“The Stain Wizard” responds to his October letters
Dear “Stain Wizard”,
A customer brought in outside action cushion covers that have molded badly. She said if I can’t remove the stain, She will have to buy a whole new set. What should I use?
Signed Captain Keith, Arkansas.
Dear Captain,
Do you know what is Irish and stays out, all night??
Patty-O (patio) Furniture.
Thanks for reaching out. This should be a relatively easy fix, for two reasons.
1.) The cover is White.
2.) The inside cushion is removable.
There are really only 2 effective ways to kill mold spores. An Ozone Chamber and/or Bleach. You can never guarantee 100% killing of the mold spores.
Ozone machine in a tightly sealed room, deprives the mold of oxygen and will kill the spores. However the black stain still remains.
On White fabrics you can use Chlorine bleach.
A few years ago Scott Bell, from Bryan’s Cleaners in Pasadena, California, had to clean green outdoor patio furniture cushion covers with mold.
We we’re concerned that chlorine bleach would harm the color, so instead we used Hydrogen Peroxide and sun bleached the covers. (3% Peroxide sprayed directly onto the fabric, reapplied every 20 minutes, put in direct sunlight)…they came out beautifully.
The great thing about using 3% Peroxide is you spray it on…
The heat from the boiler room or sunlight activates the peroxide.
It starts to work, then turns to water and evaporates. You keep reapplying, until the stain is gone, and you are done…no need to reprocess the garment.
Contact your supplier and order a good time-released bleach or color – safe bleach.
Always wear gloves and eye protection, when using bleaches.
Use 2 oz. bleach per gallon of 120 degree water. Soak until the stain is removed.
Remove garment from bleach bath and rinse thoroughly once stain is removed, so you don’t compromise the fabric.
Failure to rinse garment will cause yellowing.
Don’t soak garments, overnight in Chlorine. You will damage the fabric.
Remember: For ALL Bleaches, for every 10 degrees you raise the temperature, you double the strength. Water temperature is vastly important. If you don’t have a water temperature gauge/thermometer. Get one!!!!!
A laser temperature gauge can also be used to test steam traps, dryer settings…
One final note…. Teach your front counter personnel Never use the word Bleach, when talking to customers. Customers hear the word” bleach “and they think chlorine and they can wash the garment at home..
CSR s need to explain to the customer, there are 8 different types of “whitening agents” used by professional drycleaners and launderer’s to help return the garment like new.
Regards,
Jeff Schwarz “The Stain Wizard”
Email: JeffSchwarz@ALWilson.com; (201) 240-9446 cell; 800-526-1188 office. Learn More at ALWilson.com.
