth to remove as much of the resin as possible. Repeat this a few times before using acetone. To get rid of the smell of acetone, use methylated spirits and water. You can use acetone to remove superglue from carpet but it takes a long time. Try superglue removing liquids for a quicker result.

Source: Spotless by Shanon Lush and Jennifer Fleming

Tip: Chandelier cleaning

Housekeepers around the world often have questions about how to best clean or maintain different floor surfaces, furniture, drapes or bedding etc. And we are going to share our recommendations with you. One recent question that came through was about chandelier cleaning. What is the best way to clean a chandelier?

The best way to clean a chandelier is to spray on NON-AMMONIATED GLASS CLEANER and let them drip dry. You can get this from any supplier such as Ecolab or Johnson Diversey.

If you have other questions please send them to info@lycetteandassociates.com !