The Ten Commandments For Spotters

1. Patience (Safe/Quality) (K.I.S.S) - Give chemicals time to work, start weak and move to stronger ones. 

2. All Stains do NOT come out. The longer the stain has been in the garment, the harder to remove it, it may be. IFI tests show that after as little as 3 weeks spots and stains become more difficult as oils begin to oxidize and sugars begin to caramelize. Short of using a pair of scissors you will not be able to remove every stain on every garment.

3. Safety to fabric and color must be first in mind. Always test, always read the care label and start out with the weakest and move to stronger chemicals. Some fabric and/or colors may not withstand even gentle spot removal techniques.

4. Stains belong to the customer, but if you damage the fabric or remove the color, the stain belongs to you.

5.  Do not mix dry-side and wet-side agents. Know which are dryside (to be flushed with  violate dry solvent (vds) and which to flush with water/steam. Flushing for example many OTPR (oily type paint removers) with steam can cause color loss. OTPR is always flushed with VDS.

6. Begin spotting by flushing out stained area first. (Dry Side=Solvent) (Wet Side = Water).

7. Start with the mildest spotting agent then proceed to the stronger. While it may be tempting to grab for the strongest agent first, not only is that wasteful but it can set some stains and cause color loss on some fabrics.

8. Do not keep seldom used or hazardous chemicals on the spotting board. Store these in a separate location.

9. Never leave any spotting agents in the fabric.

10. Spot bleaching only as a last resort.

Copyright 2002 Laidlaw Corp.