The winner this month is Aj Judeh of My Carpet Cleaner in Charlotte, NC. Aj will receive a chemical prize package worth $500.

Aj describes this particular job: "We were surprised when we saw this carpet — it had almost everything in it. It was a vacant three bedroom house. We were called to see if it could be cleaned, as the landlord was doubtful. We took the challenge, using a liquid detergent with added degreaser as a pre-spray, followed by a rinse. The job came out great. The customer was happy and so were we. It turned out to be a very good job…"

For an opportunity to win a $500 chemical prize package from Solutions by Steam Pros, send your images and a brief 100-word description on how you obtained your results to Jeff Cross, senior editor at jcross@ntpmedia.com, or 193 Purple Finch Loop, Pataskala, OH 43062. Contest rules available by request.

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Bulletin Board

Subject: Water marks
Posted by Mike Gragg

I have a glue-down commercial carpet with a week-old stain from a mop bucket of "no rinse" floor cleaner. I encapsulated the area, but it did not get rid of the stain.

Does anyone have any helpful information?

Responses:

RE: Water mark: Jeff Cross

Did you encap the traditional way or did you extract using encap chemicals? I bet you need to use hot water extraction on this one... a heavy rinse should solve the problem. It's ironic that a "no rinse" cleaner is the culprit.

RE: Water mark: Mark Gragg

I did not extract. After the carpet dried, I used a urine product that has worked on water stains in the past. I'll make a trip to see how this came out if still there I'll hot water extract.

RE: Water mark: Bob Martin

Make sure you speed dry it.

RE: Water mark: Scott Warrington

Flush and extract with plenty of water. Then use an encap product as the finishing touch.