In the third of Roger Cawood’s probe into stains nand how to deal with them, he focuses on spotting

Following on from July/August issue, lets take a closer look at pre-spotting and general pre-spotting. No cleaner should be in any doubt that, although reasonably effective, this way of dealing with stains, is high risk. This is due to the fact that the effect of the reagents, in conjunction with fabrics, fibres and dyes, when exposed to the variable nature of cleaning processes, programs and detergents, can result in unexpected damage for which the cleaner is likely to be responsible.

It is not possible for the cleaner to test pre-spotting products before cleaning for fabric safety or colour loss. Moreover, product manufacturers offer no guarantee (or could be expected to) that their product will not have any adverse effect on textiles or colour. It is therefore up to the cleaner, based on experience, to avoid pre-spotting items that might be at risk. If there is a problem the cleaner will not know until the garments are removed from the machine. Where necessary stains on at risk items should be completely removed on the specialist table making sure that the fabric is completely dry before cleaning.

There are many products available to the cleaner and these mainly fall into the following categories.

Some pre-spotting or spotting products have the potential to stain fabrics if allowed to dry into the material leaving mark’s that can be very difficult to remove. To reduce the risk try to clean within half an hour. Care needs to be taken to avoid placing moisture or colour sensitive items in a pile of pre-spotted garments as they may absorb spotting chemicals from the other garments in the pile. Put them in the machine after loading the other items.

Great care must be taken when using general pre-spotting soaps mixed with water to avoid risk of introducing excess moisture into the machine. Avoid using these products in a liberal and random manner, do not apply them to fusable interlining areas and do not include any moisture sensitive items in the same load. Make sure the table is wiped clean before preparing the next load.

Finally, designer and high value garments are always high risk and therefore stain removal on the spotting table is likely to be the safest option.