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How to clean common carpet stains

How to clean common carpet stains
Date Published: Aug 16 2011

Many of us start our strategies against soiled carpeting just a few steps away from the welcome mat. We place throw rugs in front of the doors in our homes, hoping to prevent dirty shoes from coming in contact with the carpet. We invest in stain-resistant floor coverings and adopt “no-shoes-in-the-house” policies.

Yet, even the best plans can’t prevent most homeowners from contending with unsightly stains.

If you’re faced with stained carpeting, follow these tips to curtail the long-lasting effects of spills, pet accidents, and other culprits:

  • Red wine stain: Quickly absorb as much of the liquid as possible with towels to keep it from getting deep into the carpet. Dribble white wine on the remaining red wine stain. Rinse and repeat. Blot the excess with a damp, clean towel.
  • Lipstick: Gently place petroleum jelly on the smudge, then mix a teaspoon of dish soap with one cup of warm water. Blot the smudge gently then scrape jelly off with a knife.
  •  Ink:  Use rubbing alcohol, but do not pour it directly on the stain. Instead, dampen a towel, add alcohol and repeatedly blot ink stain with the cloth.
  • Pet stains: Mix a half cup of white vinegar with a half cup of warm water. Soak the stain thoroughly. Sprinkle a handful of baking soda on the stain. Mix a half cup of hydrogen peroxide with a teaspoon of dish soap, then pour the mixture over the baking soda. Work into the carpet thoroughly. Allow area to dry completely, then vacuum.
  • Fruit punch, Kool-aid or ketchup: Blot as much of the substance as you can as fast as you can. Then mix warm water with dish soap, dampen a clean cloth and press against the stain for 15 seconds. Let sit. Mix one cup of white vinegar with two cups water, dampen cloth and press against stain for 15 seconds. Let sit for 15 minutes. Blot with a clean dry towel.
  • Oil and grease: Remove excess quickly with paper towel. Sprinkle salt or baking soda on stain and leave it overnight. Later, vacuum the salt or baking soda off of the stain area.

If these remedies don’t seem to be working, don’t waste time trying to continuously remove the stain. Know when it's time to give up on the household options and contact a highly rated professional carpet cleaner.

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Comments

Submitted by eugene forsyth on Tue, 2012-02-07 14:10
how about coffe or tea stains??

Submitted by Skip Sutton on Tue, 2012-02-07 14:10
I have over 25 years flooring experience and worked for one of the largest carpet manufacturers. One key to cleaning spots in carpet is that you must thoroughly remove whatever you put into the carpet to clean it. If not, you will leave a sticky residue behind. As people walk over it, it will attract the soil off of their shoes and a spot will reappeare.

Submitted by Thomas Mason on Tue, 2012-02-07 14:10
The best thing for cleaning carpet stains, especially red wine and other colored drinks is club soda, as airlines do. Just poor it on wuickly and ther stain will disappear. Then blot.

Submitted by cb on Tue, 2012-02-07 14:10
the best way to remove ink is hairspray. spray the area the blot with a dry towel and repaet until ink has disappeared. Most important---BLOT---do not rub te stain.

Submitted by David Contreras on Tue, 2012-02-07 14:10
I went on Vacation and left a watermelon on the carpet, we I had returned the melon had rotted and has left a bad odor. how can I get rid of the oder?

Submitted by Shelley on Tue, 2012-02-07 14:10
I had red fingernail polish on my carpet for years, I sprayed it with Windex Window cleaner and it was GONE!! Amazing. For candle wax, I place a warm iron on papertowels on top of the stain. The wax melts and is absorbed into the paper towels.

Submitted by Randy Dockins on Mon, 2013-04-29 19:27
As a professional carpet cleaner of over 26 years I think I've seen home owners use just about everything under the sun to spot clean their carpets including Windex, bleach, heavy duty degreasers, different dish washing liquids, laundry stain removers, as well as store bought spotters which some were ok and some were not ok. I've seen Windex and other products actually remove the dye from carpets on many occasions from either being spilled, dripped, or used as a spotter. I would advise you not to use it accept for it's intended purpose, but if you do rinse immediately and thoroughly with plain water. You do not want this stuff sitting in your carpet. It is especially harmful to both nylon and wool carpets or area rugs. The dyes in these types of carpets and rugs are much easier to damage from Windex and other cleaners not formulated for carpets and rugs. Sometimes the damage doesn't show up immediately and may not be obvious until you either clean the carpet yourself or hire someone to do it. I have personally witnessed complete dye removal caused by high ph cleaners most frequently on carpets made of nylon fibers. As for the fingernail polish I would recommend for a small spot you might try dampening a white cloth or paper towels with fingernail polish remover and blotting the spot. Do not pour acetone or other fingernail polish removers directly on the carpet. If it's a larger stain you may want to hire a professional to work on this for you.

Submitted by Chris Shay on Tue, 2012-02-07 14:10
If you've never used a product called BIOKLEEN BAC-OUT -- you are missing the best option for getting every type of stain out of carpet. It is a safe, natural emzyme-based liquid. I've never found anything it wouldn't remove. BEFORE you do anything else, if you saturate the stain with BIOKLEEN BAC-OUT, in five minutes it will be gone or nearly gone. Then just repeat!

Submitted by Eileen Dillon on Tue, 2012-02-07 14:10
I had pet urine on my carpet and had a professional clean the carpet. The next time they came to clean, the stain re-appeared. They said that was normal.?????

Submitted by Randy Dockins on Mon, 2013-04-29 19:01
Is it normal for a stain to reappear when you have your carpet cleaned or later after your carpet is cleaned for that matter? The answer is both yes and no because there are a number of factors involved in this question such as the level of service you signed up for when hiring your cleaner. Taking care of pet urine and other deep penetrating stains is often an add on service not covered by basic cleaning cost, because just having the carpet cleaned often will not remove the urine sitting beneath the carpet in the backing and pad. In other words you should expect to pay extra if you want it guaranteed that the stains won't reappear next time you clean or even the next day for that matter. Spots reappearing is called wicking by professional cleaners. The urine or other substance has saturated deep into the carpets backing and often even more into the pad and sometimes even the sub-floor is damaged. Professional carpet cleaners use various methods to deal with the different degrees of contamination. Most frequently used is a sub-surface extraction method to simultaneously rinse out the contaminant from the carpet and pad using special tools and cleaning agents using powerful truck mounted machines to extract with. Sometimes it is necessary to actually pull back the carpet, treat the sub-floor with a special odor sealant, replace the contaminated pad, deodorize the carpet, treat for yellow stain, and re-install the carpet. This takes a lot more time, expense, and expertise to be done. Once done properly you will never have the stain reappear and this work should be guaranteed, but will obviously be an add on service over and above regular carpet cleaning. Professionals experienced with these kinds of treatments should be able to take care of both the odor and prevent reappearing spots. Staining, however is a different issue and is not always possible to remove even with the very best professional spotting agents. Pet urine in particular often does permanent damage to carpet dyes creating a permanent stain. If you have a serious problem with returning spots or severe odors ask your professional cleaner if he or she is familiar with the above steps.

Submitted by Bev-Vickers on Tue, 2012-02-07 14:10
Vetinary-said-white-vinegar-for-pet-urine.Works-great!-No-odors-or-stains!

Submitted by robin on Tue, 2012-02-07 14:10
I have "dribbles" of coffee and tea in light colored carpeting. What can I use?

Submitted by robin on Tue, 2012-02-07 14:10
where can I find BIOKLEEN BAC-OUT?

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