Emergency!!! Need cleaning help!!!

JD Seller · Jan 29, 2013

My wife takes some real strong medicines. The ones she takes at night make her sleep like the dead. I had a load of feed I was delivering tonight rather than tomorrow in the snow/ice we are supposed to get. So I just got home. I had called her earlier and told her she would need to let the dogs out before I would get home. I would put them in when I got home. So she let the house dogs out. Well they got to barking loud enough to wake her back up and she just let them back in while she was half asleep. She texted me that.

The problem: The Shih Tzu is black. She got into some BLACK used diesel oil. The wife did not notice that the dog was soaked in oil. The dogs usually sleep in dog beds in the utility room. We do not have a gate up but they 95% of the time never sleep any where else. The Shih Tzu decided to sleep in the good living room tonight. Her preferred "bed" for the night happened to be the wife "NEW" couch. It is a light brown cloth covered one. We have only had it ONE WEEK!!! It is Scotch guarded but it has black diesel oil all over it!!

All I have done so far is sprayed the spots with a 50% Pinesol/water mix. I am afraid to rub on it and grind the spots in. DO any of you have an idea of what to use/do tonight to help make sure it will come clean???

I will call a professional cleaning company in the morning but I want to know it there is anything I can use to help the diesel oil not stain as bad tonight.

The dog was easy. I just kicked her out into the shop for tonight. She can sleep with the German Shepard watch dog. She is more safe out there anyway when the wife wakes up in the morning.

DeltaRed · Jan 29, 2013

Ouch!!!Cant help with the couch....But the dog,Just give it a warm SOAPY bath.Did that with a cat once in a similar situation.She fell into a bucket of (used)diesel oil.She seemed to know that she needed the bath,and tolerated it EXTREMELY well.Good luck with the couch!!!Steve

pete black · Jan 30, 2013

Move the couch to the shop.

tomturkey · Jan 30, 2013

I'd leave the sofa alone, anything you put on it will break down the oil and MAY allow it to soak into the material. Now for the dog, if the sht zu licks itself, trying to get clean, it could ingest enough to make it sick or dead. When the pro cleans the sofa he will spray then vac pulling the oils and dirt from the spot. I wish you well my friend....gobble

Anonymous-0 · Jan 30, 2013

How did the dog get into the used diesel oil? Make sure you give the dog a really good bath so it doesn't get real sick or worse. I had clean diesel from a Reddy heater spill on the back seat of my truck. I took the seat out and took it to a car detailing shop that steamed it and had a chemical to help get rid of the smell. They had to do it 6 or 7 times and the whole room it was in stunk like diesel the next day. Dirty diesel, I think your couch is done. Same with hyd. oil leaks. If the oil is clean will clean up a lot better than if it's dirty and contaminated.

JerryS · Jan 30, 2013

I don't know how your couch is constructed, but if it has individual cushion seats you might be able to unzip them, remove the outer covering and start working on the spots with a cleaner like Simple Green. If not, maybe you need to start moving your stuff out with the Shih Tzu and the German Shepherd.

88-1175 · Jan 30, 2013

being in the floor covering industry for 30 some years my go to for those odd cleanings is,first get a piece of material with as close as you can match the color too,second a standard dishwashing soap,mix up very good in the sink with warm water till there is lots of suds,scrape the suds off with your hands and put on stain,rub with cloth that matches color as close as posible,remove dirty suds with butter knife and repeat.the purpose of the matching cloth is to avoid a dye transfer from the cloth to the couch ...i wouldnt be afraid to try some gojo either as ive had good luck with that..the trick is least amount of moisture as possible

donjr · Jan 30, 2013

I believe Momma gonna be gettin a new couch, or you're gonna be dead meat and sleeping with the digs.....

ss55 · Jan 30, 2013

Worst case, an upholstery shop should be able to replace the stained panels on the couch if they cannot be cleaned. It won't be inexpensive but it would still be much cheaper than replacing the whole couch. There should be a tag on the bottom or inside the couch with the material codes. The furniture store can also get that information from your sales receipt.

How are your floors and carpets? Check them over very well while the cleaners are there.

Good luck.

JD Seller · Jan 30, 2013

The Dog is alright I bathed her before her exile started. LOL She is easy to bath as the wife washes her about every other week.

As for the used diesel oil source. I have a barrel I keep all the used oil filters in. A local scrap guy comes and gets them. He has a press/crusher that mashes the oil out of the filters. He then can sell the scrap steel. I give him all of my used oil too. I do not burn it anymore.

This barrel is out in an open fronted shed. The scrap guy had just emptied it a few weeks ago so there where not many oil filters in it. My younger Grand son was here Sat. His mother had stopped at McDonald's and gotten him a sandwich. It was some kind of pork rib thing and he did not like it. I was working out in the shed and told him to just throw it into the garbage. He threw it into the filter barrel. Tonight the larger dogs must have knocked the barrel over to get at the sandwich. I tracked the dogs back to the shed from the house. The Shih Tzu is the only one soaked in the oil. The other dogs do not have the hairy feet she does. I was just able to wash their feet with a wet rag.

I did move all the dogs out to the shop for tonight. LOL They may survive with hiding from the wife.

I hope the cleaning company can do wonders or I will be drug along furniture shopping again.

todd hamilton · Jan 30, 2013

I remember what my dear old dad said in these situations but yt magazine rules prohibit listing them here!

UncleTom · Jan 30, 2013

I have used the parts cleaner that you get from the parts store in a 55 gal drum. It cleans grease from car cloth interior good and drys orderless. I dampen a rag and scrub it.

Mark-Ia · Jan 30, 2013

Dawn dish soap. make a paste and work it in. Probably need something like a Rug Doctor with a attachment for cleaning furniture.

Hobo,NC · Jan 30, 2013

I use to keep a can of GM fabric cleaner around I can not find it now... Brake clean works for me so I must have stashed the can way back on the shelf... It was some sort of dry cleaning fluid that evaporated fast it did leave a odor but the Oder did not last long... would stop my a GM dealer and ask about it are a dry cleaner...

jon f mn · Jan 30, 2013

Go to an auto parts store or walmart and get a spray can of "Tuff stuff" cleaner. It's in a yellow and red can. It's what I use for cleaning the apolstery in my truck. I promiss it will work if anything will for that. Dawn won't work so good because it's for protein based grease cleaning, you need something for oil. Found it many years ago, I was working on an old 1370 case changing the head gasket. Had a fella helpin me, when we went to lunch in my brand new pickup he rubbed his greasy hands all over the seats and center consol. The Tuff Stuff cleaned it right off and I've been using it ever since. Oh, you can tell when the fabric is clean because it quits foaming. Also don't get the stuff in the squirt bottle, it doesn't seem to work as good.

old harv · Jan 30, 2013

Whatever cleaner you use try it on a small spot on the back of the couch or somewhere that it won't show to make sure the cleaner won't take the color out of the couch as well. High powered cleaners can take dye out of cloth very easy. If the cloth comes off of the cushions they might clean in the washing machine but check for a tag like clothes to see how.

Dick2 · Jan 30, 2013

I always figure that dogs and couches are easily replaceable.

tomtirediron · Jan 30, 2013

Move to yard and clean with match.

SweetFeet · Jan 30, 2013

JD Seller

I don't know if it works on grease - but I have heard people says they got good results with a product called Oxyclean (though it can possibly have a bleaching effect - so test an inconspicuous area first). A friend of mine said it removed permanent black marker ink from a leather sofa, but it did leave the area lighter colored.

So maybe the best idea is to clean it as good as possible - then move it into your family room and buy her a new couch for the good living room.

Even if you get it much cleaner and you think it looks good, it probably will not to her. Women are generally more picky in these areas.

mkirsch · Jan 30, 2013

Dawn dish soap is amazing at breaking down oil. That's how they clean the penguins and ducks after an oil spill.

After my last greasy tractor tinkering session, I saw the bottle of Dawn as I went to wash up. Gave it a shot. It works just as good as Boraxo.

Nancy Howell · Jan 30, 2013

I have been very successful with Clorox II liquid on greasy stains. I put it on and leave it on over night. Don"t think this will work in your case.

With the pros coming in the morning, most I would do is use warm, very soapy water. Spot on where the diesel is and leave it.

Other than that, I would wait for the pros.

spanky · Jan 30, 2013

It could be worse! It could be you who let the dogs back in.....

JD Seller · Jan 30, 2013

Well the good news it the dogs are safe. The bad news is we have 6 inches of snow already and it is fall fast. So the wife can't get to the dogs in the shop but the cleaners can't get here either. They told me to leave it be. They have some type of steam cleaner that they think will remove the oil without any issue. They say the Scotch guard should keep it from getting ground in. I did not tell them that I think they will have more problems than they think.

Lucky the dog did not go on any carpet. She did hit several of the rugs laying around. I just got done scrubbing the hard wood floors.

The wife went volcanic at first. She started to rip on me and I had to point out SHE let the dogs back in. That went over well!! LMAO I am typing this from the shop computer. May have to move the couch out here and sleep on it for away. LOL

I went in a few minutes ago for a late breakfast and she an the grand daughters where looking a t furniture on-line. So me and the dogs are more than likely safe but my check book is not looking too good right now. LOL.

sd pete · Jan 30, 2013

Sounds like the shop owner needs to do some housekeeping.

Anonymous-0 · Jan 30, 2013

Woolite Heavy Carpet, Rug & Upholstery Cleaner

Does the cover come off the cushion? I would be afraid of the oil soaking into the foam cushion and slip cover.

Clodbuster · Jan 30, 2013

I have yet to find any product to get all of a stain from old oil out of jeans, let alone a couch. New shop couch!

retired farmer · Jan 30, 2013

My only suggestion to you is you better get outside and get the snow plow hooked to your big tractor and get the road plowed open so the furniture truck can get up to the house in the morning.

Emergency!!! Need cleaning help!!!

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