Spill and Cleaning Resource Sheet
- Anthony Miklaszewski
- Aug 1, 2019
- 6 min read
Updated: Dec 13, 2021
SPOT CLEANING - PROTECTED FABRIC, RUGS & CARPETS
Your carpets, rugs and/or fabric has been protected by the best stain treatment in the world, New Dimension's Fabric Protection.
Please save this sheet for reference in how to care for your textiles and deal with spills.
It is important to know that even though your textiles have been treated with ND Fiber Protector, certain care should be taken when dealing with spills. Certain loose weave textiles may allow liquids to “seem” as they have penetrated. Follow the general directions below for great results. ND Fiber Protector is best suited for protection against organic types of spills; however, will provide easier removal for non-organic spills such as oils or grease.
Using water to clean up spills on textiles: Whenever possible use distilled water or a purified bottled water while cleaning your textiles. Tap water typically contains chlorine, sometimes in high levels, and other minerals which can damage the fibers.
Blotting: Blotting is performed first by lightly applying an absorbent cotton towel or paper napkin to the spill. Allow the towel to pick up the liquid naturally; all the while, turning the towel to a clean area as the towel is applied to the spill. Once all the surface liquid has been picked up, you may (with a clean portion of the towel) apply pressure to the textile, to “squeeze” the spill into the towel. Make sure there is enough absorbency in the towel and repeat as needed.
Wet Liquid Spills: Whether liquid is beaded up on the textile, or soaked in, simply blot the liquid up with a paper towel or absorbent cotton cloth. If there is any remaining residue take a new, clean damp paper towel and lightly blot spill. Repeat as necessary. In the rare possibility that the above does not work, use the ND Spotter 1 & 2 or ProFLECK spray that we supply, or a mild PH neutral cleaner. Follow up with just distilled water and dry blotting to remove any remaining residue.
Dried Liquid Spills: You will need to “re-wet” the spill. In some of our ND Fiber Protector demos we pour more coffee on it, but for your cleaning purposes that seems counterproductive. Lightly re-wet the spill with a light mist of water, a little at a time and blot with a clean paper towel each time. Repeat until clean. With dried liquids it will probably be necessary to use the ND Spotter 1& 2 or ProFLECK spray or a mild PH neutral cleaner to remove all traces of the spill.
Wet or Dried Solids: In the event that there are solids in your spills, first attempt to remove as much of the solids as possible; by wet/dry vacuum or other means. Then treat as a wet or dried liquid, as discussed above.
Wine Spill: Follow the “Wet Liquid Spills”. Be sure that you get all the wine from the bottom of the Carpet, rug or fabric before trying the ND Spotter 1 & 2 or ProFLECK spray or a mild PH neutral cleaner.
Pet Accident: Follow the “Wet Liquid Spills”. Be sure that you get all the urine from the bottom of the carpet, rug or fabric before trying the ND Spotter 1 & 2 or ProFLECK spray or a mild PH neutral cleaner. Make sure you have removed all the urine. Please consider having the piece cleaned. If you do not remove all the urine, bacteria will form. The bacteria will eventually start to remove certain dyes from the fibers creating a color change. At this point permanent damage is occurring. So again, please consider calling a professional cleaner such as New Dimension Protection & Cleaning.
Red Dye Removal : Red dye can be either natural and/or synthetic. Unfortunately, both are very hard to remove. Certain wines have both natural and synthetic red dye. They use the synthetic red dye to even out the wine barrel batches during the bottling process. Please follow the “Wet Liquid Spills”. Be sure that you get all the liquid from the bottom of the carpet, rug or fabric before trying the ND Spotter 1 & 2 or ProFLECK spray or a mild PH neutral cleaner. Sometimes these dyes need special solution, temperature and lights and may need to be restored at our shop.
Still showing? Some light or delicate textiles may need professional attention in either a wet extraction or dry cleaning. Flip this page and read about those type of cleanings. Feel free to contact us for specific recommendations.
New Dimension Protection & Cleaning
Email – info@mypureprotection.com
Text – 857-319-1845 (BEST)
Phone - 508-643-7114
What can remove ND Fiber Protector from my textiles? Two things cause the most common damage to textiles; Excessive abrasion and Alkaline or High PH cleaners. Excessive abrasion is most often caused by not vacuuming enough. Abrasive sand and grit act like sandpaper and can mechanically destroy the integrity of the fiber as well as remove the ND Fiber Protector treatment. Alkaline cleaners (PH of 8+) such as Oxi-clean or anything with bleach in it, chemically destroy the integrity of fibers as well as strip it of dyes, natural color and the ND Fiber Protector treatment.
Warning - Semi-Synthetic Fibers Such As Rayon Viscose, Art silk, Tencel, Model (and other Rayon Viscose names) can show pile distortion from most wet spills and cleaning agent. Be very carful when cleaning Rayon Viscose. Try to use dry cleaning solutions first. Call a professional with any questions.
SPOT CLEANING - UNPROTECTED FABRIC, RUGS & CARPETS
Carpet and Upholstery
Vacuuming:
(Home) The single best thing you can do for your carpets, rugs & fabrics (other than ND Fiber Protector) is DAILY vacuuming. This is a must. When choosing a vacuum, suction is important; however more importantly a strong “beater bar” is necessary to “agitate” the fibers into releasing the dust and microscopic particles. You may not want to use agitation on some carpets, rugs & fabrics, so it would be best to check with your designer or store.
Vacuuming:
(Aircraft & Marine) For this reason, we suggest using a commercial style vacuum, anytime your carpet, is out of the aircraft for maintenance reasons, and for throw rugs and entry rugs that are easily removed from the craft.
Inside of the aircraft is another story. The larger commercial style vacuum can be used in the main aisle in large cabin aircraft; however, for the rest of the aircraft a smaller, more compact unit is needed. I personally prefer the corded handheld Dirt Devil vacuums because of the powerful beater bar and small size. I have also suggested to clients whom serve a lot of meals to carry a small wet dry vac in the baggage compartment for quick pick up of wet and solid spills. For carpets with silk and or more delicate upholstery, a less aggressive beater bar vacuum is recommended; however, it is even more important to vacuum daily. Always follow any specific guidelines from the manufacturer.
Professional Cleaning: This is a touchy subject, there are so many options, opinions and gimmicks. Aircraft carpets are almost always wool, and many contain silk. Marine Craft carpets are a blend of both natural and synthetic. And carpet, rugs and fabrics in your home can cover the full spectrum. Carpet cleaning should be performed by professionals, unfortunately not all carpet cleaners are. Please insist that your carpets be cleaned by an IICRC certified (Institute of Inspection Cleaning and Restoration Certification) using CRI (Carpet and Rug Institute) and woolsafe Processes, Products, and Personnel with PH Neutral water (not all water is). Also, if they are not familiar with aircraft carpets, please tell them that if it shrinks an inch it will be a disaster. As a professional master cleaner and educator, I have seen many carpets, rugs and upholstery ruined by improper cleaning. New Dimension Protection & Cleaning is an IICRC, CRI, and Woolsafe cleaner and we have an extensive network of Industry leading carpet and upholstery professionals across the United States Please feel free to give us a call.
Dry Cleaning: Dry cleaning can be a great option for certain fabrics that do not take well to wet cleaning, or for stubborn nonorganic stains like oil or grease. Use a reputable dry cleaner.
Professional Dry cleaning may not harm your ND Fiber Protector treatment, but you should consider reapplying the protection if dry cleaning is used.
Insider Tip for Aircraft & Marine: This tip is for removing embedded dirt and dust from high traffic areas. Remove easy items such as fabric divan cushions, pillows, throw and entry rugs from the aircraft. Use compressed air to blow the dirt, dust and particles out. This will be messy, so please wear eye protection and a dust mask. Make sure that your air is filtered with a “drier” to ensure you do not spray rusty water or oil from the air compressor on your textiles. You will be amazed or disgusted. This can be performed inside the aircraft; however, I do not recommend it due to the mess it will create.
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