product review

-- Product Review -- 

I first connected with Peter MacDonald, the founder and owner of Very Dirty Carpets (VeryDirtyCarpet.com) re: the review project for their Carpet and Upholstery Spot and Stain Remover around July 24^th.  We picked it up on August 3^rd at the border where we use a US postal service outlet located a few miles south of us for items that don’t ship to Canada inexpensively. It arrived in a 7” high X 8” wide X 14” long cardboard box with brown paper packaging inside to protect the bottle. The product was also sealed against leaks during shipping with a plastic bag that you have to cut open. The product is housed in a white, 32 fl. oz. (946) ml. sized plastic spray bottle. The nozzle turns so you can have it safely locked in the off position when not in use.

Peter did caution to test a small inconspicuous area of the carpet or upholstery fabric to ensure there would be no issues with using the product first – a common precaution in the industry. However, I had two stains I was so anxious to try this product on as soon as it arrived that I forgot about that precaution… luckily there were no negative issues at all. (I read the label of the commercial bottle I had on hand and they had the same recommendation for their product… so it is indeed a common precaution companies put on their products just in case.)

 The first stain I attacked was located in the office where a file cabinet left a rust stain. I had shampooed recently and used a store-bought stain remover on the spot twice but it didn’t do anything.  I sprayed a “moderate” amount on the stain as instructed and, continuing to follow the instructions, I used an old toothbrush and donning a pair of gloves (for protection, just in case) gently agitated the area for about 15 seconds, and then blotted with a clean white cloth. One application of this stuff and I could see that the stain was nearly gone… but not quite - so I did a second application while the spot was still wet. It totally took the stain out. I’m impressed! 

The second stain was down in the music studio – I’m not sure what caused it, whether it was one of the pets or perhaps a stain from musical instruments rubbing on the carpet… but it was about the size of a desert plate and really showed as it was in a walk area and not covered by instruments. I hadn’t recently shampooed in that area so I’m not sure how permanent the stain was, however I did use a stain remover (same as above) before to no avail. One application of this new product and the stain was gone.

The instructions are to wait until the area is dry and then vacuum well to remove any residue. With the ceiling fans going to aide the drying process, it wasn’t much longer than an hour before I felt it was dry enough to vacuum. Sure enough – the stains are completely gone – as you can see from the before and after pictures in this article.

I really am impressed. I’m guessing the reason why the instructions recommend a clean white cloth is so that you don’t have accidental bleeding of colors from the rag. Just so happened, I had several white cleaning cloths on hand.

I’m pretty sensitive to chemicals and fragrances but I didn’t have any reaction to the stain removal process. The odor was definitely of a stain removal cleaning smell, but it wasn’t overly powerful either and faded as it dried.  I highly recommend this product and will be using it myself from now on.

The founder, Peter MacDonald) has over 20 years experience in the carpet and upholstery cleaning industry, and this experience really shows in the quality of this product. The product information states that it is very concentrated and so you don’t need to use a lot to be effective on a wide range of common household stains – coffee, grease, pet stains, urine, drinks, etc – but not for color dye stains. You can use this on carpet located anywhere – in boats, RV’s vehicles, decks, etc. The company used an encapsulation technology when developing the product, which means it can trap the dirt in a non-sticky formula and any residue is easily vacuumed away. The stain will not come back and the company offers a 100% money-back guarantee.  

Contains: ammonium lauryl sulfate, borox, non-ionic surfacants, EDTA.

This product is an eye and skin irritant so use protection when using the product. If you do get any in the eyes or skin be sure to flush well with water for 15 minutes, but if irritation continues seek out a doctor’s help. This product is manufactured in the USA for Sweet Dreams Marketing PTY LTD (based in St. Dunlop, ACT – Australia).

You can find this product on Amazon.com where it has a list price of $27.99 (US) but is currently on sale for $17.99 (US). I didn’t see it listed on Amazon.ca however Peter does have a Kindle e-book available for Canadians offering professional tips for cleaning stains which you can find HERE.

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