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cleaning since 1956
Yellowing on carpets and rugs. Some answers. I have seen yellowing on carpets of all types- 5th generation, of course, 4th generation Antron type, olefin, polyester, acrylic, and on wool. The yellowing appears the same on all types of fibers, and has been removed by me with the same procedure- an acid rinse, and defoamer, basically. Sometimes followed by bonnet cleaning, sometimes followed by a steam cleaning. What with seeing the same condition on all types of carpet fibers, I would not call it "dye blocker yellowing", as there were no dye blockers on these other fibers. Let me separate the two types of yellowing into two separate categories. One appears following the application of water and detergent, or water and some other substance. So I refer to that as "Water Type". It is usually a legal pad colored yellow. The other type appears covering a larger area, and is usually darker yellow than the water type. This second type usually appears under an item sitting flat on the carpet such as a throw rug, or coffee table. I refer to this yellowing as "Fume Type". Either type can appear on any fiber. In one case I have seen, with "Water Type" yellowing, where another cleaner cleaned the entire house, and water type yellowing appeared in all of the rooms, and hallways, but not on the stairs. I examined the flooring under the pad in every room where the yellowing appeared, and it was the same sawdust kind of chipboard. However, because the yellowing did not appear on the stairs, where the flooring was regular plywood, the only answer I see is that the yellowing has only been created where the sawdust type of chipboard was the flooring material. Therefore, there is something in the sawdust type chipboard flooring that is contributing to the yellowing, that plywood is not. In these cases, the yellowing is usually heavier lines at the front and back of the wand strokes, and lighter in between the lines, or perhaps does not show at all. In locations where either the cleaners or the customer used a detergent based spot remover, the yellowing is greatest- usually round, as evidenced by either a spray pattern or poured pattern, with definable edges. It does not seem to matter if the overall cleaning detergent, or the spot remover is either alkaline, neutral, or acidic. These differing appearances lead me to believe that while the detergent or other chemical applied (even plain water spilled will dissolve some of the soils present, and can change the basic composition of whatever is there) is not the actual cause of the problem, but does bring it to light. To remove this excess detergent, apply defoamer, rinse, apply acid type spotter, such as tannin stain remover, rinse, apply carpet protector. With "Fume Type" of yellowing, if the throw rug or coffee table is simply left off the carpet, or blocked up, to let the fumes escape for a few weeks, the yellowing dissipates without chemicals or other action of any kind. I think it was Sherlock Holmes who said- "When you eliminate the impossible, what remains, no matter how improbable, is the answer." Therefore, as I see it, the term "Dye Blocker Yellowing" is impossible if the same yellowing appears on all other materials. What may seem improbable is that the yellowing is caused by the offgassing of fumes from the sawdust type of chipboard. As further apparent proof, I have seen fume type yellowing on a white wool berber glued directly down to a concrete floor in a basement playroom. The cause here was from the base of a coffee table that was sawdust type chipboard. I instructed the customer to leave the plastic blocks under it, following cleaning. The yellowing dissipated in about six weeks. There were no dye blockers here. A customer of mine whose business is Indoor Air Quality, and his business deals with the fumes offgassed from sawdust type chipboard. He is quite familiar with the yellowing problem in other areas. He told me that this kind of chipboard offgasses for it's entire life. The glues used are based on certain resins. You can smell the gasses given off by this chipboard, if you put your nose close to it. Therefore, as we learn in the odor control classes- if you can smell it, it is giving off a gas. Assuming all this is correct, we need to answer three questions. 1. What is the ingredient in the yellow that is common to all cases? 2. Where does it come from? 3. Why did it appear where it did? I think the answers are- 1.The ingredient common to all cases of yellowing, is the chemicals in the vapors given off by the sawdust type chipboard. 2. Vapors tend to rise and dissipate, unless blocked or made to adhere by some process, to other materials. 3. The fumes or vapors when blocked, build up and become visible, then dissipate when allowed to, by removal of the object blocking them, or build up on material that attracts and holds them such as excess detergent or other chemical residues applied to the fibers. The excess residues need to be neutralized, and rinsed away, to remove the yellow, and to prevent it's re-appearance. It reminds me of plant washing loose rugs which were rinsed with a soure solution prior to drying. The only answer I have found to be common to all cases that I have seen is the flooring, or item sitting on the carpet with a chipboard base, which will offgas the same as the flooring. On the wall of my living room, where a placque hung for several years had the identical fume type yellowing from the placque base, which was the same type of chipboard. Has any laboratory examined yellowed fibers, looking for the cause from the flooring? I have not heard of it. Got a yellowing problem? Look at the flooring. I will bet anything that the flooring is sawdust type chipboard. Check it yourself, then call me, or e-mail me. I hope this helps the puzzle somewhat. A recent case is typical of the fume yellowing. I had lifted the carpet and pad, for a cat urine decontamination job about 4 to 5 feet wide, and about 15 feet long. The flooring was the sawdust type chipboard. It was partially saturated with urine from the cat along the wall, about ten feet long, and 8 to 10 inches wide. The pad was rebond type without a plastic skin, stapled to the floor, without tape between the seams. The carpet was a light blue polyester. There was no yellowing on the face of the carpet. The back of the carpet, and the top of the pad showed clearly visible yellowing everywhere EXCEPT where the carpet seam tapes were. The seam tapes prevented the gasses given off from the flooring from collecting in these locations. Under the carpet's seam tape on the padding, it was the normal coloration of this type of pad. Therefore, the yellowing cannot have come from the carpet, as it was not nylon, and there was no protector of any kind applied to it, so the yellowing cannot have come from that, and since there was yellowing on the bottom of the pad, next to the floor, the ONLY place the yellowing could possibly come from IS THE FLOOR. |
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A man walked in to Joe's Barber Shop for his regular haircut. As he snips away, Joe asks "What's up?"
The man proceeds to explain he's taking a vacation to Rome.
"ROME?!" Joe says, "Why would you want to go there? It's a crowded dirty city full of Italians! You'd be crazy to go to Rome! So how ya getting there?"
"We're taking TWA," the man replies.
"TWA?!" yells Joe. "They're a terrible airline. Their planes are old, their flight attendants are ugly and they're always late! So where you staying in Rome?"
The man says "We'll be at the downtown International Marriot."
"That DUMP?!" says Joe. "That's the worst hotel in the city! The rooms are small, the service is surly and slow and they're overpriced! So whatcha doing when you get there?"
The man says "We're going to go see the Vatican and hope to see the Pope."
"HA! That's rich!" laughs Joe. "You and a million other people trying to see him. He'll look the size of an ant. Boy, good luck on THIS trip. You're going to need it!"
A month later, the man comes in for his regular haircut. Joe says, "Well, how did that trip to Rome turn out? Betcha TWA gave you the worst flight of your life!"
"No, quite the opposite" explained the man. "Not only were we on time in one of their brand new planes, but it was full and they bumped us up to first class. The food and wine were wonderful, and I had a beautiful 28 year old flight attendant who waited on me hand and foot!"
"Hmmm," Joe says, "Well, I bet the hotel was just like I described."
"No, quite the opposite! They'd just finished a $25 million remodelling. It's the finest hotel in Rome, now. They were overbooked, so they apologized and gave us the Presidential suite for no extra charge!"
"Well," Joe mumbles, "I KNOW you didn't get to see the Pope!"
"Actually, we were quite lucky. As we toured the Vatican, a Swiss guard tapped me on the shoulder and explained the Pope likes to personally meet some of the visitors, and if I'd be so kind as to step into this private room and wait, the Pope would personally greet me. Sure enough, after 5 minutes the Pope walked through the door and shook my hand. I knelt down as he spoke a few words to me."
Impressed, Joe asks, "Tell me, please! What did he say?"
"Oh, not much really. Just-' Where did you get that crappy haircut?' "
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