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Solvent treatment

The branch that starts before water rather than after it — and it carries a warning the aqueous branch does not.

Precautions

  • Ventilate the area
  • Test on an inconspicuous area first
  • Wear gloves
  • Keep away from children and pets

In detail

A solvent treatment dissolves a deposit that water cannot wet: oils, waxes, resins, tars, oil-based paint, adhesive, ink. Reading the carpet institute's database as a whole shows it as a distinct branch rather than a stronger version of the usual one, and the branch opens FIRST — for butter, gravy, cooking oil, nail varnish, oil-based paint, varnish, felt-tip marker, wax and candle, the solvent comes before any detergent or water. The order is not arbitrary: water applied first wets the fibre around a greasy deposit and makes the solvent's job harder rather than easier. Two cautions attach to the branch specifically. The first is stated by the institute and applies to soft surfaces: never pour solvent directly onto the carpet or allow it to reach the backing, because it can damage the latex holding the primary and secondary backings together. The second comes from the regulator's own sheets and applies everywhere: white spirit attacks plastic, rubber and coatings, and acetone attacks plastics. A solvent that reaches trim, a finish or a seam does exactly what it is designed to do, to the wrong thing. Solvents are also flammable, and ventilation is part of the method.

What works

Why

Aftercare and prevention

Sources for this page

Sources

  1. Spot Solver: spot and spill removal procedures

    The Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI) · Trade or professional body

    Relied on for: That a non-flammable spot removal solution or dry-cleaning type solvent is preferred, that it must never be poured directly onto the carpet or allowed to reach the backing because it can damage the latex holding the backings together, and that greasy and resinous entries open with the solvent before any water. (states this directly)

    Verification: a person has read the passage relied on.

    Read on — Sprint 5-10: fifteen entries, stain by stain. Sprint 30: enumerated at 296 from the publisher's own sitemap, 134 more read plus 'Unknown'. Sprint 38: 56 more, chosen against stains the catalogue lacked. 192 of 296 read. Supports the claim as stated.

  2. Right to Know Hazardous Substance Fact Sheet: Stoddard Solvent (RTK 1736)

    New Jersey Department of Health, 2008 · Government or regulator

    Relied on for: That Stoddard solvent attacks plastic, rubber and coatings and is combustible. (states this directly)

    Verification: a person has read the passage relied on.

    Read on — The 'Description and Use' paragraph and the 'Handling and Storage' reactivity list. Supports the claim as stated. Gives the solvent branch of the stain records a named agent with a regulator behind it, and resolves the British/American naming collision that had kept 'white spirit' out of the catalogue.

Last reviewed by a person on .

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