Browse Forums Flooring & Floor Covering 1 Feb 03, 2011 1:58 pm Hi all We've just started having orange spots appear on our beige carpet in the loungeroom. Stain remover doesn't work. I've tested bleach on some spare carpet and it turns bright yellow, not orange. I've got no idea what caused it or how to get rid of it. Here's some pics http://i1000.photobucket.com/albums/af121/apexis74/IMAG0027.jpg http://i1000.photobucket.com/albums/af121/apexis74/IMAG0028.jpg http://i1000.photobucket.com/albums/af121/apexis74/IMAG0029.jpg http://i1000.photobucket.com/albums/af121/apexis74/IMAG0030.jpg http://i1000.photobucket.com/albums/af121/apexis74/IMAG0031.jpg Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance Em Re: Carpet discolouration, help please 2Feb 03, 2011 2:00 pm The third picture is almost a perfect circle. I've tried matching it up with everying with a circular base in the loungeroom as well as the kids toys, but nothing matches the size of the ring. Re: Carpet discolouration, help please 3Feb 03, 2011 7:02 pm Just keep an close eye on the kids activities and habits. Walking through with drinks, temporally placing items that have contamination on the bottom,etc. Any pets? The problem may materialise. Re: Carpet discolouration, help please 5Feb 03, 2011 9:15 pm It's not peroxide of some sort in something? Cream on the kids? Acne cream/lotion? (I'm not implying anything here). Re: Carpet discolouration, help please 6Feb 04, 2011 1:23 pm I've done some research and it's most likely Benzoyl Peroxide (found in many products like footcare, acne and other creams). The thing is, the product does not affect carpet in normal conditions but starts discolouring it in high humidity. So, the recent humid days we had, combined with the evap cooling and the section of carpet being directly underneath a cooling vent convinced me that this is most likely the problem. The sites I looked at say that the discolouring may not occur for months after the initial contamination. It also says that the spots will most likely get worse over time with nothing that can be done to reverse it. The information also says that Benzoyl Peroxide is insoluble so washing your hands or feet after using it wont prevent it getting on the carpets. So far, the problem is only visible in the loungeroom so I think that we'll end up replacing the carpet there eventually. Not something I wanted to do within 2 years of building our house, but there you go. Wish we'd known about it before going with evap cooling. Em Re: Carpet discolouration, help please 7Feb 08, 2011 10:43 am Mel&Em I've done some research and it's most likely Benzoyl Peroxide (found in many products like footcare, acne and other creams). The thing is, the product does not affect carpet in normal conditions but starts discolouring it in high humidity. So, the recent humid days we had, combined with the evap cooling and the section of carpet being directly underneath a cooling vent convinced me that this is most likely the problem. The sites I looked at say that the discolouring may not occur for months after the initial contamination. It also says that the spots will most likely get worse over time with nothing that can be done to reverse it. The information also says that Benzoyl Peroxide is insoluble so washing your hands or feet after using it wont prevent it getting on the carpets. So far, the problem is only visible in the loungeroom so I think that we'll end up replacing the carpet there eventually. Not something I wanted to do within 2 years of building our house, but there you go. Wish we'd known about it before going with evap cooling. Em My sister's carpet, very similar colour has the exact same effect but much more severe. Large orange patches all over the carpet. We didn't know what caused it but she does have evap cooling so it makes sense. Could it be anything to do with the quality of the carpet/how its dyed? Thanks for the info though, been a great help Re: Carpet discolouration, help please 8Feb 09, 2011 7:32 am Sorry I haven't been here for a while but was alerted to this thread. The carpet looks like a flood dyed nylon. They are sometimes very subject to loss of colour. Some are worse than others. The shape and colour of the marks tell me a few things. It may help to explain a few things. All carpet dyes are made from just three priimary colours. Red yellow and blue. The photo's show that the carpet has faded to yellow. This means a loss of blue and red. As they are slightly orange in colour it means that there is still a slight touch of red there. With the different patterns and colours lost, this indicates that the primary cause would be something like chlorine bleach. Possibly from a bathroom cleaner. You may not have rembered spilling anything as the chlorine may dry out quite quickly and it may take the next spell of humid weather to re-activate it. The marks just seem to appear. It's even possible that the builders cleaners have caused the problem and the bleached areas are just now appearing. I've seen this numerous times but it is very difficult to prove. If the marks were green looking then red is missing and it would be more likely to be due to a "reduction" reaction and not "oxidation" as in benzoil peroxide (acne medication) or sodium hypochlorite as in mould or bathroom (and a host of other household chemicals). Having said all this, there is a cure. Some specialist carpet cleaners offer a "Spot dye" service. I do this on the Sunshine Coast but have contactrs across Australia through the Wool Safe network. Google it and you can find them on the search facility. Spot dyeing is simply a matter of cleaning out the chemical that caused the colour loss, applying a neutralising treatment to make sure the chlorine or BP (or other chemical) is neutralised and then preparing the fibres for dyeing. We then simply apply the missing colours. It is a bit of an art form as we have to work out the colour levels but this is quite easy when you have the experience, know how and of couse the dyes and support solutions. The cost can run into a few hundred dollars but can save you the cost of replacement. If it is just one small room then it is often better to just replace that one room. But if a whole house is involved and the spots are few and far between then the spot dyeing is a very ecconomical option. There are risks, in that the fibres may be permanenly damaged by the bleaching chemical if it is very strong an dabout 10% of jobs may not provide a permaent solution. But looking at the photos' this job would probably run into about $300 to $500 and would have a very high probablility of permanent solution. I did some work recently in a house where I did a colour repair 5 years ago and to this day the owner cannot find where I treated. I hope this helps. cheers Col Nation For information on caring for wool and other carpet and upholstery go to www.woolsafe.com.au 1 11004 1 15753 they can, it's a fairly standard solution when the slab isn't recessed. the falls need to be in the main floor, if it hasn't been done then you need to ask them to redo… 4 6581 |