Salt Stains on a Rugs

It’s hard not to track in some of the salt residuals you put down in your driveways and walks such as Calcium Chloride. You just need to realize there are problems when this gets tracked into your home. First, the salt itself is hygroscopic (attracts moisture), and stays wet, attracting soil. This damp residue is also alkaline, and because of this, potentially harmful to dyes used in acid-dyed nylon and wool carpets.

Most carpet cleaners will use a pre-spray designed for traffic areas or heavily soiled areas. These pre-sprays as well as carpet cleaning detergents are both alkaline in pH and contain phosphates. These types of products will not dissolve calcium chloride. Chemists have suggested that these products might create a stronger bond of the calcium than originally existed, making these salt stains very hard to remove and in some cases increasing the bond to a point that it becomes a permanent stain.

The best results for removing these salts are consistently obtained by preconditioning with an acidic rinse agent and not an alkaline pre-spray or high ph detergents.

This is why Alec’s Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning LLC is called upon. We know how to handle these and other issues.