How to Remove Stains from Carpet Flooring Without Damaging It

23 Feb How to Remove Stains from Carpet Flooring Without Damaging It

Carpets can connect rooms, running from bedrooms through hallways and into the living room, offering you warmth, comfort and style. However, if you drop something onto the floor, spill a glass of wine or drop some food, staining your carpet is a genuine risk. Unlike hardwood floors (where you can easily mop up a spillage) carpets will need an extra level of care.

There are ways to clean a carpet without damaging the surface. In most cases, you don’t need to use expensive cleaning chemicals, just some ingredients you may have in your pantry or laundry room. With a gentle clean, you will be able to clean and remove stains from your carpet and leave it in pristine condition.

Let’s explore how.

The Method for Removing Stains

Regardless of the kind of stain you’re cleaning, there are a few common rules to ensure you don’t damage your carpet in the process.

1. Act immediately. Fresh stains are far easier to remove than stains which have been given time to set in. The ‘wetter’ the stain the more you can absorb through blotting. Attacking an old stain often requires re-hydrating it, which can damage both the pile and the carpet backing.
2. Blotting. When cleaning stains you don’t want to rub the stain. This will push the stain deeper into the pile and onto the backing of your carpet. You want to blot at the stain. This is done with a paper towel or a sponge, as dry as you can get it. You dab at the stain, allowing the absorption factor of the sponge or towel suck up any excess liquid.
3. Avoid over-wetting. When cleaning up stains on a carpet you don’t want to make the area too wet. Blotting is done with sponges or towels that are dry. When you apply the carpet cleaning solution, less is more. Don’t drown the area with cleaning solutions. Unlike a hardwood floor, you won’t be scrubbing and cleaning up a spill, you will be trying to absorb it out of the carpet. The more liquid, the more work needs to be done, and the more likely you are to spread the stain deeper into the pile.
4. Test your cleaning solution first. Some of the ingredients in cleaning solutions can be harsh on your carpet if the measurements are wrong. Find an inconspicuous place to test it. If your closets are carpeted, or behind a door perhaps, spray on a tiny section of carpet. Observe the reaction, if it stains, or lightens the colour of the carpet, remix the solution or try something different.

What NOT to do when Cleaning Stains

While cleaning stains from your carpet, there are some things you should not do, unless you want to damage or permanently stain the surface.

• DO NOT use hot water. Especially with food stains that contain proteins, and for blood stains, hot water can ‘set’ a stain and bond it to your carpet fibres. Then you would have to cut out the carpet to remove the stains.
• DO NOT use coloured cloth. Some brands of coloured cloth may transfer the dye onto the carpet.
• DO NOT use harsh chemicals. Chemicals such as bleach or ammonia can permanently discolour or damage carpet fibres. They can release toxic fumes, leave sticky residue or shrink and warp your carpet.
• DO NOT ignore the direction of the carpet pile. Blotting with the pile helps prevent damage to the carpet and can reduce the risk of forcing the stain deeper into the pile and onto the backing of the carpet.

What are some Homemade Cleaning Solutions?

You can easily clean stains from your carpets without damaging them simply by using household ingredients. These ingredients include:

• White vinegar. Good for deodorising your carpet and for light stains.
• Baking soda. This works for stronger odours and for greasy stains.
• Mild dish soap. Again, good for greasy spots and general stains.
• Hydrogen peroxide. Tough stains such as pet urine and blood.
• Cornstarch or talcum powder. Sprinkle these onto oily stains. After a few hours you can vacuum it up. Good for odour control as well.
• Essential oils. These are optional and are for odour countermeasures only.

Some easy-to-make recipes from these ingredients to help clean your carpets are:

• All-purpose-spray.
  • 1 cup warm water (not hot)
  • 1 tablespoon white vinegar.
  • 1 teaspoon dish soap
  • A few drops of essential oil optional.
• All-purpose spray version 2.
  • 1 teaspoon of mild dishwashing liquid.
  • ¼ teaspoon white vinegar
  • 1 litre warm water.
• For stubborn stains.
  • Sprinkle baking soda on the area.
  • Mist with 1 part water and 1 part white vinegar.
  • Let it foam, then dry.

• Grease or oil.
  • Sprinkle baking soda or cornstarch on the stain.
  • Let this sit for 6 hours to absorb the stain.
  • Blot with some rubbing alcohol.

• Pet urine.
  • Spray an equal mix of warm water and vinegar.
  • Sprinkle baking soda and let it fizz.
  • Vacuum when dry.
  • Repeat as needed.

Purchasing a spray bottle for cleaning your carpets is a must. We also recommend having all of these ingredients in a kit, in an easy to find box so you’re not madly looking for your cleaning solutions while the stain dries up.

The Five Most Common Carpet Stains

1. Pet urine. Pet urine can be a problem with older pets or nervous pets in a new home trying to mark their territory. It can also be a problem for pets who haven’t yet been toilet trained. A pet will tell you when it needs to go outside to pee. If you ignore your pet, then accidents may happen. Other pet stains can include vomit and faeces.

Spray with an equal measure of warm water and white vinegar onto the stain. Add a sprinkle of baking soda and get the fizzing reaction. Vacuum the area when it is dry.

2. Coffee. Knocking a mug of coffee from the side of your couch or off the coffee table is a common occurrence. Or if you’re walking from room to room in the morning and haven’t actually had the first morning coffee, we might bump into a wall and down it goes.

Immediately blot the stain and get as much liquid up as you can. Then blot with a mixture of dish soap, white vinegar and warm water. Alternatively you can use a baking soda paste and warm water to get out tougher stains. Allow that mixture to sit until dry and then vacuum it out.

3. Wine. Red wine is what you usually see in the ads, but white wine can damage your carpet as well. Being knocked off table tops when someone is enthusiastically talking with their hands is not uncommon. But no fear! We can help you clean this wine stain away!

DO NOT RUB! This will spread the wine stain and embed it into the backing of the carpet. Blot away as much of the stain as you can. Then spray a solution of dish soap and white vinegar and warm water, blotting at all times. For tougher wine stains, hydrogen peroxide and soap can work. Rinse the area with cool water and blot dry thoroughly. Repeat as needed.

4. Soft drink. Another liquid that has the tendency to fly off tables or the sides of couches. The sugar content of sodas can turn sticky when drying, and is almost impossible to get rid of.

Immediately blot the area. Then spray with a solution of equal parts warm water and white vinegar, with a dash of dish soap. Blot gently with a clean cloth and let dry. Repeat the blotting and drying as needed.

For harder, more stubborn stains, try a baking soda paste, or substituting club soda for the water in the previous mix.

5. Food. The range of food stains and what’s in them is many and varied. Pasta sauce, soups, seafood, you name it. The first step is to remove any solid foods. Don’t let pets eat the food as they will force the stains down into the carpet.

Blot away excess fluids, once the solids are removed. With a strong solution of vinegar and water, spray and blot away repeatedly until the stain is gone. For tougher food stains, the baking soda paste method would work well.

This method of blotting away liquids is universal when it comes to stains. Any solids spilled on the floor are easily removed, it’s the liquid stains that pose the greatest threat to your carpet. Knowing how to clean them away easily will save your carpet from becoming ruined, and it will give you peace of mind.

The team at Cronulla Carpets have been helping people from the Cronulla beaches, down the coast to Garie and into suburbs like Carlton and Gymea Bay. We’ve laid carpet and helped our customers with after-sales care and carpet cleaning.

Come into our showroom to run your hands across some samples, or speak to our team by calling 02 9525 2155. Bring warmth and comfort to your home with the perfect floor covering, thanks to Cronulla Carpets.