How To Remove Common Stains and Spillages On Your Carpets

There’s nothing worse than spilling a drink or dropping food on a clean carpet – particularly if it’s a new carpet!

Whether a young child has dropped the entire contents of a hot plate, or a guest has spilt some dark red wine, an accident will happen at some point in time. And often it will appear that the staining may be permanent.

While it may be tempting to make a dash to the supermarket and pick up a stain remover off the shelf, it isn’t actually the best course of action.

There are other ways of treating spillages and food stains that will be more successful than vigorously rubbing a shop-bought product into the stain.

In this article, you’ll learn how to successfully treat stains without causing damage to the carpet fibres and prevent having to replace an expensive carpet.

Spillage treatment process

It is vital that you tackle a spillage of any sort as soon as possible to prevent it from becoming a permanent stain.

Speed makes it more likely that the stain treatment will be successful.

Here’s how you should proceed:

• Remove any debris by vacuuming the area and carefully scraping away any mass without compressing it into the carpet fibres.
• Carefully dab the stained area with a damp cloth or clean towel.
• Repeat this process until you have removed all the liquid and there is no colour being transferred onto the cloth/towel.

Blood stains

Never tackle a blood stain using hot water. This can cause the blood to coagulate and may make it more difficult to remove.

As with the above process of dealing with a spillage, you should blot any excess blood before applying a basic stain removal solution. In the case of blood, you can use a mixture of baking soda and water to create a thick paste. Spread the paste onto the blood stain and leave it untouched for several minutes before removing the paste with a spoon and vacuuming the area.

Once complete, dab the area and then spray with a vinegar/water solution (100 ml of vinegar with 1000 ml of clean water), dabbing again.

Repeat as often as necessary. 

If the blood stain reappears, seek the advice of a professional carpet cleaner.

Pet stains

Pet stains are one of the most common stains that professional carpet cleaners face.

With faeces, it is sensible to wear gloves while removing any stools.

With urine, it is important to avoid the stain drying out and so you should dab up the moisture immediately.

If it has already started to dry, moisten it with a damp cloth and then dab until you have absorbed the moisture.

To neutralise the stain and any odour, you can use white vinegar. Mix 100 ml of vinegar with 1000 ml of clean water and spray onto the area of carpet. Allow the solution to dwell for a few minutes and then dab with a clean cloth.

Rinse with cool water and repeat this process again if staining and odour are still present.

Coffee and tea

Coffee and tea are stains that can become permanent on some tyopes of carpet – particulalry wool.

If you spill coffee, act immediately and blot the spillage, absorbing as much liquid as possible before rinsing with clean water and repeating. You can once again dab away and then rinse before repeating to dab.

Then use a mix of baking soda and water to try and draw out any remaining staining.

If the staining appears to be permanent, call a local carpet cleaning company as soon as possible.

If you would like a free quotation for stain treatment in South Wales, call us today on 0800 132 410.