How to Remove a Carpet Stain
Recover From a Spill with a Shampooer-Extractor or Using Chemicals
Aug 22, 2007
How to Remove a Carpet Stain
Do you have wood flooring or carpet in your home? If you have any carpet, you know that carpet stains are unavoidable; they're a fact of life. Do you entertain on a regular basis? Then you will have more than your fair share of stains. Replacing all the carpet yearly is not really an option so mastering the art of removing carpet stains is a worthy goal. If you're a home owner you need to maintain it or if you're a renter you'll want to know how to remove a carpet stain to get your deposit back at a future date.
First Line of Defense: the Carpet Shampooer – Extractor
A carpet shampooer – extractor is your best chance to remove spills before they can stain the carpet. They're not cheap, however buying one is well worth the expense. The price of having a professional carpet cleaning company visit twice a year adds up. Two carpet cleanings each year is the recommendation of most carpet manufacturers.
Home Tips for Removing Carpet Stains
It's always a good idea to test the color fastness of carpet before using any solution to remove stains. Test an inconspicuous spot, the back corner of a closet, for instance. Don't ever wet the backing, or use any bleach, or rub a stain. Blot the spot instead, taking the stain out beginning on the outside and working inwards towards the center. This prevents it from spreading. Finally, put a stack of paper towels (white ones) over the spot and weigh it down with a couple of bricks or a stack of books until all the moisture is gone.
For blood stains, first remove as much as possible using a white paper towel and blotting. Next mix one tsp of ammonia and 1/2 cup of cool water together. Spray this solution on the stain and blot it up. Next combine 1/2 tsp of dish detergent and one quart of cool water. As before, spray and blot. By now the stain should be coming out. Repeat this step until your stain is removed and finally rinse and blot using cool water and a white towel or paper towels
Mud? If you have serious mud stains in your carpet, water and elbow grease will eventually get it out but a trick to making your job quicker and easier is to spray the area with shaving foam. This helps to loosen the mud that has adhered to the carpet fibers.
Most stains can be removed after a spray of a combination of everyday hair shampoo and water mixed in equal portions. Keep the spraying/blotting routine up until the stain is gone.
Commercial Carpet Cleaning Products
There are quite a few commercial solutions in your local grocery or home improvement store that will take stains out of your carpet. You will find some do the job better but you can't go by the name brand to indicate which ones live up to their claims. They might remove the stain, but they leave behind a residue that will bind to dirt resulting in a discolored spot all over again.
The best bet is to begin with high quality, stain-resistant carpet. If you choose a color that doesn't show stains readily you'll be one step ahead. When a spill does occur, remove it right away, while it is still wet. And don't forget to clean it thoroughly twice a year.
