How to Remove a Carpet Stain:
The Key to Keeping Carpet Looking New is Quick Clean-Up and Using an Extractor
© 2008 by Kelly Smith all rights reserved
Keep your carpet in tip-top shape by cleaning spills, removing carpet stains, using a
shampooer-extractor, carpet stain removers, and carpet cleaning twice a year.
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
renter’s 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.
Getting Out Blood Stains
These are tough; just watch a few episodes of CSI Miami and you’ll believe me. 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.
Tracking in Mud?
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.
You can either buy or rent an extractor and do it yourself, or find local reviews on the services you need at Angie’s List, from electricians to physicians. Use promo code “SAVE TEN” for $10 off!.
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