Carpet Stain Removal Tips

Carpet Stain Removal Tips

Carpet spills fall into two categories. They either come from an animal (blood, urine, fat, etc) or a plant (wine, coffee). The spot is treated and removed in a fairly simple fashion but if the spot remains present for too long a stain can occur. Here are a few quick easy ways to both remove the spot and get those stains out if needs be.

If you are dealing with an animal based spill there is a simple household solution that works great. Take a tablespoon of clear dishwashing or laundry detergent (or ammonia) and mix it with a  cup of water. Put your cleaning solution in a spray bottle and get to work. Spray that spot and lightly agitate using a metal spoon. The reason that I prefer using a metal spoon is because a nylon brush will tend to just dig the spot in deeper and damage the carpet filaments. Give the solution a five minutes dwell time, rinse, blot almost dry and repeat until you are satisfied.

If you are dealing with a  plant based spot simple use the exact same procedure but using a different cleaning solution. The cleaning solution that you will be using this time is white vinegar and water in a 50/50 dilution. The acidity in vinegar works wonderfully against tannin stains as long as you put some elbow grease into it.

When all else fails you may have a stain. For stains you must resort to using bleach. Stay away from household Clorox bleach though. You’ll very well damage you carpet. Instead you peroxide. Peroxide is a bleaching agent that is much less abrasive against nylon and works great. There are three things that accelerate the bleaching process. Those three things include heat, UV light and alkaline.

If you are faced with a red dye stain, pour on some peroxide, take a white terry cloth and place it on the stain. Place a hot steam iron on top of the stain wait 30 seconds and release. Rinse with water, blot dry, let cool and repeat until there is no more transfer.

Other stains may be taken out simply by pouring on your peroxide and letting it sit in the sun. Pouring on some diluted ammonia onto the stain may also accelerate the process. Try everything but do it carefully. Good luck.