Cleaning a beige carpet previously treated with Scotchgard

GarethK

We have only been living here a couple of months and we have a strict take shoes off policy that we have always stuck to with any house, but this one is a bit of a pain.

Its a good quality carpet, thick pile that is beige in appearance but on closer inspections, has different coloured fibres like red and yellow to create a nice pleasing colour that should also look good after a vacuum, which it gets everyday.

This is does but there are a number of problem areas where darker, almost grease like patches have appeared, a mystery to us due to our shoe off policy.

We do have a 14 month old son who crawls around still but he doesnt tend to work on the car and his inability to walk more than 5 steps means we can pretty much rule him out!

I've tried the usual spot carpet cleaners for these areas and it wont touch the stains. The carpets are almost definatly been treated with scotchgard, we have spilt water and coke on it before and it just blots up, no rubbing at all.

I've also tried a heavy duty cleaner from B and Q in a George extraction machine using hot water, and today i have tried something from my valeting days, Autoglym Interior Shampoo which is low foaming and a very effective cleaner having used it for years, this appears to have faded not but completely eliminated some of the stains.

I suspect the scotchgard treatment has actually made stain removal more difficult? I've cleaned similar colour carpets in the past and they have always come up like new, even the cheaper types.

I've looked to see if there is a cleaner out there specifically for scotchgarded carpets or one that removes it completely?

Any help, tips and advice would be great.

Gareth

cattie

Have you tried a steam cleaner? Only that's what I've always used on my beige carpets & it brings them up as good as new.

With Scotchguard, once you've cleaned a carpet or area of carpet, you render the Scotchguard treatment as nil, so it will then need retreating.

Do you know what the main carpet fibres are? Synthetic fibres are harder to clean as they tend to act like dirt magnets, the high wool content carpets are easier to clean & keep their good looks for years.

Hope this helps.