Do Stains Come Back After Cleaning Carpet

When you clean the stain you are cleaning the surface of the carpet.

Do stains come back after cleaning carpet. Get rid of the reappearing stains. Wicking typically occurs when the carpet is wet. The reappearance of spots and stains is actually a very common occurrence when a carpet is cleaned using a traditional shampoo and rinse method. But then the spill that is trapped in the backing and or underpad can be reabsorbed by the carpet and make its way up the fiber strands back to the surface like traveling up the wick of a candle hence the name.

If you have a carpet stain that keeps coming back it probably needs to be re cleaned more thoroughly. Sometimes spots can reappear as soon as the carpet dries. A reappearing stain called wicking may get removed from the surface with traditional cleaning methods but not from the carpeting or upholstery padding underneath. There are two possible reasons carpeting and rugs can be cleaned after a spill appear to be fine and then have the stain reappear later.

When the carpets dry the stain comes right back to the top. This is common when carpets are steam cleaned. With time the fibers can reabsorb the still liquid stain and bring the stain back to life much like a flame relighting a candle after burning through the wick which is where the name comes from. Wicking this is when the carpet stain has soaked through to the backing of the carpet.

Other times the spots come back after several weeks have passed. Due to the inefficiency of the steam cleaner sometimes the stain simply gets moved around or pushed deeper into the carpet rather than picked up. This is most often a result of wicking which will be discussed below. Removing these stains from carpet or upholstery especially stains that have set in over time and keep returning to the surface can be frustrating.

After cleaning a spot or stain from your carpet there are times where it will return just shortly after the carpet dries. There are other effective treatments to seal that area of carpet to keep the stain from wicking again. At this point cleaning the stain itself will clean the carpet fibers or surface but it won t clean the remnants of the stain left in the backing or underpad.