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 Post subject: Today is just not my day
PostPosted: Tue Jan 27, 2004 3:48 pm 
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Joined: Mon Sep 01, 2003 2:57 pm
Posts: 182
Location: Saginaw (NW Fort Worth), Texas
Does anybody perchance have suggestions for cleaning a flokati rug?

I had to keep my girls (5 and 3) home from school yet again today thanks to this cold and fever that is making them such a joy to be around. :twisted: Instead of eating breakfast this morning while I read the discussion forums they chose to dig out their fingerpaints. This normally would have been fine but they painted all over their 8x11 white flokati carpet in their bedroom. Then to top it off the little one threw up all over it from crying so hard. So now I feel doubly bad - angry and guilty. lol. I laid the carpet out on the hammock and have completely rinsed it out. But, how do I get rid of the odors. This is wool and I don't know what to use on it. I do have some Dr. Bronners Peppermint Soap and Borax handy or should I do something else. I called a professional carpet cleaning company and I certainly cannot afford the $300 they ask.

Help!!
Christina


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PostPosted: Wed Jan 28, 2004 9:11 am 
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Joined: Sun Apr 06, 2003 10:59 am
Posts: 277
If it's "clean" and you merely want to remove the odor (presumably from the vomit, not the paint), there probably are several things that will work. The carpet/rug cleaning tips around, such as here:
http://www.rugratsva.com/cleaning_spots.html here: http://www.howtocleananything.com/tipde ... p?tid=1347 and here: http://www.wolfeflooring.com/stain_vomit.asp suggest such things as using a mild ammonia solution or a dilute hydrogen peroxide solution. A strong ammonia or strongly alkaline solution could affect the disulfide and/or hydrogen bonds in the wool, so it's important that those applications be fairly mild. I first might try flushing the affected area with a baking soda solution, if you don't mind wetting the area. If it's dry already, a dusting of baking soda or fine zeolite or the Arm & Hammer carpet freshener-type product might work, although it might be hard to remove the dry matter completely from the shaggy fiber. A non-oily citrus extract such as a TKO solution might/should do the job also. Although the enzyme products for pet vomit and enzyme detergents or spot-ons should help with the problem, I think the commonly available enzyme products that would attack vomit likely would contain protease(s). As such, I'd rather not use them on wool unless there is no other choice. I don't know if fragrant herbs would eliminate the odor or merely mask it for awhile. The more potent odor removers, such as the homemade skunk odor remover that the DD described once, surely would work, but I don't know how kind they would be to the wool fabric. The same goes for the commercial odor removal products; most "rug cleaning" advice seems aimed at synthetic fabric, so be mindful of that. I don't care for Febreze at all, but I suppose it's an option. Whatever you use, spot test it to be as sure as you can be that it won't harm or stain the fibers. Even the peroxide could change the shade of white, so try to test for that. If you have access to a blacklight, you may be able to use it to find where the odor-causing matter is so you can focus your efforts on that area. I am sure there are lots of other ideas that I haven't mentioned.

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In theory, theory and practice are the same; in practice, they aren't -- lament of the synthetic lifestyle.


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